Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean is a British situation comedy television programme series of fourteen 25-minute episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was started transmission on ITV on 1 June 1989 until final television episode's "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" was ceased transmission on ITV on 15 November 1995. Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson while he was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process.^[1] Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.^[1]

 

During its five-year run, the series gained large UK audience figures, including 18.74 million for the 1991 episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean".^[2] The series has been the recipient of a number of international awards, including the Rose d'Or. The show has been sold in 245 territories worldwide, and has inspired an animated cartoon spin-off, two feature films, and an appearance at the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

Origins and influences

The character of Mr. Bean was developed while Atkinson was studying for his master's degree in Electrical Engineering at Oxford University. A sketch featuring the character was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 1980s.^[3] A similar character called Robert Box, played by Atkinson, appeared in the one-off 1979 ITV sitcom Canned Laughter, which also featured routines used in the 1997 film Bean.^[4] In 1987, one of Mr. Bean's earliest appearances occurred at the "Just For Laughs" comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When programme co-ordinators were scheduling Atkinson into the festival programme, Atkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill rather than the English-speaking programme. Having no French dialogue in his act at all, programme co-ordinators could not understand why Atkinson wanted to perform on the French bill. As it turned out, Atkinson's act at the festival was a test platform for the Mr. Bean character and Atkinson wanted to see how the silent character's physical comedy would fare on an international stage with a non-English speaking audience.^[5]

 

The name of the character was not decided until after the first programme had been produced, with a number of other vegetable-influenced names, such as "Mr. Cauliflower", being explored.^[6] Atkinson cited the earlier comedy character Monsieur Hulot, created by French comedian and director Jacques Tati, as an influence on the character.^[7] Stylistically, Mr. Bean is also very similar to early silent films, relying purely upon physical comedy, with Mr. Bean speaking very little dialogue (although like other live-action TV series of the time, it features a laugh track). This has allowed the series to be sold worldwide without any significant changes to dialogue.^[5][8] In November 2012, Atkinson told newspaper The Daily Telegraph he was looking at retiring the character, as "someone in their 50s being childlike becomes a little sad".

Characters and recurring props

Mr. Bean

The title character, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a childish buffoon who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He lives alone in his small flat in Highbury, and is almost always seen in his trademark tweed jacket and a skinny red tie. He also usually wears a digital calculator watch. Mr. Bean rarely speaks, and when he does, it is generally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. His first name (he names himself "Bean" to others) and profession, if any, are never mentioned. In the first film adaptation, "Mr." appears on his passport in the "first name" field, and he is shown employed as a guard at London's National Gallery.^[9] In Mr. Bean's Holiday, however, his name is listed on his passport as "Rowan", the actor's first name.^[10]

 

Mr. Bean often seems unaware of basic aspects of the way the world works, and the programme usually features his attempts at what would normally be considered simple tasks, such as going swimming, using a television set, redecorating or going to church. The humour largely comes from his original (and often absurd) solutions to problems and his total disregard for others when solving them, his pettiness, and occasional malevolence. At the beginning of episode two onwards, Mr. Bean falls from the sky in a beam of light, accompanied by a choir singing Ecce homo qui est faba ("Behold the man who is a bean").

 

These opening sequences were initially in black and white in episodes two and three, and were intended by the producers to show his status as an "ordinary man cast into the spotlight". However, later episodes showed Mr. Bean dropping from the night sky in a deserted London street against the backdrop of St Paul's Cathedral. At the end of episodes three and six he is also shown being sucked right back up into the sky in the respective background scenes (black scene in episode 3 and street scene in episode 6). Atkinson himself has acknowledged that Bean "has a slightly alien aspect to him".^[11] In the animated series (episode 38, "Double Trouble") he is taken inside a spacecraft with "aliens" who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. In an obvious homage, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light similar to the opening of the original Mr. Bean series. Whether Bean himself is an extraterrestrial is not clear. He lives in Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, London.

