Mr Bean plays it straight: Rowan Atkinson stars in Maigret
French detective Maigret returns to television in the guise of actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson – who reveals he initially turned down the role before deciding to star in two ITV films set in 1950s Paris. From Mr Bean to Blackadder, Rowan Atkinson is known to embody rather odd, eccentric and extroverted characters on television. But for his latest small-screen role, as French detective Maigret, he’s chosen to play a character he admits is just an ordinary man – an observation that meant he originally turned down the role before agreeing to star in two standalone films set in 1950s Paris for UK commercial network ITV. “It took me a long time to decide to (play Maigret). In fact, I think I decided not to,” he recalls. “I thought about if for some weeks and thought perhaps not. It went away for a while and then came back. So I thought about it for a lot longer and decided I would. “The character is a very ordinary man and, generally speaking, I haven’t played many ordinary men. I tend to play rather odd men or more characterised people – people with a slightly odd or eccentric or more particular attitude to life. “The problem with Maigret is he hasn’t got a limp, he hasn’t got a lisp and hasn’t got a French accent and has no particular love of opera or those other things people tend to attach to fictional detectives. He’s just an ordinary guy going an extraordinary job … Continue reading Mr Bean plays it straight: Rowan Atkinson stars in Maigret
