ITVX orders another 52 cartoon episodes of Rowan Atkinson's character

Rowan Atkinson is to voice another 52 episodes of the animated version of Mr Bean.

ITV has commissioned a fourth mammoth series of the children’s show for its ITVX streaming platform, which will bring  the total number of episodes across all series to 182. Each installment runs for 11 minutes.

Atkinson said: ‘I have always enjoyed this iteration of the Mr Bean character and the particular freedoms he has in animated form.

‘We can take him into space or down a tin mine, without me personally having to suffer the consequences. The animation process creatively is always fascinating and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the new series very much.’

And Tom Beattie from producers Tiger Aspect added: ‘It’s a real pleasure to have the opportunity to go back to such a special series. Mr Bean is an iconic comedy legend and it's an honour to work with Rowan to create this physically funny series.’

The new episodes are scheduled to air in 2025 – the 35th anniversary of the first live-action episode of the show, which  Atkinson created with Richard Curtis.

It became an animation in 2002 and has proved especially popular online with, with the character amassing 140 million fans on Facebook and 72 million subscribers on YouTube generating more than 19 billion views.

The new episodes will also be broadcast on Cartoonito and HBO Max across EMEA Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Warner Bros. Discovery’s kids channels and streaming services elsewhere in Asia.

Published: 4 Jan 2024