List of Mr. Bean episodes
This is an episode guide for the television series Mr. Bean, starring Rowan Atkinson, which ran from 1 January 1990 to 31 October 1995.
Mr. Bean
This episode includes three frolics. First, Mr. Bean is late for his mathematics exam and speeds past a Reliant three wheeler, tipping it over. Once he reaches the college, he irritates a fellow candidate by getting out many spare pens and a number of mascots. He has studied trigonometry, but he finds a calculus paper in the envelope. He spends the duration of his two hours trying to cheat off another candidate, and doesn't realize until the last minute that there were two papers in the envelope: one calculus, the other trigonometry. Second, Bean goes to the beach and tries to take off his trousers and undergarments without a nearby man seeing him (after he succeeds, it emerges that the man was actually blind). Third, Bean goes to a church, doesn't know the words to the hymns, sneezes loudly and falls asleep out of boredom, much to the annoyance of the man next to him (Richard Briers). To stay awake, he tries to put a mint in his mouth without being seen. On the way back home, he takes a wrong turning and manages to write off his Mini.
The Return of Mr. Bean
This episode includes four frolics. First, Bean sees a busker playing a saxophone and wants to drop some change in his saxophone case. When he finds he has no change, he places his handkerchief on the ground and dances stupidly to the saxophone music; a woman stops by and leaves him a coin, which he then transfers to the saxophonist's case. Second, Bean tries out his new credit card at Allders. He does his shopping by first testing everything he wants to buy — he opens and uses a toothbrush, peels a potato with a peeler he wants to buy, and pulls a large fish out of his pocket to see if it fits on a frying pan. At the register, he accidentally swaps cards with an old man who has the same card as him; Bean pick-pockets the man and gets his card back (instead of speaking with the man, of course), but his hand gets stuck, and the man accidentally pulls him all the way into a toilet stall. Third, Bean goes to a restaurant on his birthday and orders a steak tartare, which he expected to be a real steak. Disgusted by the tartare's taste and appearance, he cuts it up and hides the pieces in different places (ashtray, handbag, violinist's trousers). Conveniently, a waiter walks by and spills his tray all over Bean's table, which provides him with an opportunity to cover up his actions by showing the waiter and the management that the tartare has ended up inside the ashtray, in a woman's handbag, and inside his bread. The manager apologizes and promptly moves Bean, who is quite content, to another table, where the waiter brings out another dish, which, unfortunately for Bean, is another steak tartare. Fourth, Bean meets Queen Elizabeth II in a royal line-up at the theater where he works, but is quite unprepared (his nails and teeth are dirty, his breath smells, and his shoes are unpolished). He manages to rectify most of these problems to his satisfaction, but when he uses his trouser zipper to clean his fingernail, the zip gets stuck, and he only manages to force it back up just before the Queen greets him. Preparing for a bow, Bean headbutts the Queen, who is knocked to the floor. During the confusion, Bean makes a run for it.
The Curse of Mr. Bean
This episode includes four frolics. First, Bean goes to a public swimming pool, and tries out the super-high diving board, and chickens out until two impatient boys push him off. Bean loses his swimming trunks, and tries to get back to the changing room unseen. Second, Bean finds he can't pay the ridiculously high parking price at a parking garage, and tries to leave through the entrance. Third, Bean goes to the park to have a lunch break, and makes himself a sandwich, but does so in perhaps the most ridiculous way possible: he cuts the bread with scissors, he washes the lettuce with a fountain and uses his sock to dry it, he crushes the peppercorns with his shoe, and kills two live fish. He even makes tea in a hot water bottle, using his mouth to transfer milk from a baby bottle to the hot water bottle. Eventually, however, he sneezes and drops the sandwich. The man next to him (Angus Deayton) offers Bean half of his own sandwich, which Bean gratefully accepts. Fourth, Bean goes to see A Nightmare on Elm Street with his girlfriend, and gets the scare of his life.
