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Mr. Bean: The Animated Series

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Mr. Bean: The Animated Series
Title card for the first three seasons
GenreAnimated series
Comedy
Created byRowan Atkinson
Based on
Mr. Bean
by
Voices of
ComposersHoward Goodall
John Greswell (Bean Hypnotised)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageBritish English
No. of series5
No. of episodes130 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • Claudia Lloyd (season 1–3)
  • Tom Beattie (season 4–5)
  • Christopher Skala (season 5)
Editors
  • Mark Edwards (season 1–3)
  • Thomas Ernst (season 1–3)
  • Zsolt Iván Varga (series 1)
  • Graham Silcock (season 4)
Running time11 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkITV (CITV)
ITVX Kids
Release5 January 2002 (2002-01-05) –
2 June 2004 (2004-06-02)
Release16 February 2015 (2015-02-16) –
8 October 2019 (2019-10-08)

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series is a British animated sitcom produced by Tiger Aspect Productions in association with Richard Purdum Productions and Varga Holdings (for the first season). Based on the live-action television sitcom of the same title created by Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis, the sitcom centers on Mr. Bean (Atkinson), Teddy, Irma Gobb (Matilda Ziegler), the Reliant Regal's mysterious driver, Mrs. Julia Wicket (Sally Grace) and her cat Scrapper. In February 2001, the series was officially announced, with it premiering shortly afterwards.[2][3]

Debuting on 5 January 2002 and originally ending on 2 June 2004, the first three seasons featuring 52 episodes in total were broadcast, each consisting of two 11-minute segments. The first two seasons were originally broadcast on ITV at a Saturday night slot. In May 2004, the sitcom left the Saturday night slot and the third season was instead broadcast daily on CITV due to the show's popularity with younger audiences.

In January 2014, a revival of the sitcom was announced, with Rowan Atkinson returning as the voice of Mr. Bean, along with other cast members reprising their roles. The revival premiered on 16 February 2015 and ended on 8 October 2019 on CITV.[4] It contained more actual dialogue than in the original live-action sitcom, which mostly featured little sound effects and mumbling.

In January 2024, another revival was announced, set to release in 2025 on ITVX in the United Kingdom and Cartoonito in Europe.[5][6]

Cast and characters

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Main

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The show's characters and props. From left to right: Mr. Bean, Teddy, Mrs. Wicket, Scrapper, Miss Wince, Irma Gobb, and Mr. Bean's Mini.
  • Mr. Bean (voiced by Rowan Atkinson) – The title character. He is a childish, self-absorbed and extremely competitive individual living in London who is almost always dressed in his trademark tweed jacket and a thin red tie, and often brings various abnormal schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks (like his live-action counterpart). Despite this, he is depicted in the animated series as more competent and less buffoonish than his live-action counterpart as well as that he talks more in complete sentences compared to his live-action counterpart, who rarely spoke a few mumbled words that are all in a comically low-pitched voice (especially in the later seasons).
  • Teddy – Mr. Bean's personal teddy bear and lifelong best friend. Despite being inanimate, Bean pretends that Teddy is alive (like in the original live-action sitcom).
  • Irma Gobb (voiced by Matilda Ziegler) – Mr. Bean's long-suffering girlfriend, who debuted in Mr. Bean: Live Action Series episode The Curse of Mr. Bean. Like her original live-action counterpart, Irma is depicted as more intelligent and significantly less buffoonish than Bean, which often results in her having an often-strained relationship with the latter. She is also depicted as a worker at a local library.
  • Mrs. Julia Wicket (voiced by Sally Grace) – Mr. Bean's elderly and grouchy landlady, who often despises Bean and his antics, though deep down, she does have a soft spot for him (which becomes more prominent in the later seasons). Running gags include her screaming loudly during bad situations, often scaring birds outside the flat, and slamming Bean's door causing glass-framed pictures and other objects hung on the wall to fall and break. As revealed in the episode "Young Bean", the reason she hates Bean is that, when he was young, he accidentally ruined her wedding by riding his go-kart down a hill and crashing into her and her groom. In the first season, she often plays an antagonistic role, but acts much nicer beginning in the second season.
  • Scrapper – Mrs. Wicket's mischievous one-eyed pet cat who, much like his owner, despises Mr. Bean.
  • Miss Mary Wince – Mrs. Wicket's best friend, who often stops by her flat for tea and watches wrestling with her. She is called Mary in the episode "A Royal Makeover".
  • Mr. Bean's Mini – Mr. Bean's personal vehicle, a citron-green Mini with a matte black bonnet. As a running gag, Bean keeps it locked with a bolt-latch and padlock rather than the lock fitted to the car (like in the original live-action sitcom). Unlike in the live-action sitcom where the Mini's registration number is "SLW 287R", the registration number in the animated series is "STE 952R".
  • Reliant Regal – A light-blue and three-wheeled car which, as another running gag, is always getting turned over or crashed out of its parking space or into anywhere by Mr. Bean in his Mini, who is usually oblivious to the results (like in the original live-action sitcom). However, in the episode "Car Wars", Mr. Bean finds himself in a conflict with the car in which he dedicates the episode to purposefully crashing it. Unlike in the live-action sitcom where the Reliant's registration number is "GRA 26K", the registration number in the animated series is "DUW 742".

