Best I'd Do Anything news for ages, this. Rowan Atkinson is going to be playing Fagin in the Lloyd Webber musical. Atkinson, who is best known as Mr Bean, Edmund Blackadder, or the one saving grace in Love Actually, said the role had been a dream for years.

"In the 1980s I enjoyed doing a lot of West End theatre and since then have been distracted very much by Mr Bean and film-making," he said. "I had been thinking for some time about returning to the stage and the idea of the role of Fagin, which has long intrigued me. Some time ago I even played the role in a school production [so it] seemed like too good an opportunity to miss."

The musical opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in December and will feature a cast 100-strong cast. Hmm, I wonder if there are any press passes left. I've got a plan so cunning you could brush your teeth with it...

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