Mr. Bean Goes to Town
This episode includes four frolics. First, Bean buys a portable television for his flat, and finds difficulty in trying to connect it and find good reception. When he discovers that he can only get reception if he sits in a part of the room where he cannot see the screen, he is distraught. Ingeniously, he strips down and assembles his clothes — underwear and all — on the chair, and the television starts working. That is until the power went out, leaving him in the dark. Second, Bean tries out his new Polaroid camera in the park, but it is stolen by a thief (Nick Hancock). Although Bean chases down the thief by putting a trash bin over his head and poking him with a pencil, he gets away again. Bean is brought in front of a line of suspects at the police station, and is asked to identify the thief, which he eventually accomplishes by poking each of the suspects with a pencil (through a garbage bin), and trying to recognize the squeal. Third, Bean gets an itch in his foot while in the town, so he takes off his shoe and sock to scratch it. But he puts his shoe on a car's roof, and the car drives away, leaving Bean to hop through the town to find it (which he eventually does). Fourth, Bean attends a magic show and disco with his girlfriend, only to mess up the magic act and embarrass his girlfriend so much that she dumps him for another man. Frustrated, Bean leaves the disco, but not before shutting off the power first.
The Trouble with Mr. Bean
This episode has three frolics. First, Bean oversleeps for his appointment at the dentist's office and finds himself forced to change clothes and brush his teeth while driving to the dentist, using a brick to hold down the accelerator while he changes his trousers, and shooting windshield wiper fluid into his mouth to rinse it after brushing his teeth. Second, he arrives at the dentist's office, where he sees a Batman comic book he wants to read that is in the hands of a young boy. He stealthily pours water into the boy's lap to make his mother believe he wet himself, causing her to take him home. After getting the comic, he is immediately called in to see the dentist (Richard Wilson). While in the chair, he accidentally numbs the dentist's leg with an injection of novocaine, causing him to fall over. Bean decides to treat himself by drilling all of his teeth because he can't tell which tooth on the dentist's diagram is marked for drilling. When the dentist awakens, Bean leaves, content with his work. Third, Bean goes to a park and tries to have a picnic, but a nearby wasp falls desperately in love with Bean's cupcake. After trying to catch the wasp by swatting at it, jousting with it, and chasing it around, he traps it in a bottle of juice and drowns it, only to pique the interest of an entire swarm of wasps, which attack him. Bean ultimately races away from his picnic site and throws the bun at a car thief (whose thieving attempts Bean managed to foil by removing his steering wheel and bringing it with him on his picnic). This was the highest rated episode, with an audience of 18.74 million viewers on its original transmission.
Mr. Bean Rides Again
This episode has four frolics. First, Bean wants to go to the post office, but the battery in his car is dead, so he decides to catch a bus. But at the bus stop, the one man with him has a heart attack, and Bean tries to revive him by hitting him, stuffing pills down his throat, trying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and with an electric shock from the jumpers in a nearby lightpost. He succeeds, but overdoes the electric shock and causes the man to have another heart attack. An ambulance comes, and Bean drains the battery in it to jumpstart his car. Second, Bean heads to a postbox, and on his way, Bean accidentally swallows his stamp. He steals a stamp from a nearby lady's letter by offering to mail her letter for her and then peeling off the stamp by using steam from his car's radiator. But when the lady comes back, he hides in the postbox as the post man empties it, and gets trapped inside. When he is finally released (by another postman) he loses his keys down a drain and tries to get the bus again. Third, Bean tries to pack for a holiday, ridiculously reducing the size of his things to fit them in a small briefcase. After finally managing to fit his things in the tiny briefcase, he reaches under the bed and discovers that he owned another briefcase, almost double the size of the small one. But since his small briefcase is already packed, he just puts it into the larger suitcase along with the one thing he couldn't pack before — a book. Fourth, Bean's travel starts on a train, where he tries to read a book but is prevented by another man in the compartment, who starts laughing his head off at a book he is reading. Bean plugs his ears with dried-up chewing gum stuck to the bottom of the seat, and does not hear the conductor come to see his ticket. When the conductor manage to get Bean's attention, Bean, startled, accidentally tosses his book out the window. Bean then boards an aircraft, but is forced to look after a sick boy next to him. He tries to cheer the boy up by various means, ultimately by blowing air into a paper bag and trying to pop it. He discovers that the bag is too small, and starts rummaging for another bag. While his back is turned, the boy vomits into a barf bag when the aircraft experiences a bit of turbulence, and offers the bag to Bean, who misinterprets the boy, and smashes the vomit-filled bag.