Supporting

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  • Burglars – A duo of unnamed criminals (one large and the other small) who are masters of disguise and regularly go across London committing various crimes, only to nevertheless suffer defeat at the hands of Mr. Bean (mainly at times when he is their victim or witness), who then has the local police arrest them. The burglars serve as the antagonists, appearing in numerous episodes.
  • Bruiser family – Mr. Bean and Mrs. Wicket's next-door neighbours, a working class overweight family who sometimes act as Bean's adversaries. While appearing as a whole family in the episodes "Neighbourly Bean", "Scaredy Bean", "Home Movie", "Litterbugs", "Super Spy" and "Dig This", only the father and son appear in most episodes.
  • Queen Elizabeth II – The queen regnant of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, of whom Mr. Bean is a fan.
  • Traffic Warden – An unnamed parking enforcement officer, who originally appeared in the live-action episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean" and locates and tickets illegally-parked cars across London. As Mr. Bean habitually parks his Mini in the wrong places, she promptly gets in his way which puts him at odds with her. She is very committed at her duty, even to the point of ticketing a police vehicle once.
  • Librarian – The boss of the library where Irma works.
  • Lottie – Irma Gobb's teddy bear who looks identical to Teddy, except she has eyelashes, a red bow and a skirt. She is portrayed as Teddy's girlfriend, but Mr. Bean disapproves of this relationship.
  • Mrs. Wicket's nephew – The unnamed nephew of Mrs. Wicket.[7] He is usually seen playing video games at his aunt's flat.
  • Declan – A friend of Irma Gobb, who is also a rival of Mr. Bean when it comes to winning her heart.

Episodes

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Main article: List of Mr. Bean: The Animated Series episodes

Reception

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The show was met with mostly positive reviews from television critics. Common Sense Media, an education and advocacy group that promotes safe technology and media for children, gave the show 3 stars and wrote that the "UK slapstick cartoon [is] geared toward older kids, adults."[8]

Home media

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Mr. Bean: The Animated Series has been released on DVD by A&E Home Video in Region 1, and by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in Regions 2 and 4. In the United States, the first three seasons of the show were released in its entirety on six volumes, while in the United Kingdom and Australia, the six volumes only contained 47 out of all the 52 episodes, with the remaining episodes instead appearing as extra features on DVDs of the original live-action sitcom.

The reason for this was that when the five episodes were classified by the British Board of Film Classification in the United Kingdom, they were each given a PG certificate instead of a U certificate unlike the other episodes. It was then decided that all DVDs of the series should have a U certificate each, resulting in the five PG-rated episodes not being included.

In Region 4, the DVD Mr. Bean: The Animated Series: Season 2, Volume 3 – Racing Adventures was an exclusive product for Big W; nowadays, it is no longer available.[9]

