Rowan Atkinson has been a fixture in British TV and film comedy for almost 40 years.
Now, though, the 61-year-old is making a move into drama, taking the title role of French detective Jules Maigret in a new TV adaptation of the books by Belgian writer Georges Simenon, made by British TV network ITV.
The first in a series of planned TV movies was broadcast in the UK in March. Stay tuned for an in-depth interview with Atkinson about the drama and his new role when a UAE broadcast, most likely in August on BBC First, is announced.
In the meantime, we had a rare chance to chat to the notoriously media-shy Atkinson, star of Mr Bean, Blackadder and the Johnny English films, about his long, illustrious career and his best-known roles.
“I’ve always been very uncomfortable playing characters close to myself,” Atkinson says.
“Whether it’s a comedy character or a dramatic character, I have always wanted to wear a mask, I suppose.”
Even after all these years, and the acclaim, he says acting does not get any easier.
“I find filming itself, whether it’s a comedy role or a dramatic role, very difficult,” he says. “I find it stressful and I’m never happy with what I’m doing, always wanting another take.
"Blackadder was probably the role that I found easiest, simply because the responsibility for it was shared between this wonderful repertory company of extremely funny people so it was like having a baton that you could hand over – to [co-stars] Tony Robinson or Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie – and then grasp it and be extremely funny for five minutes, and then hand it on to somebody else. There was a nice feeling of shared responsibility."
As for comedy and dramatic performances, he says the challenges are much the same.
“I don’t find much difference between playing a ‘serious’ character or a ‘comedy’ character,” he says.
“You use slightly different muscles, but the rules of acting are the same. You have to find the truth, create a credible character and allow a story to be told.”
In addition to marking a shift from comedy to drama, Maigret is also his return to a starring role on television for the first time in 20 years.
"I haven't done television for a long time," he says. "The last proper TV series I did was a comedy series called The Thin Blue Line, which I did in 1996 or something – quite a long time ago.
“I didn’t necessarily [need my next TV project] to be serious, but because the vast majority of television output is serious, rather than funny, it’s something you do. You’ve got to believe you can do it as well as it can be done. You can’t just sort of play at it.”
With Daniel Craig reportedly quitting the role of James Bond, the search is on for a new 007 and there are plenty of suggested replacements.
Atkinson is known for his love of fast cars – he collects sports cars and put in an impressive performance in Top Gear's Star in a Reasonably Priced Car segment. He has played a suave, Bond-style British spy, albeit for laughs, in two Johnny English spoof movies. He even has an existing proper Bond-movie connection, a small role alongside Sean Connery in the 1983 007 film Never Say Never Again.
Could all of this put him in the running? “That’s a great thought – I await the call,” he says. “There could be an age problem, I suspect, though in the spirit of the age we shouldn’t be too ageist or sexist about things.
"There was an idea we had for Johnny English to play an old Bond – what would he be doing at 85? Where would he be? We touched on it in the last Johnny English movie [2011's Johnny English Reborn] where we had him in a wheelchair, in a high-speed wheelchair which is the kind of idea you could use if you were going to do that. "We've had young Bond, so there's no reason why they won't do old Bond – and maybe one day they will.
"But I don't really have an ambition to just do serious roles from now on – and even though Mr Bean is now largely retired, you must never say never again. We had an idea to do 'old' Bean and see what fun could be had out of that, because old age can be very funny. That's half an answer to your question."
Maigret is set in 1950s Paris, France, but was filmed in Budapest, Hungary. Was that a purely financial decision?
“I have no particularly strong connections with Paris, although the traditional English view is that Parisians are not very welcoming – but I’ve never found that. It’s just an image, not the reality I’ve found,” he says.
“But Paris is so developed now, lots of street signs and little things – you can find a cobbled street in Paris, for example, but you can’t find a cobbled street in Paris with grass growing out between the cobbles, which you can in Budapest. Budapest might not like me describing the city this way, but that’s the truth of the matter. It’s a much less well-developed place, so it’s much easier to recreate 1950s Paris there.
“We could probably go around London and find somewhere that would pass as Paris, but I think for an actor [if you’re acting in a scene set in Europe] it’s great to get out and feel that sense of being in Europe, too.”
cnewbould@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
● Funding size: Bootstrapped
● No of employees: Nine
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The Bio
Amal likes watching Japanese animation movies and Manga - her favourite is The Ancient Magus Bride
She is the eldest of 11 children, and has four brothers and six sisters.
Her dream is to meet with all of her friends online from around the world who supported her work throughout the years
Her favourite meal is pizza and stuffed vine leaves
She ams to improve her English and learn Japanese, which many animated programmes originate in
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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WITHIN%20SAND
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The%20specs%3A%202024%20Panamera
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FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Civil%20War
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The%20trailblazers
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Company%20Profile
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APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Results
Final: Iran beat Spain 6-3.
Play-off 3rd: UAE beat Russia 2-1 (in extra time).
Play-off 5th: Japan beat Egypt 7-2.
Play-off 7th: Italy beat Mexico 3-2.
Company%20Profile
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
India cancels school-leaving examinations
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
ARGYLLE
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MADAME%20WEB
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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Engine: 5.6-litre V8
Transmission: seven-speed automatic
Power: 400hp
Torque: 560Nm
Price: Dh234,000 - Dh329,000
On sale: now
The team
Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory
Videographer: Jear Valasquez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)
Everybody%20Loves%20Touda
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
