Rowan Atkinson to play Jules Maigret in two ITV films

Blackadder and Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson is making a return to television to play Belgian author Georges Simenon’s pipe-smoking policeman, Jules Maigret, in two new films for ITV.

There was speculation last year that Atkinson was considering the role, which Michael Gambon took on for ITV in the early 1990s.

Atkinson has mostly concentrated on films over the past two decades, particularly with his characters Mr Bean and Johnny English, with his last regular television appearance being in Ben Elton’s short-lived BBC police comedy The Thin Blue Line in the mid-1990s.

However, Atkinson said he had been a fan of Maigret for a long time: “I have been a devourer of the Maigret novels for many years and I’m very much looking forward to playing such an intriguing character, at work in Paris during a fascinating period in its history.”

ITV’s director of television Peter Fincham said: “Maigret is a prestigious commission and we’re delighted to be working with Maigret Productions, Ealing Studios and Rowan Atkinson, to bring these stories to screen for our viewers.”

Set in 1950s Paris, the first of the two 120-minute films – Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man – will go into production in September 2015, produced by Ealing Studios and Maigret Productions Ltd – a Peters Fraser Dunlop Group (PFD) company.

It was announced by PFD three years ago that a new version of Maigret was on the cards – spurred on by the popularity of European crime fighters such as Danish detective Sarah Lund in The Killing and Swedish sleuth Wallander, played by Kenneth Branagh in the British version.

Around 800m Simenon books have been sold globally and the merged PFD and The Rights House snapped up the rights to the prolific author from previous owner Chorion in 2011.

Atkinson is primarily known for his comic roles on television such as Edmund Blackadder and his descendants in the hit comedy Blackadder.

Four series were made and he has reprised the role for specials, including one for the millennium, another for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002 and an un-screened live version for a Prince’s Trust gala at the Royal Albert Hall when he introduced Sir Edmund Blackadder, chief executive of a bailed-out bank.

Atkinson’s television roles in recent years have been rare – he appeared on Top Gear four years ago – and when he has appeared it has usually been for one-offs for Comic Relief.

His appearance for the charity as a fictional Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 became the most complained about show of the year after the spoof character said praying “doesn’t work”.

This year, he is reviving Mr Bean for Comic Relief, marking 25 years in the role. The last time he played the hapless character live was at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics.

And Atkinson fans will also see him donning tights for the first time since Blackadder to play Henry VIII in hit CBBC show Horrible Histories later this year.

But the 60-year-old is also working on more serious fare as, in addition to Maigret, he is starring as Wilkins Micawber in a film adaptation of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, which is due out next year.