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series home video releases
Series Episodes Release dates
 United Kingdom  United States  Australia
1 2002 18 Volume 1: Eight Amazing Adventures: 29 August 2005; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010; twenty-fifth anniversary reissue: 20 July 2015
Episode(s) featured: "In the Wild" – "Spring Clean"
Volume 2: Eight Exciting Escapades: 27 March 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Birthday Bear" – "Homeless"
Volume 4: Seven Smashing Stories: 13 November 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Nurse!" – "The Bottle"
The Bean Boxset!: 18 March 2008; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Cat-Sitting and More Paw-some Adventures!: 29 August 2016
Episode(s) featured: "Birthday Bear" • "The Mole" • "Dead Cat" • "Magpie" • "Cat-Sitting"
Egg and Bean and Other Springtime Surprises: 3 April 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Spring Clean"		 Volume 1: Bean There, Done That: 30 September 2003[10]
Episode(s) featured: "Nurse!" – "The Bottle"
Volume 4: Grin and Bean It: 28 September 2004[11]
Episode(s) featured: "No Parking" • "Bean's Bounty"
Volume 6: It's Not Easy Being Bean: 28 September 2004
Episode(s) featured: "In the Wild" • "Missing Teddy" • "Mime Games" – "Homeless"		 Volume 1: Eight Amazing Adventures: 18 August 2004
Episode(s) featured: "In the Wild" – "Spring Clean"
Volume 2: Eight Exciting Escapades: 4 July 2007
Episode(s) featured: "Birthday Bear" – "Homeless"
Volume 4: Seven Smashing Stories: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Nurse!" – "The Bottle"
2 2003 16 Volume 3: Eight Terrific Tales: 31 July 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Royal Bean" – "Toothache"
Volume 4: Seven Smashing Stories: 13 November 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Neighbourly Bean"
Volume 5: Eight Eventful Escapades: 19 March 2007; twentieth anniversary reissue: 9 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Inventor" • "Car Trouble" • "Restaurant" • "Wanted"
The Bean Boxset!: 18 March 2008; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Cat-Sitting and More Paw-some Adventures!: 29 August 2016
Episode(s) featured: "In the Pink"
On Thin Ice and Other Winter Wonders: 2 October 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Young Bean" • "Dinner for Two"		 Volume 1: Bean There, Done That: 30 September 2003
Episode(s) featured: "Goldfish" • "Inventor"
Volume 2: Whatever Will Bean, Will Bean: 30 March 2004[12]
Episode(s) featured: "Royal Bean" – "Restaurant"
Volume 3: It's All Bean to Me: 30 March 2004
Episode(s) featured: "Art Thief" – "Wanted"		 Volume 3: Eight Terrific Tales: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Royal Bean" – "Toothache"
Volume 4: Seven Smashing Stories: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Neighbourly Bean"
Volume 5: Eight Eventful Escapades: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Inventor" • "Car Trouble" • "Restaurant" • "Wanted"
3 2004 18 Volume 1: Eight Amazing Adventures: 29 August 2005; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010; twenty-fifth anniversary reissue: 20 July 2015
Episode(s) featured: "Artful Bean" • "The Fly"
Volume 2: Eight Exciting Escapades: 27 March 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "No Pets" • "Ray of Sunshine"
Volume 3: Eight Terrific Tales: 31 July 2006; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Camping" • "Chocks Away"
Volume 5: Eight Eventful Escapades: 19 March 2007; twentieth anniversary reissue: 9 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "Gadget Kid" – "Keyboard Capers"
Volume 6: Eight Sticky Scrapes: 22 November 2007; twentieth anniversary reissue: 9 September 2010
Episode(s) featured: "A Royal Makeover" – "Egg and Bean" • "Hopping Mad!" • "A Grand Invitation" • "Bean in Love" • "Double Trouble"
The Bean Boxset!: 18 March 2008; twentieth anniversary reissue: 6 September 2010
Cat-Sitting and More Paw-some Adventures!: 29 August 2016
Episode(s) featured: "The Fly" • "Hopping Mad!" • "No Pets"
Egg and Bean and Other Springtime Surprises: 3 April 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Egg and Bean" • "Hopping Mad!" • "Ray of Sunshine"		 Volume 3: It's All Bean to Me: 30 March 2004
Episode(s) featured: "Gadget Kid" – "Keyboard Capers"
Volume 4: Grin and Bean It: 28 September 2004
Episode(s) featured: "Artful Bean" – "Egg and Bean"
Volume 5: The Ends Justify the Beans: 28 September 2004
Episode(s) featured: "Camping" – "Double Trouble"		 Volume 1: Eight Amazing Adventures: 18 August 2004
Episode(s) featured: "Artful Bean" • "The Fly"
Volume 2: Eight Exciting Escapades: 4 July 2007
Episode(s) featured: "No Pets" • "Ray of Sunshine"
Volume 3: Eight Terrific Tales: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Camping" • "Chocks Away"
Volume 5: Eight Eventful Escapades: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "Gadget Kid" – "Keyboard Capers"
Volume 6: Eight Sticky Scrapes: 28 October 2009
Episode(s) featured: "A Royal Makeover" – "Egg and Bean" • "Hopping Mad!" • "A Grand Invitation" • "Bean in Love" • "Double Trouble"
4 2015–16 52 Volume 7: Nine Tremendous Tales (Original release) / Home Movie and More Tremendous Tales! (2017 New Cover Re release): 7 September 2015
Episode(s) featured: "Home Movie" – "Valentine's Bean"
Volume 8: Nine Splendid Stories (Original release) / Holiday For Teddy and More Tantalising Tales! (2017 New Cover Re release): 19 October 2015
Episode(s) featured: "All You Can Eat" – "Lord Bean"
Volume 9: Racing Adventures and More Exciting Escapades!: 23 May 2016
Episode(s) featured: "Car Wars" – "Taxi Bean"
Volume 10: Halloween and More Awesome Stories!: 3 October 2016
Episode(s) featured: "Muscle Bean" – "Halloween"
Volume 11: SuperBean and Other Splendid Stories!: 30 January 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Wrestle Bean" – "Ice Cream"
Egg and Bean and Other Springtime Surprises: 3 April 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Holiday for Teddy" • "Scout Bean" • "A New Friend" • "Ice Cream"
Volume 12: Birthday Bean and Friends: 24 July 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Bean Painting" • "Birthday Party" – "Bean Shopping"
On Thin Ice and Other Winter Wonders: 2 October 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Green Bean" • "Rat Trap" • "Viral Bean" • "Lord Bean" • "Jurassic Bean"		 — Volume 7: Nine Tremendous Tales: 24 September 2015
Episode(s) featured: "Home Movie" – "Valentine's Bean"
Volume 8: Nine Splendid Stories: 24 September 2015
Episode(s) featured: "All You Can Eat" – "Lord Bean"
Volume 9: Racing Adventures and More Exciting Escapades!: 16 June 2016[13]
Episode(s) featured: "Car Wars" – "Taxi Bean"
Volume 10: Halloween and More Awesome Stories!: 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Muscle Bean" – "Halloween"
Volume 11: SuperBean and Other Splendid Stories!: 2017
Episode(s) featured: "Wrestle Bean" – "Ice Cream"

