We love David McKee here at The Animation Art Gallery. He has personally signed our prints of the iconic Mr Benn, and has joined us in the gallery to meet with fans and collectors. Read more about this wonderful event here.

David McKee (born 1935) is a British author and illustrator, chiefly of children's books and animations.

One of McKee’s most loved characters, Mr Benn was the subject of his first film series, produced by the BBC. As well as the film series, McKee created a book series featuring Mr Benn. Other characters created by McKee include Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Two Can Toucan, and King Rollo.

McKee currently resides in both London and the South of France.

"As if by magic... the shopkeeper appeared." Mr Benn is an ordinary fellow, living an ordinary life in an ordinary suburban house, at Number 52, Festive Road. One day, Mr Benn receives an invitation to a fancy dress party, and so, donning his bowler hat, he sets off to find a costume to wear. Unable to find a suitable outfit in the usual shops, he turns down a small lane and finds a shop filled with strange and unusual costumes. Inside, Mr Benn asks the fez-wearing shopkeeper if he can try on a suit of red armour; he then enters the changing room, puts on the outfit, and walks through another door... and suddenly finds himself transported back to medieval times. It is the first of many amazing and extraordinary adventures for Mr Benn… This limited edition has been created from the original artwork used in the making of the episode, originally drawn by David McKee. There are no more than 50 pieces in each edition and each one is signed and numbered by David McKee and features the publisher's embossing, and official copyright notice under the logo. 

Mr Benn’s adventures originally began in 1967 with the book ‘Mr Benn – Red Knight’, which was written and illustrated by David McKee. After it was published, the BBC commissioned McKee to create a series of adventures for television, and so thirteen fifteen-minute episodes were made; each episode was written and illustrated by McKee, and narrated by the warm and friendly tones of Ray Brooks. Using the magic costume shop, Mr Benn could become anyone - a spaceman, a balloonist, a wizard, or a cowboy, to name but a few - and each story saw him helping people and solving problems using just his wits and intelligence.

The television episodes were originally shown over two years in the ‘See-Saw’ slot on BBC2, and have since been repeated over sixty times! McKee went on to write another book, ‘123456789 Benn’ in 1970, and later adapted two of the television stories for publication (‘Hunter’ as ‘Big Game Benn’, and ‘Clown’ as ‘Big Top Benn’); two more were planned but never appeared, although ‘Spaceman’ and ‘Caveman’ were later published in 1993. Then, in 2001, McKee revisited the character for an all-new story entitled ‘Mr Benn - Gladiator’, which was then turned into a television episode and shown in 2005.

With rumours of a live-action film going into production sometime soon, starring Ben Kingsley as the shopkeeper, it looks like Mr Benn will continue to visit the costume shop for more of his fantastic adventures for many more years to come.

David McKee met fans and collectors at The Animation Art Gallery to chat about his iconic and nostalgic creation "Mr Benn".  Read more about our event with the wonderful David McKee here!