Episode no. Episode 3 | Directed by John Howard Davies Running time 24:31 | |
Written by Richard CurtisRobin DriscollRowan Atkinson Original air date 30 December 1990 (1990-December-30) | ||
"The Curse of Mr. Bean" is the third episode of the British television series Mr. Bean, and features three sketches that include Mr. Bean having misfortune at a swimming pool, trying to make a sandwich and tea in a bizarre way, and then going to the cinema with his girlfriend. It was the first episode to feature Irma Gobb, Bean's girlfriend, though her name was not known until a later episode. The original broadcast on ITV occurred on 30 December 1990.
Contents
Act 1: The Swimming Pool and Car Park Chaos
Bean decides to go the local, public swimming pool, and parks his Mini in the nearby car park. Once inside and changed, he becomes excited upon seeing a couple of kiddie slides and attempts to use one, only for a lifeguard to spot him and force him out to the main pool. A little annoyed, Bean soon spots the diving boards and decides to try out the highest one. However, he soon becomes frightened when he learns how high up he is, and tries to chicken out, only to find two boys waiting for their turn. Forced to attempt a dive, Bean fails at his initial try, and decides to climb off the edge. Impatient, one of the boys decides to get him off the diving board and stamps on his hand, causing him to fall into the pool. Upon surfacing, Bean spots that his trunks came off, and fails to retrieve them as a small girl fishes them out and takes them with her. Left naked, just as the lifeguard orders everyone out, Bean attempts to get back to the changing room, hiding to avoid being spotted by a female lifeguard, only to freak out a group of female swimmers who run into him.
After drying and changing back into his clothes, Bean prepares to leave the car park, only to find he must pay £16 in order to raise the barrier over the exit. Not willing to do so, he opts to find a way to avoid this, and suddenly decides to find a way of leaving by the entrance. Using a refuse container in front of the entrance to trick the ticket machine, Bean drives his Mini out, but just as he removes the container to leave, a car drives in and forces him to re-enter the car park. Tentatively waiting to drive at the barrier over the entrance, Bean suddenly spots the blue Reliant about to enter the car park. As the driver takes a ticket and makes the barrier lift, Bean drives his Mini at full speed towards the Reliant, forcing it out of his way and causing it to topple over as he leaves.
Act 2: Lunch in the Park
Heading for the park for his lunch, Bean greets another worker who is also having lunch. Spotting him having a sandwich, Bean sets about making his own from a few ingredients and tools he stuffed into his coat. First, he cuts two slices of bread with some scissors, spreads butter on them with his credit card, washes lettuce under a drinking fountain's water before using his sock to dry it, then kills two sardines he takes out of a jar, and then crushes peppercorns under his shoe and within his handkerchief. After making his sandwich, Bean notices the worker sipping on some tea, and prepares to make his own using a hot water bottle, putting a teabag into it, while placing the bottle's cap in his ear. He then proceeds to suck up milk from a baby bottle and spit it into the water in the hot water bottle, before sloshing it together. As he prepares to have his lunch, he opts to use his handkerchief as a napkin, only for the pepper traces on it to cause him to sneeze, making his sandwich fall onto the ground. The worker, witnessing this, offers Bean the other half of his pre-packed sandwich, much to his gratitude as the cap pops out of his ear.
Act 3: The Horror Film
Driving to meet up with his girlfriend at the cinema, Bean is temporarily stopped at a junction by a set of traffic lights, but upon seeing a cyclist push his bike manually, he opts to do the same with his car, and push it round to the road he wants to take, before driving off. Arriving at the cinema, Bean prepares to watch a short horror film with his girlfriend, Irma Gobb, providing them with popcorn – a large tub for himself, along with a hidden drink in his top, and a small tub for Irma, stealing some from her tub, but scolding her when she tries to do the same. Before the film begins, Bean teases her, scaring her with silly practical jokes. As the film begins, he soon finds himself being scared witless, with the various scenes frightening him to the point he tries to avoid watching it, even trying to force Irma to leave with him only to be forced to remain in his seat. Finally, Bean manages to find a solution by using some popcorn as earplugs, and using the popcorn tub to cover his eyes from the film. This works, and he manages to avoid the remaining scenes. As everyone begins to leave as the film ends, Irma lets Bean know they are leaving, to which he removes the tub and eats the popcorn earplugs, before trying to tease another of the cinema's customers. As he prepares to hold Irma's hand, he fails to notice that she put her coat over her like a cloak, causing him to frighten the pair of them when he finds her coat arm empty.
Cast
Production
Filming of the episode took place at the following locations:
Broadcast and reception
13.8 million viewers watched this episode on the original transmission.
Awards and legacy
Following its broadcast in the United States, this episode was awarded the International Emmy Award for Outstanding Popular Arts Programme. Two of the scenes inspired story lines for Mr. Bean, The Animated Series:
Censors
The scene of Mr. Bean accidentally "exposing" himself to a group of females swimmers, was cut from some TV editions, including the Philippine network ABS-CBN, Nickelodeon UK and Disney Channel.