In other media

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A third-person platform video game based on the series was released in the late 2000s on multiple platforms. It was first released in PAL regions as Mr. Bean on the PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. A Wii port of the game, titled Mr. Bean's Wacky World, was also released shortly after those versions in the same regions, with a North American localisation of the port being available in 2011.

Multiple mobile games based on the series have been released such as Mr. Bean: Around the World,[14] Mr. Bean: Flying Teddy, Mr. Bean: Sandwich Stack, Mr. Bean: Special Delivery and more which are available globally on iOS, Android, and Amazon mobile devices.

References

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  1. ^ "Toonhound – Mr Bean: The Animated Series". 19 May 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
  2. ^ Deans, Jason (6 February 2001). "Mr Bean turned into cartoon". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Mr.Bean To Become A Cartoon". 10 October 2000. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  4. ^ Guide, British Comedy (22 January 2014). "Rowan Atkinson working on new animated Mr Bean series". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
  5. ^ Ramachandran, Naman (4 January 2024). "'Mr. Bean' Animated Series Returns for Fourth Season". Variety. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  6. ^ Cusipag, Jhon Dave (13 January 2024). "Mr. Bean: The Animated Series to have season 4 in 2025". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  7. ^ {{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDaeLCHeqn8}}
  8. ^ "Mr. Bean: The Animated Series". Common Sense Media. 29 June 2011.
  9. ^ Mr. Bean: The Animated Series: Season 2, Volume 3 – Racing Adventures DVD, retrieved 24 July 2018
  10. ^ "Mr. Bean (2002): It's Not Easy Being Bean / Bean There, Done That". Amazon.com. 2 September 2003.
  11. ^ "Mr. Bean (2002): Grin and Bean It / The Ends Justify the Beans". Amazon.com. 31 August 2004.
  12. ^ "Mr. Bean (2002): Whatever Will Bean, Will Bean / It's All Bean to Me". Amazon.com. 2 September 2003.
  13. ^ "Mr. Bean Animated Season 2 – Volume 3 DVD R4 for sale online". eBay.
  14. ^ "Mr. Bean to Travel Around the World – the Gamer Scene – Gaming News & Reviews". Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
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