Mr. Bean, also known as Mr. Bean: The Animated Series, is an animated television sitcom produced by Tiger Aspect Productions and, only for its first three seasons, by Richard Purdum Productions and Varga Holdings. It is based on the British live-action series of the same name, and the characters included Mr. Bean, Irma Gobb, Teddy, and the Reliant Supervan's mysterious driver, with the new addition of Mrs. Wicket, Bean's landlady, and her evil cat Scrapper. In February 2001, the series was officially announced, with it premièring shortly afterwards.
The series again featured little actual dialogue, with most being either little sound bites or mumbling, mild slapstick, with occasional sexually suggestive moments. Rowan Atkinson provided the voice for Bean; additionally, all of the animated Bean actions are taken from Atkinson himself. Other characters' voices are provided by Matilda Ziegler, Sally Grace, Jon Glover, Gary Martin, Rupert Degas, Lorelei King and Sophie-Louise Dann.
Despite the series' actual title being simply Mr. Bean, some broadcasters referred to this series as Mr. Bean: plus a subtitle for differentiating from the original live-action series. Disney Channel refers to this series as "Mr. Bean - The Animated Series" and the original live-action series is listed as "Mr. Bean - Live Action Series" in their schedule. The German version, aired on Super RTL, is titled "Mr. Bean - Die Cartoon-Serie".
In January 2014, ITV announced a revival of the animated series, with Rowan Atkinson returning as Mr. Bean, along with other cast members reprising their roles. The new series now features 52 new episodes; the new episodes began airing from February 16, 2015 to March 10, 2016 on CITV. The revival of the series now contains more actual dialogue than in the original series, which mostly featured little sound effects.
Mr. Bean (voiced by Rowan Atkinson) – the title character who serves as the main protagonist of the series. He wants every environment around him to be clean and out of trouble.
Teddy – Mr Bean's lifelong best friend. As a stuffed companion, Mr. Bean assumes Teddy is alive.
Mrs. Julia Wicket (voiced by Sally Grace) – Mr. Bean's demeaning landlady, an old woman who occasionally serves as the main antagonist. She is the owner of the evil one-eyed cat named Scrapper. She gets angry at Bean quite easily, but they occasionally have a good relationship. Her favourite TV show is wrestling.
Irma Gobb (voiced by Matilda Ziegler) – Mr. Bean's girlfriend. A sweet girl, who probably has a sort of degree in something or other. She usually stays long enough to get a free meal.
Lottie – Irma's teddy bear. She looks almost identical to Mr. Bean's Teddy, except she has eyelashes and a red bow. She's been seen as Teddy's girlfriend, but Bean does not accept them for a relationship.
Mr Bean's Mini – Mr. Bean's loved green Mini. It is green as seen throughout the whole series, including the live action episodes (except for the first episode in the live action version, which was orange, and destroyed after a stunt). The plate number of his car is "STE 952R".
Reliant Supervan III – the three-wheeler blue car known as a Reliant Regal usually happens to be a victim of a collision when Mr. Bean speeds up his Mini, similar to the live action episodes. Its plate number is "DUW 742", as seen in "Royal Bean". The driver of Reliant is only seen once in "Young Bean" where he appears as a small kid driving a little Reliant pedalcar.
The Burglars – a duo of unnamed crooks who frequently commit crimes while in various disguises. One is large and beefy, and the other is pint-sized. As supporting antagonists, they always fail after Mr. Bean comes up to them in his plans. They appeared on the episode: "Missing Teddy", "Homeless", "Wanted", "In the Pink", and "Bean's Bounty". Finally, in "Young Bean" the Burglars were the bullies of Mr. Bean himself. Once in "Missing Teddy" the burglars stole Mr. Bean's teddy bear by disguising themselves as a baby-parent duo. The large burglar makes a cameo appearance in "Toothache" in the waiting room.
The Bruisers – On the 35th episode of Season 4 entitled "Halloween," the initially unnamed neighbors of Mr. Bean was revealed as the Bruiser family when they are asked by Mrs. Wicket to sign a ceasefire agreement with Mr. Bean. The Bruisers are portrayed as a working-class family depicted as stereotype, obese, boring and stupid people. The father, Bruiser Sr., is portrayed as the most stupid in the whole family and is shown as a very aggressive and cruel person towards Mr. Bean. His wife is a lazy person. The couple have three rambunctious and naughty children. The family is shown to be in a constant disagreement with each other. Family appearances: "Neighbourly Bean" as main antagonists, "Scaredy Bean" as cameos, "Super Spy" as "crooks". Father and son appearances: "SuperMarrow", "Chocks Away", "The Ball", " Halloween".
