Rowan Atkinson to bring Mr Bean, Blackadder and more to West End in new show

The actor will perform famous TV sketches - as well as new material created with Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Howard Goodall - in Rowan Live, which opens in February

Rowan Atkinson will return to the stage next year to play Blackadder, Mr Bean and other comic characters from across his career in a West End show, Rowan Live. The production, which will have a short run of 30 performances, is to feature new routines as well as his famous sketches from TV shows including Not the Nine O'Clock News.

It is 40 years since I last did a comedy sketch show in the West End," said Atkinson. I thought it would be fun to perform again the sketches that began it all for myself and [writer] Richard Curtis, and in which my most well-known characters originated, alongside some surprise new material written especially for this show." He and Curtis will be collaborating once more with Blackadder writer Ben Elton and its composer Howard Goodall.