Mr Benn Returns to Ads for The Insurance Emporium

"

Despite only running for 13 episodes 45 years ago (plus a 2005 special), children's TV show Mr Benn, the story of a man who would visit a fancy dress store and have an adventure based on the outfit he wore, has somehow managed to remain in the popular imagination ever since. Now, he appears in a new series of adverts by The Chase and Nexus Studios for The Insurance Emporium.

As directed and hand-drawn by Felix Massie [see one of his original drawings below], the series of ads begin with Safari. As usual, Mr Benn goes to the costume shop, the shopkeeper appears 'as if by magic', and Mr Benn goes on an adventure. However, it being the 21st Century, he needs insurance before he goes on another adventure (cue 'health and safety gone mad' chorus). That's where The Insurance Emporium step in.

This idea of the '70s that Mr Benn represents meeting the 21st century was central to Nexus' concept for the ad. As Massie explained, “we wanted to treat Mr Benn as if he had been cryogenically frozen for 40 years and has suddenly woken up. Now when he walks down the street, kids go by on micro scooters instead of go-karts and there are kebabs strewn on the floor."" 20th century meets 21st on the practical side of things too, with Massie drawing on textured paper with ink pens and watercolours before being scanned and animated digitally.

Although the agency and production company had the idea of bringing Mr Benn back to life from the 1970s, he never really went away. As well as being shown on digital TV channels like Nick Jr. as late as 2010 (and this writer remembers watching it on ITV in their childhood in the '90s), and brought back for a one-off special in 2005, the resident of 52 Festive Road, whose creator has said has the full name of Mr William Benn, has also appeared in at least two previous adverts.

The first of these was in 1992, when lemonade brand R White's famed 'secret lemonade drinker' was revealed to be just one of Mr Benn's fancy dress-based escapades.

Then in 2013, King Rollo Films brought the character back for a Christmas-thmeed short film for menswear brand Mr Porter, championing the character as a style icon for his neat and clean take on business wear and love of dressing up. It also shows Mr Benn using a smartphone, which is fun.