Man vs. Baby has landed on Netflix, and director David Kerr has confirmed fans’ suspicions about the use of AI to enhance the baby’s performance in the Christmas special.
Hannah McGreevy, Assistant Editor for Screen Time Assistant Editor
20:50, 13 Dec 2025
Rowan Atkinson opened up about filming with the babies(Image: Netflix)
Man Vs. Baby, featuring Rowan Atkinson of Mr Bean fame, has arrived on Netflix hot on the heels of the 2022 hit Man vs. Bee. The festive four-part special sees Atkinson reprise his role as Trevor Bingley, who finds himself house-sitting for the wealthy over the Christmas period.
The plot thickens when Trevor unexpectedly becomes responsible for a missing infant, resulting in comedic chaos. Whilst Atkinson’s earlier on-screen companion was an animal, he now shares the spotlight with a six-month-old baby, prompting viewers to question whether artificial intelligence played a part in bringing the performance to life.
Since the series depends heavily on a genuine child actor for numerous pivotal scenes, it’s hardly surprising that director David Kerr has acknowledged viewers’ hunches regarding AI usage. In conversation with LBB, he detailed the array of methods employed throughout filming, including enlisting identical twin infants, utilising CGI and incorporating ‘machine learning’ to refine the babies’ facial expressions.
Rowan Atkinson is back for Man Vs. Baby(Image: Netflix)
Machine learning (ML) falls under the umbrella of artificial intelligence, confirming that the production did indeed harness AI technology, whilst simultaneously working with actual human babies. Kerr shed light on why deploying multiple approaches to streamline filming was essential, given that infants could only remain on set for a maximum of two hours daily and a “six-month-old isn’t going to take direction”.
He described conversations with Framestore’s VFX supervisor, Rob Duncan, about utilising AI technology, saying: “What we attempted to do is right at the cutting edge of what’s possible. We wanted to have a full CGI baby that looked totally indistinguishable from the hero baby, but would have exactly the action or expression any specific scene demanded.
“So we started with a performance capture session. Essentially pointing five cameras at each of our hero babies for a couple of hours in the hope of capturing a full gamut of expressions, waking, sleeping…”
Atkinson also highlighted the challenges posed by scheduling regulations for infant performers, describing them as quite “tricky”, which is where CGI technology proved invaluable. He explained: “The scheduling is tricky with babies.
“So we have identical twins, the hero babies, and then we had twin crawling babies because the hero babies couldn’t crawl. So that’s where the CGI comes in, when you implant the face of the hero baby into the crawling baby.”
Man Vs. Baby is now on Netflix(Image: Netflix)
The Netflix description for Man Vs. Baby states: “As Christmas approaches, a blundering-all-the-way dad juggles housesitting a posh London penthouse with an unexpected pickle: caring for a lost baby.”
Joining Atkinson in the cast are Susannah Fielding, Steve Edge, Sunil Patel, Alanah Bloor, Claudia Blakley, Ashley Jensen and Sunetra Sarker. During an earlier exclusive conversation with Reach Screen Time, Atkinson revealed that he “didn’t enjoy” the production experience, reports the Express.
He confessed: “I can’t think of anything that I enjoyed filming. But that’s just me when I’m filming, so I apologise for that.” The Blackadder actor also shared some critique of the show, remarking: “I think the show is very good, but I can also see holes in it. I keep thinking, hmm.”
Man Vs. Baby is currently available for streaming on Netflix.
