Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean episode)

"Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean episode)"

"Mr. Bean" is the first episode of the television series Mr. Bean, and featured three sketches including Mr. Bean trying to cheat in an exam, and dealing with a boring church service. The episode, a pilot at the time, was originally aired on ITV on 1 January 1990, and did not include title cards; these were included within the remastered DVD release of the episode. Rudolph Walker, who appears in this episode, would later co-star with Atkinson in The Thin Blue Line, while there is a cameo appearance by theme music composer Howard Goodall.

Plot

Act 1 :The Exam

Heading off for an important mathematics exam in his Mini, Mr. Bean races to the college he has been attending, running a blue Reliant three wheeler off the road and nearly tipping it over. Arriving within the classroom the exam is taking place in, he finds himself sitting down next to a student who is preparing to tackle his exam on calculus, in direct contrast to himself as he had revised for his on trigonometry. Upon the invigilator announcing that the exam will take place in two minutes, Bean prepares for it be producing a pen, then a few more, before bringing out an obscene amount of spares, along with two toys and an alarm clock that he sets up to ring when the exam has finished. Upon the exam starting, Bean finds to his horror that an envelope on his desk contains a paper on calculus and not trigonometry, the subject he had been revising, and becomes frustrated on how to complete it. Seeking to overcome this issue, he opts to cheat by copying the other student's work, only to fail badly at every attempt he makes to see what his fellow student has written, eventually making himself give up and let the exam come to an end. As it nearly does, the invigilator gives instructions to the students on what to do with their papers, effectively making Bean realise there had been two exam papers in the envelope - one for calculus on green paper, that he removed, and another on white paper covering trigonometry, which he hadn't noticed. Frantically, he removes the paper and attempts to complete it, only to run out of time to do so, just as his alarm clock goes off.

Act 2 :The Beach

Following his exam, Bean heads to the beach, running off the Reliant once again in the process. Reaching the shoreline, he looks forward to his swim in the sea, but finds himself unable to change into his swimming trunks without exposing himself to a man wearing sunglasses sitting in a deckchair nearby. Not wishing to travel back up to the steep steps in the cliff he climbed down in order to change, he devises a clever plan to get into his trunks without being exposed. Bean manages to removes his trousers, after putting his trunks over them, managing to carefully remove them while ensuring the man doesn't notice anything odd when glancing over. Although this plan works, the man soon reveals he was blind the whole time upon picking up his white cane as he leaves the beach.

Act 3 :The Church

After spending his time at the beach, Bean soon heads off to attend a church service, pushing out the Reliant from its parking space near to the church. Heading inside, he arrives as the opening hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save, is nearly finished and takes a seat next to another attendee. As the vicar gives his sermon (voiced by Rowan Atkinson), Bean sneezes loudly, and finds himself needing to wipe his nose, effectively using the lining of one of his coat pockets to do so due to a lack of a tissue or a handkerchief. Finding the sermon to be increasingly boring, he does everything to keep himself awake, eventually trying to put a sweet into his mouth. However, his neighbour causes him to conceal this a few times, accidentally making him drop it inside his shirt just as the next hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King, is to be sung. Unable to share a hymnbook, Bean sings mainly gibberish except during the chorus, where he loudly sings off-key "Alleluia". While the hymn is going on, he manages to move the sweet through his shirt and his trousers, picking it up off the ground. As the hymn comes to an end, Bean attempts to eat it, only for his neighbouring attendee to look his way and make him accidentally put it into the pocket he used to wipe his nose. and the hymn sung as Bean enters the church is

The episode ends with Mr. Bean driving in his Mini, whereupon he takes a wrong turn and crashes it. Coming out unscathed, Bean promptly runs off down the other road, shortly after a wheel from his car bounces from the accident and rolls against the pavement.

Cast

• Paul Bown (Student)
• Rudolph Walker (Invigilator)
• Roger Sloman (Blind man)
• Howard Goodall (Church organist - cameo appearance)
• Richard Briers (Mr. Sprout)

Production

Following success with his character during his introduction at the comedy festival in Montreal, Canada in 1987, a script was written by Ben Elton, the only one he made for the programme, as a pilot. Filming of the episode was done during 1989. As the episode was merely a pilot, it was simply called "Mr. Bean", and did not feature any opening titles or end credits, nor the feature choral music and street/spotlight themes that would be introduced later on. Instead the episode's title was superimposed along with initial credits during the scene of Bean's journey to the college, while the credits were done during the final scene of the episode; for the remastered Region 1 and 20th Anniversary Region 2 DVD versions, the opening titles were removed and the regular titles added.

Reception

13.45 million viewers watched this episode on the original transmission.

Awards and legacy

The episode won the 1990 Golden Rose award, with the church service sketch later performed live by both Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton as part of a comedy tour in 1991. This same sketch inspired the storyline for "Ray of Sunshine" from Mr. Bean, The Animated Series, and the opening scene of the movie "Bean".

Censors

The scene of Act 2 where Mr. Bean removes his trousers after putting on his swimming trunks was cut out for the broadcasts on Disney Channel.

External links

• "Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean episode)" at IMDb