Tutati – the black diabolical dog owned by the Bruisers. He is depicted as a very aggressive dog and will hurt Bean for no apparent reason. His hobbies are biting, barking, and scratching. He is also gullible as Mr. Bean is able to fool him by disguising as a female dog. Dog appearances: "A Running Battle", "Inventor", and "Neighbourly Bean".
Queen Elizabeth II – Mr. Bean is a fan of the Queen. She only appears in three episodes, "A Royal Makeover" on television in the film The Queen Indoors, in "Royal Bean" where she herself knights Mr. Bean after he saves one of her Welsh Corgis, and in "Magpie" on television.
The Mime – a French immigrant Mime. In his first appearance in "Mime Games" he snuck into Mr. Bean's home. Then in "Art Thief", he was in Paris near The Eiffel Tower showing some people and a couple of Mimes; he was nearly knocked over by Mr. Bean's Mini. He was last seen in the whole series as a main character drowning in a pond at Hyde Park. He did make a cameo appearance in "Haircut" waiting for his hair to be cut only on DVD.
Harry – He only appears in "The Visitor". He and Mr. Bean were once classmates and childhood friends, even possessing a catch-phrase of sorts. However, Harry later turns out not to be very nice, as he eats all of Mr Bean's food, buys many food in the grocery store, and steals Teddy. Bean then gets his revenge by taking him to a restaurant, where he orders everything on the menu, and then leaves him with the bill. Harry cannot pay the bill, so he has to wash the dishes.
Restaurant Owner – A snooty, French-American owner who owns a fancy French restaurant. He is a stereotypical French person; being snooty and greedy. His dialogue is very audible and his crew-workers include an overweight chef, a blond-haired waiter, and two suave violinists (one of them loves Irma).
Roxy – (voiced by Sophie-Louise Dann) - A popular singer whom Mr. Bean has a crush on and tries to get autographs from her. She gives Mr. Bean one in a handkerchief with a lipstick mark after her strict security guard prevents him.
Traffic Warden – A woman who issues tickets to the parking violations and also giving fees for car parking. However, every time Mr. Bean sees her, he parks his car elsewhere so that the traffic warden will not ticketed or give a fee on him. A traffic warden is first and only appeared on the live episode, "The Trouble with Mr. Bean".
Mr. Pod – (Voiced by Rowan Atkinson) - A clone of Mr. Bean from outer space. He only appears in "Double Trouble".
Dr. Fangpuller – A dentist and he only appears in "Toothache".
Country man – An unnamed man usually wearing cowboy hat and sunglasses. His role played as a man documenting the decorated flat of Bean in "A Royal Makeover" and beachgoer in "Ray of Sunshine".
Mrs. Wicket's best friends – Unnamed characters (the man and the old woman), whom are Mrs. Wicket's close friends. They also hosted the competitions such as running marathon and the biggest watermelon competition. To stay in touch with Mrs. Wicket, the old woman visits her.
Goddawin – A rival runner who only appears in "A Running Battle". He and Bean may be friends.
Wanted person – He is Mr. Bean lookalike escaped convict and he only appears in "Wanted". The case of escaped convict is unclear.
Japanese kid – He only appears in Gadget Kid. While visiting the science museum, he befriends Bean and then he shows his modern gadget devices. He also has a stuffed companion which is a panda.
Inventor – He only appears in "Inventor", and had a crush on Mrs. Wicket but Mr. Bean disabled that.
Mr. Wicket – Mrs. Wicket's husband who only appears in Mr. Bean's flashback in "Young Bean". He may be deceased since Mrs. Wicket lives alone and her name is Mrs. Wicket, not Ms. Wicket.
The Librarian – He appears in "Valentine's Bean", and "Viral Bean". In "Valentine's Bean", he falls in love with Irma Gobb.
Smartphone man – He only appears in "Bean Phone". A man who has a smartphone.
Lord Bean – (Voiced by Rowan Atkinson) - An ancient ruler of a castle in Scotland who looks just like Mr. Bean. He got lost for years, but Mr. Bean helped him out. He only appears in his self titled episode, "Lord Bean".
Pingy – Mr. Pod's penguin. Pingy only appears in "Double Trouble".
