Mr Benn
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Mr Benn is a character created by David McKee who appears in several children's books, and an animated television series of the same name produced for the BBC in the early 1970s. Whether in a book, or on television, Mr Benn's adventures take on a similar pattern. Mr Benn, a businessman wearing a pinstriped suit and bowler hat, visits a fancy-dress shop where he is invited by the mustachioed, fez-wearing shopkeeper to try on a particular outfit. He leaves the shop through a magic door at the back of the changing room and enters a world appropriate to his costume, where he has an adventure (which usually contains a moral) before the shopkeeper re-appears, and the story comes to an end. Mr Benn returns to his normal life as a businessman, but is left with a small souvenir of his magical adventure.
Additionally, scenes before and after his adventure usually have some connection to it, such as the games the children are playing in the street as he passes, thus creating the common ambiguity as to whether the adventures were real or imagined.
Mr_Benn_Gladiator_book_cover.jpg
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The books
Several of Mr Benn's adventures are available to buy in book-form, four were published originally and further books in the 1990s were based on the television series. The original four books were Mr Benn Red-Knight, Big Game Benn, 123456789 Benn and Big Top Benn. There were in fact six original books planned, the fifth and sixth were never published. The fifth was called Mr Benn Rides Again, the story of which was used to make the television episode The Cowboy. The sixth, never completed, was Superbenn, in which the superhero Benn sets out on an environmental adventure.
There are two books for which no corresponding television episode has (yet) been made. The first, 123456789 Benn, was published in 1970 (ISBN 0234773618) and tells the story of Benn as a convict (hence the number) inspiring his jail-mates to brighten up their cells. The other is a new story published 2001, the first Mr Benn story that David McKee had written in thirty years, and is called Mr Benn, Gladiator (ISBN 1842700243). McKee has indicated [1] (http://www.mrbenn.co.uk/news.html) that Mr Benn, Gladiator will be adapted for television, and that he may write more Mr Benn stories in the future.
2001 also saw the publication of Mr Benn's Little Book of Life (ISBN 0099436493) by Tess Read and David McKee, which explores the lessons of Mr Benn's adventures.
The television series
McKee wrote and (with Ian Lawless) animated thirteen Mr Benn episodes for the BBC in the early 1970s. These episodes were repeated many times over the years, and many people in their late twenties and early thirties retain fond memories of him. The episodes were narrated by Ray Brooks, and the music composed by Don Warren.
McKee has not benefited financially to the extent he might have: "I signed a contract where I only got a one-off payment and no repeat fees but I've done quite well from a number of other things and I'm still exhibiting paintings." [2] (http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/archive/display.var.22639.0.0.html)
The titles of the thirteen episodes (in alphabetical order) are: The Balloonist, The Caveman, The Clown, The Cook, The Cowboy, The Diver, The Hunter, The Magic Carpet, The Pirate, The Red Knight, The Spaceman, The Wizard, and The Zookeeper.
Although it has been over thirty years since the last episode was made, McKee has suggested that new episodes will be filmed, starting with the story from the 2001 book Mr Benn, Gladiator.
Trivia
Mr Benn lives in London at No. 52 Festive Road, which is apparently based on Festing Road in Putney where David McKee used to live. Many posters and t-shirts have been made with the image of the shopkeeper or Mr Benn, or bearing the famous phrase: "As if by magic, the Shopkeeper appeared...". Recent toys made include beanies of the shopkeeper and Mr Benn in his suit, and dressed as a spaceman and wizard.
McKee cites one of his influences as Dartmoor, Devon, home to a famous British prison in the somewhat bleak surrounding moorland.
The only long-term friend of Mr Benn who appears several times, apart of course for the shopkeeper, is Smasher Lagru. Smasher first appears as an inmate in 123456789 Benn, and then after his release in Big-Top Benn and the new Mr Benn, Gladiator.
Mr Benn never buys anything in the fancy-dress shop. Coupled with the fact that there are clues to his coming adventures before Mr Benn reaches the shop, many people speculate that his adventures may take place only in his imagination.
Mr Benn was voted the sixth most popular children's television programme in the 2001 Channel 4 poll 100 Greatest Kids' TV shows.
Sources
[1] Mr Benn News (http://www.mrbenn.co.uk/news.html) - Official site (http://www.mrbenn.co.uk)
[2] "Mr Benn's Back In Town" (http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/archive/display.var.22639.0.0.html) - Wandsworth Guardian (http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk)
Related articles
External links
- Official Mr Benn Website (http://www.mrbenn.co.uk/) - uses Macromedia Flash animation
- Mr Benn (http://www.toonhound.com/mrbenn.htm) on Toonhound
- Mr Benn on 80s Nostalgia (http://www.80snostalgia.com/classictv/mrbenn/index.html) - not quite the right decade, but contains stills, and sound clips from the television series
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- What was it all about? (http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~stephenbalchin/mrbenn.html) - a page which examines Mr Benn with a view to various theories, from religious or political, to linking it with Quantum Leap and Buffy the Vampire Slayer