Irma Gobb

Mr. Bean's girlfriend, Irma Gobb (played by Matilda Ziegler), appears in a number of episodes. In "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", the character is simply credited as "the girlfriend." She is treated relatively inconsiderately by Bean, who appears to regard her more as a friend and companion than a love interest. However, he does become jealous when she dances with another man at a disco in "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", and she certainly expects him to propose to her on Christmas Day in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", with his failure to do so resulting in her leaving him for good. The character does not appear in any subsequent episodes, however, she later appears in the animated series. The spin-off book Mr. Bean's Diary (1993) states that Mr. Bean met Irma Gobb at a local library.^[12]

Teddy

Teddy is Mr. Bean's teddy bear and perhaps Mr. Bean's best friend. The little brown bear is a knitted oddity with button eyes and sausage-shaped limbs, invariably ending up broken in half or in various other states of destruction and disfiguration. Although Teddy is inanimate, Mr. Bean often pretends it is alive. For example, when Mr. Bean hypnotises Teddy, he snaps his fingers and the bear's head falls backwards as if it has fallen asleep instantly (Bean used his finger to prop Teddy's head up). Mr. Bean behaves as if the bear is real, buying it a Christmas present or trying not to wake it in the mornings.

 

The bear is often privy to Mr. Bean's various schemes and doubles as a dish cloth or paint brush in an emergency; it has been decapitated ("Mr. Bean in Room 426"), used as his paint brush ("Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean") and shrunk in the wash ("Tee Off, Mr. Bean"). Teddy is also Mr. Bean's "pet" in "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" and is used to win a pet show. The Teddy that was used in filming sits in the windshield of the replica of Mr. Bean's mini that is on display at the National Motor Museum. Over the years, Teddy has undergone several changes. When it debuted on "The Trouble with Mr. Bean", it had a smaller head. Two episodes later, its head reached its current size, but its "eye" was not present until Bean placed gold thumb tacks on its face. The "eyes" have since been replaced with two small white buttons sewn over Teddy's face, giving it a distinct image.

Mr. Bean's car

Mr. Bean's car, a 1976-1980 British Leyland Mini 1000, developed its own character of sorts over the series and was central to several antics, such as Mr. Bean getting dressed in it, driving while sitting in an armchair strapped to the roof, starting it with a number of locks and keys, or attempting to avoid a parking garage toll by driving out through the entrance. At first, it was an orange 1969 BMC Mini MK II (registration RNT 996H), but this was destroyed in an off-screen crash at the end of the first episode. From then on, the car was a 1976 – 1980 model (registration SLW 287R), Austin Citron Green in colour^[13] with a matte black bonnet.

 

The Mini also had a number of innovative security measures. For example, Bean uses a bolt-latch and padlock, rather than the lock fitted to the car, and removes the steering wheel instead of the key. These formed a running joke in several episodes, at one point deterring a car thief. However, after changing parking spaces with another car and exact same make in "Back to School Mr. Bean", his car is crushed by a tank. Fortunately for him, his padlock still remains, and he hurries off to "hijack" another car with the same colour scheme. In some episodes Mr. Bean has a long-running feud with the unseen driver of a light blue Reliant Regal Supervan III (registration GRA 26K), which will usually get turned over, crashed out of its parking space and so forth by Mr. Bean in his Mini. This conflict originated in the first episode, when the Reliant's driver held the Mini up on the way to a mathematics exam, and subsequently became another running joke throughout the series.

 

Both the Mini and the Reliant re-appeared as characters in the animated Mr. Bean cartoons, and the mini in the film Mr. Bean's Holiday, with the registration YGL 572T. Also seen is a left hand drive version of his Mini, owned by the character Sabine. For the 1997 feature film Bean (film) a sequence involving the Mini driving through Harrod's Department Store was shot, but this was not included in the final cut.^[14][15]After filming ended, one of the original Minis was sold to Kariker Kars to be hired for various events. It was then temporarily displayed as a major attraction at the Rover Group's museum. In 1997, it was purchased by the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum and was on display for while, but is no longer there, having been sold; it went to America with another. There is one currently nearing the end of a nut and bolt restoration in the south of England. A replica has been built by BMW Germany and another replica is on display at National Motor Museum, Beaulieu^[16] This is the car that was used to promote the animated series.

