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Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson has signed up to star as Fagin in the forthcoming West End stage production of Oliver.
The BBC and Andrew Lloyd Webber are searching for a new Nancy and three boys to take turns to play Oliver in the show. Atkinson, 53, said playing Charles Dickens' fictional criminal was a long-held wish.
He said: "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. 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 ... seemed like too good an opportunity to miss."
