Father-of-two Bean, 37, even begged 21-year-old university student Louise Benson to go with him to Turkey where he is filming a new series of his top-rated TV series, Sharpe. 

Bean spent hours chatting to Louise as she pulled pints at the Rose and Crown pub in fashionable Highgate, North London. They often left the pub together after it closed, while his actress wife Melanie Hill stayed at home seven miles away in Totteridge. 

Looking mean and moody in a black leather jacket, the star of Bond film Goldeneye didn’t seem to care who was listening as he poured out his heart to Louise. 

He soon became a Crown regular and took Louise off to nearby pubs during her breaks, where he would tell her of the trials and tribulations of being a famous actor. 

And when Bean wasn’t on the scene, Louise was happy to chat to staff and customers about her handsome date. 

Friends said if Louise was not hopelessly infatuated with Bean, it appeared he was with her. 

Louise first got to know Bean after he split from Melanie – zany Aveline in the BBC comedy Bread. 

Bean’s boozing and obsession with Sheffield United was blamed for the split and he moved into a bachelor flat in Muswell Hill earlier this year. 

When he decided three weeks ago to go back to Melanie and their daughters – nine-year-old Lorna and Molly, five – Bean still found it hard to say goodbye to brunette Louise. 

He even begged Louise to go with him to Turkey – offering to pay for her flight to Istanbul. 

She refused, but confided to staff at the Crown that she had been phoning Bean and hoped to meet up with him again when he finished filming. 

“Obviously, he was out to charm her and she responded,” a pub regular said last night. 

“Of the two, Louise is the more intelligent – so presumably he found something else to talk to her about, apart from Sheffield United.” 

Last night Louise had quit the bar job, which she took during a summer break from her English course at Manchester University. 

Louise said: “Sean is a lovely and interesting guy, but we know each other purely as friends. We haven’t had a sexual relationship. 

“I met him while I was working as a barmaid, and he came into the pub. We get on well together. 

“I have been out for drinks with him. One is allowed to do that. One is allowed to have male friends in this day and age. 

“But I hate all this attention. It destroys a lot of relationships between famous and non-famous people. 

“I am a private person and don’t seek fame. I did not get to know Sean because he was an actor. Frankly, I didn’t think he was that famous. 

“”I have spoken to Sean in Turkey, but so what? It was just a chat. I have done nothing wrong.”” 

When Louise was asked about Bean’s offer to join him in Turkey, she replied: “No comment.”” 

Bean was more guarded in talking about his relationship with Louise. “I don’t know what you mean,” he replied when we contacted him at his luxury hotel, at Adapazari, 90 miles outside Istanbul. 

And he still had “nothing to say” when he was asked about begging Louise to follow him to Turkey. 

Hours later a gang of Turkish heavies attached to the TV crew let their fists do the talking, hammering on the hotel doors of our reporter and photographer for 40 minutes as they demanded to be let in. 

Phone lines to both rooms were cut as one of the men shouted: “You’re in big trouble.” Our team were only allowed to leave after being barricaded in their rooms for 90 minutes by agreeing to leave the city immediately. 

Sean and Melanie have been together for 14 years and friends say he is terrified of losing his children. He could also lose up to pounds 1million of his growing fortune if he split from Melanie for good.