*M @<I OPMIN N@MDJPN /JR<I OFDINJI M@QDQ@N ?@O@>ODQ@ *<DBM@O By Anita Singh
ROWAN ATKINSON is to play the fictional French detective Jules Maigret as ITV revives the character after more than 20 years. In his first serious dramatic role for television, the actor best known for his comic turns in Mr Bean and Blackadder will star in two feature-length films. Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man will go into production this autumn. The pipe-smoking detective, created by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon in 1931, has been adapted for television on several occasions. In the Sixties, he was played by Rupert Davies, regarded by Simenon as “the perfect Maigret” and dubbed into French for audiences across the Channel. Richard Harris took the role in the Eighties, and Sir Michael Gambon in the Nineties. Atkinson is slowly undergoing a career reinvention as a dramatic actor. He After a long career in comedy, Rowan Atkinson has turned to more serious roles in the past two years
appeared on the West End stage in Quartermaine’s Terms in 2013, directed by Sir Richard Eyre, and will play Micawber in a forthcoming adaptation of David Copperfield. He signalled the move away from comedy in 2012, saying he hoped to be seen as more than “the bloke who plays Bean”. “The stuff that has been most commercially successful for me – basically quite physical, quite childish – I increasingly
feel I’m going to do a lot less of,” he said. Explaining why he was keen to take on the latest role, Atkinson, 60, said he had been “a devourer of the Maigret novels for many years”. He added: “I’m very much looking forward to playing such an intriguing character, at work in Paris during a fascinating period in its history.” The project has the blessing of Simenon’s son, John, who is acting as executive producer of the new productions. “Maigret has been part of our family for almost nine decades, and we are bringing together one of the best-known characters in world literature with one of the greatest international stars. “I have no doubt my father, like me, would have approved of Rowan’s casting and been very excited to see him inhabit his most renowned creation,” he said.