{"id":507919,"date":"2026-04-01T23:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507919\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T23:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T23:18:19","slug":"who-should-play-mr-benn-in-the-new-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/507919\/","title":{"rendered":"Who should play Mr Benn in the new film?"},"content":{"rendered":"

He travelled to a restaurant on another planet, he helped out King Neptune and his pet sea monster, but it seems that Britain\u2019s unlikeliest hero, Mr Benn, is about to face his biggest challenge yet \u2014 a magical leap on to the big screen. Decades since anyone last saw the bowler-hatted animated favourite of 1970s children\u2019s TV, a live-action film is in the works, with\u00a0I Swear<\/a>\u2019s Kirk Jones set to direct.<\/p>\n

Mr Benn,\u00a0many will\u00a0fondly\u00a0recall, was the\u00a0business-suited resident of 52 Festive Road who\u00a0enjoyed being\u00a0transported off to weird and wonderful adventures\u00a0determined by whichever costume he tried on (knight\u2019s armour, pirate gear and so on) at his local fancy dress store. He would need little encouragement from the fez-wearing shopkeeper, who would\u00a0also\u00a0pop up within each flight of fantasy to return his best customer to mundane reality.<\/p>\n

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The suburban setting was inspired by the street where the creator David McKee lived in Putney, the store based on a bric-a-brac shop in Plymouth, where he\u2019d been an art student. And as with several other totemic children\u2019s TV shows of its era, the series ran for fewer episodes than you\u2019d think \u2014 just 13 were shown in the BBC\u2019s\u00a0Watch with Mother\u00a0lunchtime slot between 1971 and 1972. That\u2019s the same number as\u00a0Bagpuss,\u00a0another beloved children\u2019s series\u00a0bound for a cinematic reboot (expected in 2027). Again, the question\u00a0here is\u00a0why they would even try to resurrect\u00a0such an old\u00a0series\u00a0as a big-screen experience.<\/p>\n

\"ADavid McKee created Mr Benn in the 1960sMagali Delporte for The Times<\/p>\n

Jones has said: \u201cI adored\u00a0Mr Benn\u00a0as a child and immediately saw the importance of introducing him to a new generation\u2026 Mr Benn finds a unique way to travel through time and space, visiting historical and futuristic worlds to solve apparently monumental problems with kindness, compassion and common sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, this isn\u2019t the first time\u00a0Mr Benn\u00a0has been mooted for big-screen glory. In 1999 there were reports of a film starring John Hannah, and in 2017 there were plans for a film written by Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote two of the Paddington films.\u00a0Even more mad online rumours have, in the past, linked Tom Cruise and Johnny Depp to the role but it surely wouldn\u2019t work with them any more than it would with Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet or Vin Diesel.\u00a0Because\u00a0despite being inspired\u00a0visually\u00a0by Ren\u00e9 Magritte\u2019s faceless man,\u00a0Mr\u00a0Benn needs to be\u00a0a\u00a0quintessentially English\u00a0everyman.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0who will\u00a0play Benn?\u00a0Tom Hiddleston is certainly English enough, with a suave twinkle that could perhaps work. But he wouldn\u2019t look right in a bowler hat \u2014 his head\u2019s too narrow \u2014 and his pleasantly smooth tones would be better suited to those of Ray Brooks, who famously narrated the series. Conversely, Matthew Macfadyen\u00a0would\u00a0wear a bowler hat well but he\u2019d look all kinds of wrong in pirate or astronaut gear.<\/p>\n

\"ActorMatthew Macfadyen: a future Benn? Lloyd Bishop\/NBC via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Benn is\u00a0equable towards others \u2014 oddly unflappable given that one moment he\u2019s in an ordinary shop,\u00a0the next he\u2019s in a magical land wearing red armour and advising a depressed dragon. (Worth mentioning\u00a0here\u00a0that\u00a0in 2005\u00a0McKee\u00a0admitted\u00a0that\u00a0Mr Benn\u00a0was created during a time in his life when he would indulge in cannabis cookies.) Kit Harington has form with dragons but he tends to have a tortured air about his performances. Ditto David Morrissey.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Andrew Garfield, then, but his hair feels a bit big \u2014 Benn\u2019s is tidily side-parted \u2014 and paradoxically he might feel just a bit\u00a0too\u00a0safe a choice after\u00a0his cosy role\u00a0in\u00a0The Magic Faraway Tree<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0also\u00a0depends, of course, on what kind of spin they want to give the film: if they go for the full comedy approach, Jack Whitehall or Peter Serafinowicz might work. But Benn was more conventional than he was absurdist or ironic. Ben Whishaw is already the voice of Paddington<\/a>. Matt Smith? A bit on the edgy side after House of the Dragon<\/a> and\u00a0The Death of Bunny Munro.\u00a0Taron Egerton, maybe?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

So, to take a punt: how about Martin Freeman? Yes, possibly a touch\u00a0too far into middle age, but some Grecian 2000 could swiftly sort that, and how old was Benn supposed to be anyway? Freeman has the right shape of head, he can be both modest in manner and quietly heroic in faraway lands (see his Bilbo Baggins), and you can imagine him solving problems with that\u00a0kindness, compassion and common sense.<\/p>\n

All of\u00a0which only\u00a0proves\u00a0that trying to imagine an actor based on the old line-drawn figure is as much a fool\u2019s errand as guessing the next James Bond<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Love TV? Discover the\u00a0best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the\u00a0best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the\u00a0best Disney+ shows<\/a>, the\u00a0best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the\u00a0best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a>, the\u00a0best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the\u00a0best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the\u00a0best shows on Channel 4<\/a>\u00a0streaming, the\u00a0best shows on Paramount+<\/a>\u00a0and our favourite\u00a0hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to watch<\/a> and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He travelled to a restaurant on another planet, he helped out King Neptune and his pet sea monster,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-507919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}