Mr Men return with six new characters

Children’s favourites the Mr Men are being revived with the creation of six new characters, it was revealed today.

The adventures of Mr Cool, Mr Rude, Mr Good, Little Miss Bad, Little Miss Scary and Little Miss Whoops are the first additions to the series in 15 years.

The original books were created by Roger Hargreaves, who died in 1988. Now his son Adam has written and drawn six new characters, to be released later this year.

Adam was the inspiration for the first of the Mr Men books when he asked his father what a tickle looked like.

Hargreaves duly wrote Mr Tickle in 1971 and went on to create 42 more Mr Men characters, with 30 Little Miss books following in the 1980s.

They are the most successful children’s characters in the world – over 100 million have been sold around the globe and they have been translated into 15 languages.

In 1974 they were turned into a TV series narrated by Arthur Lowe and went on to become a merchandising phenomenon.

Adam Hargreaves took over the multi-million pound business after his father died of a stroke at the age of 53. He now runs it with the help of his sister Amelia.

A spokeswoman for publishers Egmont Books said: “Adam fell into the role of looking after the Mr Men after Roger died.

“He finished off some of the books his father had been in the middle of writing, but this is the first time he has created any completely new stories.

“They are wonderful books and I think they will be just as popular as the originals.”

The new books will continue to credit Roger Hargreaves as author because Adam has written them in memory of his father, she said.

Four of the books will be published in April, while Mr Good and Little Miss Whoops will follow in September.