Mr Bean star Rowan Atkinson is threatening legal action to stop a neighbour spoiling his Millennium bash, writes Rebecca Smith.

The actor is planning a lavish party for friends, costing a reported £1.2m, in a mock dome near his home at Waterperry, near Wheatley.

But he fears that a rival party planned by neighbour Mark Litherland and fellow radio hams only yards away could interfere with his radio-controlled firework display and put his guests at risk.

Lawyers acting for Mr Atkinson, who lives at the Old Rectory, have told Mr Litherland they will seek a court injunction unless he scraps his plans. Today, Mr Atkinson appeared to be winning the battle.

Mr Litherland left his home yesterday to avoid lawyers serving a writ on him.

And today, he and his wife Siubhan were flying to Boston in the United States for a ten-day holiday. Mr Litherland said: "I'm off. It's just too much stress. My wife can't bear it any more.

"It's the arrogance of the man. If it was his 40th birthday party, it wouldn't bother me, but it is my Millennium too.

"I am just so fed up with the whole thing. If I did stay here, I would just sit and get wound up." But he said although he would not be there, the invitation to his friends remained open and they could use his house for the party as planned.

Mr Litherland had organised a Champagne dinner party for his friends and they planned to send Happy New Year messages across the airwaves to other radio enthusiasts at midnight.

But Mr Atkinson feared the radio signals would interfere with his sound system and fireworks.

He threatened to slap an injunction on Mr Litherland's party unless he gave assurances that there would be no interference. Mr Litherland had written to Mr Atkinson telling him of his plans. A letter hand-delivered to Mr Litherland on Christmas Day from Mr Atkinson's solicitors, Harbottle and Lewis, read: "It is implicit from your letter that electrical interference is to be expected from your activities which will go well beyond what is both fair, reasonable and safe for people in the surrounding neighbourhood.

"Our clients have every right to use their sound system without having interference caused to it by you. Any electrical interference with the firework display would be extremely dangerous and it would render the elaborate safety controls useless and could cause the fireworks to go off at random.

"The consequences could not bear thinking about it. "Accordingly, we must ask that you immediately review your new plans as detailed in the letter and unless you can provide us with an absolute and written assurance by noon on December 28 that your activities will not cause any electrical interference beyond the accepted norm, then we are instructed to apply for an injunction to restrain your proposed actions.

"We trust that common sense will prevail and that you will revise your plans with immediate effect so that no court action will be necessary."

Mr Litherland, 35, project manager for a Reading IT computer firm, replied denying that his party would cause interference and saying firework safety was Mr Atkinson's responsibility. He said Mr Atkinson had made no attempt to contact him personally to discuss the issue. He told the solicitors: "Despite repeated invitations to do so, I can only deduce that this is due to a high-handed arrogance beyond any I have experienced before."

Mr Litherland told the Oxford Mail that, as a compromise, he had suggested that Mr Atkinson pay for him and his guests to stay in a hotel.

Mr Atkinson refused but did offer to put the Litherlands in a hotel. The couple declined.

The star's agent, Peter Bennett-Jones, has said that Mr Atkinson hoped the matter could be settled amicably. He said he wanted both parties to be a success and for everyone to enjoy themselves in safety.

Story date: Wednesday 29 December

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.