How Mr Bean turned into Mr Bendy to drive his £200,000 supercar: Actor seen lowering himself into gleaming Mercedes SLS after trip to the supermarket

It is considerably more showy than the kind of runabout most of us might pop to the supermarket in.
But perhaps this metallic red £200,000, gullwinged Mercedes SLS AMG supercar is just what Rowan Atkinson needs to lift his spirits after rumours that his marriage is in trouble.
Even so, the 59-year-old millionaire actor needed his torso to be as flexible as his famously rubbery face as he lowered himself into the gleaming two-seater after nipping out for some groceries at Waitrose.

Clumsy: The 59-year-old actor negotiated his way out of the flashy red SLS's unusual doors

Mr Bendy: He twisted artfully on to the street in Chelsea, London, to grab some groceries from Waitrose

If getting in to the driver’s seat made him look as ungraceful as his bumbling comic creation Mr Bean, no one could argue that the SLS - which has a top speed of 199mph and does 0 to 62mph in 3.7 seconds - is far more impressive than that other recent addition to his car collection, a Skoda.
Last year the Blackadder star was seen going out for a spot of shopping in a relatively modest £18,000 Skoda Superb, a brand once the butt of countless jokes about poor performance.
It is in stark contrast to the SLS - and the 240mph McLaren F1, for which he paid £634,500 in 1997 and which has since soared in value to £3 million.

Mercedes SLS AMG loop in a tunnel advertisement

It is a far cry from his appearance last year in a Skoda, a brand once the butt of jokes about poor performance

He emerged in the latest addition to his sports car fleet after rumours arose that his 23-year marriage is troubled

The actor, thought to be worth £71million, also owns a vintage Ford Falcon, an Aston Martin and a BMW

Last year Atkinson successfully claimed £910,000 from his insurers to fix the McLaren - the highest repair bill ever recorded in Britain - after crashing it into a tree in 2011, leading to speculation that he had plumped for the Skoda because he wanted something a little more conservative.
The state of his 23-year marriage to wife Sunetra was called into question recently when he failed to turn up for his nephew Christopher’s wedding.
The couple, who have two children, have not been seen in public together for some months.

He has not been seen publicly with wife Sunetra months ago, and recently missed his nephew's wedding

In the bag: Clutching his shopping, he swings his head back to miss the protruding doors that lift upwards

Last year he successfully claimed £910,000 insurance to fix the McClaren, Britain's highest ever repair bill

Other set of wheels: Rowan Atkinson, in his Mr Bean guise, arrives in the character's Mini at a film premiere

Atkinson met Sunetra, the 52-year-old daughter of an Indian engineer from Ealing, West London, in the late Eighties when she was working as a make-up artist at the BBC.
They were last photographed together at Goodwood, West Sussex, in August 2012.
Atkinson, said to be worth £71million, owns an impressive collection of cars that includes a Honda NSX, a Jaguar Mk7, an Aston Martin DB2, a vintage Ford Falcon, a 1939 BMW 328 and a Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe.

DM