Bonjour Monsieur Rude... He's the new impolite Mr Man and, yes, he's French!

[Joe Chi Minh]

by Steve Mayall in today's Mail on Sunday:

PRODUCERS of the revamped Mr Men television series have risked upsetting our friends across the Channel by making new character Mr Rude a Frenchman who invites children to pull his finger - and then breaks wind.

(snip)

The show's makers, Chorion, claim it is not meant to cause offence but that the English view of the French lacking a little politeness is well known.

(snip)

The programme has already been sold to a TV station in America and could be sold to other countries around the world, including France. A Five spokesman said: Mr Men is a comedy show for four to seven year olds. The fact Mr Rude has a French accent is meant to be light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek and no offence to the French people is intended.

A spokesman for the French ambassador to the UK refused to comment but a source at the French Embassy said, "It is obviously meant in a light-hearted way but it won't improve Anglo-French relations."


Wonderfully dry. Incidentally, SocGen's young star, Jerome Herviel, has become such a immensely popular cult-figure in France that girls are wearing "I'm Jerome Herviel's girl-friend" T-shirts!