Havlotts Department Store: A ten-storey building where Mr. Bean buys whatever he wants. An example of that is buying a sofa in the episode "The Sofa" (which is similar to the live episode Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean), buying the lamps for his marrow in the episode SuperMarrow, and finally buying a tent for camping in the episode "Camping". The name of the store is a possible reference to Harrods.
S.O.S: An animal shelter that stores some different breeds of cats. The building is only seen in "Dead Cat", where Mr. Bean finds a replacement for Mrs. Wicket's cat named Scrapper after he presumed that Scrapper is crushed to death by garbage truck. The owner of that building is seen also in SuperMarrow.
Goodall's Music: A store of different kinds of musical instruments. A place where Bean buys a grand piano after the record of Beethoven is broken. The name of the store is a reference to Howard Goodall, who composed the music for the live action Mr. Bean series.
Purrrrdums: An establishment of pets for sale like dogs, cats, parrots, and a chameleon. Bean buys a dog, a parrot, then a chameleon for his pet in the episode "No Pets". However, the owner is once a victim of the burglar duo, when he is threatened by selling the pink animals from the burglar duo.
Restaurant Haute Cuisine des Toffs: A place for Bean's eating establishment. A restaurant consists the French American owner and his crew including a waiter, two violinists, and an overweight chef. It is seen in the episodes "The Visitor" (where Bean invites Harry to eat), "Restaurant" (where Bean celebrates his birthday, plus unaware that he is to be dined together with the two celebrities), and "Hot Date" (where Bean invites his girlfriend, Irma to eat).
Morsels Superstore: A building of grocery. It is seen in the episode "Super Trolley" where Bean buys the groceries for Mrs. Wicket plus the three popcorns for himself (POP). However, when the trolley he used is already damaged, the store manager stalks him until he makes his own homemade mechanical trolley.
W.E. Starchit: An establishment for laundry shop. It is seen only in the episode "Goldfish" where Bean brought his stinky-smelled Teddy after he had accidentally thrown him into a bucket of fishes. The scene where Bean washed himself inside the washing machine is similar to the live episode Tee Off, Mr. Bean (act 1).
Harry's Barber Shop: A place where Bean is about to have his hair trim but he walks out impatiently when the barber is too slow to cut, seen in the episode "Haircut". The scene is similar to the live episode Hair by Mr. Bean of London, only the owner is Derrick.
Antiques: An establishment of selling vintage and antique objects. Example of that is that Bean abandons his damaged sofa in the episode "The Sofa" and Bean buys an air balloon after he sells the damaged car in the junk yard in the episode Car Trouble.
Toots Toys: An establishment of selling different kinds of toys and dolls. It is seen in the episode "Birthday Bear" (where Bean buys the toy for birthday celebrant, Teddy), and Chocks Away (where Bean buys a toy remote plane).
Toots Sweets: A confectionery shop, only seen on In The Pink.
Library: A library. Seen on "Valentine's Bean", and "Viral Bean".
Charity Shop: A shop, where sell characters clothing. Only seen on "Super Spy".
Smart's phone: A smartphone shop. Only seen on "Bean Phone".
The programme originally lasted for three series, which contained a total of 52 episodes. The first two series in 2002 to 2003 were broadcast in a prime time Saturday night slot on ITV, and featured two back to back episodes in an half hour segment. However, the third series in 2004 was broadcast daily on CITV, and the series was run as twenty single episodes, rather than back to back segments. The final episode of the third series was titled "Double Trouble", and it was aired on 2 June 2004.
In January 2014, CITV announced that a new animated series would be made, with Rowan Atkinson once again providing his voice for the role. 52 new episodes, each lasting twelve minutes were recorded during 2014, and began airing on 16 February 2015 on CITV.
The animated version has been re-released on DVD by A&E Home Video in Region 1 (actually are Region Free), and Universal Pictures in Regions 2 and 4. In the United States, all 52 episodes were released on six volumes. However, in the United Kingdom and Australia, the six volumes only contained 47 of the 52 episodes, with the other five episodes appearing each as extras on the DVD releases of the live action series.
The reason for this is that when the episodes were classified by the BBFC in the United Kingdom, they were given a PG certificate rather than a U certificate. It was decided that the DVDs of the animated series should have a U certificate so the five PG episodes were not included.
Season 2 Volume 3 was an exclusive for Big W, which is no longer available.
Merchandising
Several Mr Bean games based on the animated series have been released, including Mr Bean – Around the World and Mr Bean - Flying Teddy. Both are available globally on iOS, Android and Amazon mobile devices.
