Episode no. Episode 1 Produced by John Howard Davies | Directed by John Howard Davies | |
Written by Ben Elton
Richard Curtis
Rowan Atkinson Featured music "All Creatures of our God and King" Original air date 1 January 1990 (1990-January-01) | ||
"Mr. Bean" is the first episode of the television series Mr. Bean, the only episode written by Ben Elton, 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 watched by 13.45 million viewers when it 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.
Contents
Act 1: The Exam
Heading for an important maths exam, Mr. Bean races in his Mini to the college he has been attending, running a blue Reliant Regal off the road and nearly overturning it. Arriving within the classroom the exam is taking place in, he finds himself sitting down next to a student (Paul Bown) 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 (Rudolph Walker) announcing that the exam will take place in two minutes, Bean prepares for it by 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 for 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 the Reliant Regal off the road once again in the process. Reaching the beachfront, 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 (Roger Sloman) wearing sunglasses sitting in a nearby deckchair. Not wishing to travel back up the steps 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, upon picking up his white cane as he leaves the beach.
Act 3: The Church
Following his beach outing, Bean soon leaves 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 man (Richard Briers) attending. 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 as he doesn't have a tissue. Finding the sermon to be very dull, he does everything to keep himself awake, eventually trying to put a sweet into his mouth. However, the watchful eye of the man next to him causes Bean 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 about to be sung. Unable to share a bible, 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.
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
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 late 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 exam hall, 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. The exam hall is actually Stanmer House and the church is the Stanmer Church located next door.
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.