Hubert & Rupert

Rupert & Hubert are friends of Mr. Bean who only appeared in "Do it Yourself Mr. Bean." They attended Mr. Bean's New Year's Eve party. They got bored, altered Mr. Bean's living room clock, and fled to a nearby party, with Hubert leaving his hat at Bean's. After the party Hubert was last seen going for his hat during which he got caught in the blast of white paint. Neither are seen after "Do it yourself Mr. Bean".

Other characters

Although Mr. Bean is the only significant human character in the programme, others appear, usually as foils for his various antics. Other than his girlfriend there are more characters in each episode. However, several notable British actors and comedians appear alongside Atkinson in sketches as various one-off supporting characters, including Richard Briers, Angus Deayton, Nick Hancock, Paul Bown, Caroline Quentin, Danny La Rue, Roger Lloyd Pack, David Schneider and Richard Wilson.^[17]

Episodes

Main article: List of Mr. Bean episodes

Fourteen, non-sequential episodes of Mr. Bean were produced spanning seven years. Thirteen were made for broadcast on ITV & feature length special using footage from these episodes was also made as a 14-television episode (Mr. Bean until Hair by Mr. Bean of London)& 1-compilation episode (The Best Bits of Mr. Bean). Additionally the character has been used in one-off sketches, guest appearances and television commercial in the United Kingdom. All episodes were produced by Tiger Television from 1 June 1989 until 1 March 1993 and later was renamed as Tiger Aspect Productions from 10 January 1994 until 15 November 1995 was started productions on 10 January 1994 for early transmission by the Thames Television from 1 June 1989 until 31 December 1992 and was now moved transmission to Central Independent Television from 1 March 1993 until 15 November 1995.

Music

Mr. Bean features a choral theme tune written by Howard Goodall and performed by the Choir of Southwark Cathedral (later Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford). The words sung during the title sequences are in Latin:

• Ecce homo qui est faba – "Behold the man who is a bean" (sung at beginning)
• Finis partis primae – "End of part one" (sung before the advertisement break)
• Pars secunda – "Part two" (sung after the advertisement break)
• Vale homo qui est faba – "Farewell, man who is a bean" (sung at end)

The theme was later released on Goodall's album Choral Works. Goodall also wrote an accompanying music track for many episodes. The first episode of Mr. Bean did not feature the choral theme tune, but instead an up-beat instrumental piece, also composed by Howard Goodall, which was more an incidental tune than a theme. It was used while Bean drove between locations intimidating the blue Reliant, and as such, was sometimes heard in later episodes whenever Bean's nemesis is seen. In the episode "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" Howard Goodall's choral theme tune for another Richard Curtis comedy, The Vicar of Dibley, is heard playing on a car stereo. In Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean., while playing with Queen's Royal Guards figurines and the nativity set, he hums "The British Grenadiers", which was quoted in the theme to Blackadder Goes Forth.^[18]

 

Mr. Bean appears in a music video made for the 1991 Comic Relief fund raising single by Hale and Pace called The Stonk.^[19] Mr. Bean also appeared in the music video for Boyzone's single Picture of You in 1997.^[20] The song featured on the soundtrack to the first Bean movie. Mr Bean also made a Comic Relief record in 1992. This was (I Want To Be) Elected and was credited to "Mr Bean and Smear Campaign featuring Bruce Dickinson". This was a cover of an Alice Cooper song and reached number 9 in the UK singles chart.^[21]

Awards

The first episode won the Golden Rose, as well as two other major prizes at the 1991 Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival in Montreux.^[22] In the UK, the episode "The Curse of Mr. Bean" was nominated for a number of BAFTA awards; "Best Light Entertainment Programme" in 1991, "Best Comedy" (Programme or Series) in 1991, and Atkinson was nominated three times for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" in 1991 and 1994.^[23]