Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
“I’m sure the character on the couch was our first glimpse of Mr. Bean.”
– Chas Toogood on meeting Rowan Atkinson
Before Mr Bean (and long before Johnny English), Atkinson was already a BAFTA-winning comedy star, touring Aotearoa New Zealand off the back of ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’.
In this 1983 ‘Top Half’ piece, things don’t exactly go to plan… by design. Toogood and Atkinson flip the classic celebrity interview on its head, with Atkinson dodging questions entirely and playing it all in one take, filmed in an Auckland hotel room near the end of his tour 👀
🔗 Watch the full clip at NZ On Screen.
#rowanatkinson #80snostalgia
“I’m sure the character on the couch was our first glimpse of Mr. Bean.”
– Chas Toogood on meeting Rowan Atkinson
Before Mr Bean (and long before Johnny English), Atkinson was already a BAFTA-winning comedy star, touring Aotearoa New Zealand off the back of ‘Not the Nine O’Clock News’.
In this 1983 ‘Top Half’ piece, things don’t exactly go to plan… by design. Toogood and Atkinson flip the classic celebrity interview on its head, with Atkinson dodging questions entirely and playing it all in one take, filmed in an Auckland hotel room near the end of his tour 👀
🔗 Watch the full clip at NZ On Screen.
#rowanatkinson #80snostalgia
