TV and movie legend Rowan Atkinson will appear at The Mowlem in Swanage to help launch the Purbeck Film Festival – and prove that comedy can be a serious business.
The actor, whose best known roles include Mr Bean, Edmund Blackadder and Johnny English, is headlining the festival in its 30th anniversary year, to celebrate the work of renowned French filmmaker Jacques Tati.
Mr Bean’s Holiday was part homage to the work of Jacques Tati, as Rowan Atkinson will explain at The Mowlem
Another major coup for the Film Festival
Rowan Atkinson will appear on stage at The Mowlem on Saturday 17th October 2026, the first full day of the Purbeck Film Festival, following a screening of Mr Hulot’s Holiday, a 1953 black and white comedy by Jacques Tati.
In a live discussion with cultural historian Matthew Sweet, he will reveal how Monsieur Hulot influenced the creation of Mr Bean, and explore Tati’s lasting impact on physical comedy.
Rowan Atkinson’s appearance in Swanage is another major coup for the film festival, which has previously staged events with Sir Sam Mendes, Dame Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes and Purbeck’s BAFTA winning actor Edward Fox.
Other events to widen the appeal of the festival in its 30th year include events featuring Paddington In Peru location manager Eddy Pearce, Barbie and Ted Lasso second unit director of photography John Sorapure, and a Dolly Parton movie tribute night at Harman’s Cross village hall.
Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, which will be shown at The Mowlem
“Thrilled to welcome comedy legend”
Purbeck Film Festival trustee, Pippa Punch said:
“This year, we’re delighted to be celebrating our 30th Festival and we’ll be looking back over three decades of great cinema in Purbeck and welcoming some very special guests to help us celebrate.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome comedy legend Rowan Atkinson to this year’s festival for an exclusive, live on stage appearance.
“Rowan is renowned worldwide for his legendary visual and physical comedy in Mr. Bean and Blackadder, and has long cited Jacques Tati as one of his greatest cinematic inspirations.
“He joins us for a special retrospective celebrating the work of legendary filmmaker Jacques Tati on Saturday 17th October 2026, when The Mowlem hosts a day dedicated to examining the genius of French visual comedy.”
Rowan Atkinson in the 2007 movie Mr Bean’s Holiday
“Jacques Tati was a visionary”
Pippa added:
“Festivalgoers can join us for the full day or dip in for individual sessions, offering the perfect introduction for newcomers, as well as a rare chance for existing fans to explore Tati’s work.
“Jacques Tati was a visionary of French cinema, a master of visual comedy who turned the quirks of modern life into pure cinematic poetry.
“Best known for his iconic, trenchcoat wearing alter ego, Monsieur Hulot, Tati captured the humor, charm, and absurdities of a rapidly changing world without relying on heavy dialogue.
“We are showing a matinee of his masterpiece, Playtime, and a 7 pm screening of Mr Hulot’s Holiday.
“After that, Rowan Atkinson and film historian Matthew Sweet will have an unmissable, wide ranging conversation on Tati’s enduring influence, the art of non verbal humor, and the delicate craft of physical comedy.”
Mr Bean overtakes a peloton of cyclists on his way through rural France
Influenced by silent movie greats
Rowan Atkinson has long credited Tati’s creation Monsieur Hulot with helping to shape Mr Bean, who has been causing chaos since 1990.
Growing up, Rowan was influenced by silent movie greats, in particular Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but when he discovered Jacques Tati while at school he fell in love with the slow, deliberate style of visual, non-verbal comedy.
The influences of Tati’s 1953 black and white comedy Mr Hulot’s Holiday – frequently included in lists of the top 50 comedy films of all time – can be seen throughout the 2007 film Mr Bean’s Holiday.
One of the most loved scenes in Mr Bean’s Holiday, where Bean overtakes a peloton of cyclists on a pushbike, is a homage to Jacques Tati from an earlier 1949 film called Jour de Fete where he plays a postman who does the same thing to great comic effect.
Jacques Tati inspired Rowan Atkinson with a similar joke in Jour de Fete
“A stunning programme”
Executive director of The Mowlem Kate McGregor said:
“We are all really excited to welcome Rowan Atkinson to The Mowlem, who we know will be such a big draw for our audiences.
“Purbeck Film Festival has developed a stunning programme to celebrate 30 years and we are delighted to be a major part of the 2026 festival.
“We expect tickets to be on sale on Friday 4th September 2026 for this unmissable event!”
Kate McGregor, executive director of The Mowlem, is delighted to welcome Rowan Atkinson to the theatre
Founded to mark centenary of cinema
Since the festival started in 1996, it has grown from a small, local initiative into an unmissable fixture in Dorset’s calendar.
It was originally founded to mark the centenary of cinema, with a vision of making film accessible and engaging for the local communities, and took the movies into village halls across Purbeck.
More than 1,500 people attended 21 screenings in the first year, and since then it has grown to around 100 events at more than 30 locations, attracting a combined audience of about 8,000.
Now the longest running rural film festival in the UK, a full programme of films for the 2026 anniversary festival is expected to be released shortly.
Former chair of the Purbeck Film Festival Andrea Etherington, centre, has been integral to the success of the film festival over the years
Further information
- A full programme will appear shortly on Purbeck Film Festival‘s website