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean
This episode includes four frolics. First, Bean shops down Oxford Street, London, and does silly things (playing with the Nativity figurines, breaking a bauble while testing it, and unplugging all the Harrod's Christmas lights while testing his own). Second, Bean meets his girlfriend in the town, where she tries to give him the message that she wants an engagement ring as a present. Later, he wins a free turkey (by cheating), and then catches a pick-pocket and gives the thief's items to a Salvation Army brass band conductor. Bean then ends up conducting the band in a ridiculous way while the conductor tries on the items that the pick-pocket stole; Third, Bean prepares for Christmas Eve, but bores himself with war films, and shuts the door on young carol singers without giving them anything; Fourth, Bean tries to prepare the turkey, but loses his watch while stuffing it, and pokes his head inside, getting it stuck on his head just as his girlfriend arrives, and helps him get it off. (The popular US sitcom Friends later re-used this same joke.) Later, they have dinner (Salami sandwiches), and Bean gives his girlfriend her present: the picture on display next to the engagement ring she wanted. She leaves the flat sobbing, leaving Bean to pull his super-cracker alone.
Mr. Bean in Room 426
This is all one big frolic. Bean goes to a posh hotel, where he gets into many escapades, by drilling holes in walls to hang his pictures, sneaking into his neighbour's bathroom to have a bath. At lunchtime, he copies his neighbour (taking the same food as him and mimicking his movements). But he also saves his oysters for last, which go bad, but Bean doesn't notice. That night, his other neighbour plays loud music, and Bean walks out of his room stark naked to knock on the door, but his own door closes, and Bean finds himself locked out of his room naked. He attempts to get down to the lobby and find the spare key, as the manager is distracted by Danny La Rue's show. Bean sneaks into LaRue's spare frock, and asks for the spare key when the manager comes back. But Danny sees him and rips a clip-on earring off his ear.
Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean
This is all one big frolic. Bean goes to a funfair, but accidentally leaves his Mini's boot unlocked, and the handle pulls a baby's pram with it to the funfair. Once Bean sees the "kidnapped" baby, he sees no choice but to look after it while enjoying himself. During the episode, Mr. Bean put the baby in the kiddie ride called Postman Pat, and put load of coins in it. This episode is refered to in the US show Mythbusters when they test how many balloons are needed to lift a small child into the air.
Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean
This episode includes three frolics. First, Bean invites his two friends Rupert and Hubert for a New Year party, but bores them so much that when he goes to prepare a snack, Twiglets (which are actually twigs covered with Marmite), they turn his clock to midnight, and say that they are tired. Thinking that he wasted New Year's Eve, Bean "coincidentally" goes to bed when the REAL New Year begins. His blood boils with anger. Second, he does a strange shopping at the January Sale (loads his car up with D.I.Y. stuff and ties an armchair to his Mini's roof, but crashes into a pillow truck). Third, Bean tries some D.I.Y., but makes messes all over the place, until he decides to paint his room white. He covers everything in newspapers, and plants a super-firework in a can of white paint. As the firework ignites, Bean runs out of the room, but doesn't notice Hubert return to the flat for his hat and get caught in the explosion. Bean goes back inside and not only sees his white room, but the cut-out of Hubert picking up his hat. The US show Mythbusters later ran tests to see if it was really possible to cover an entire room with paint in this way.
Back to School, Mr. Bean
This outing follows Mr. Bean attending a school open day. Unable to park his car, he spots a similar-looking Mini and substitutes the cars. During his time at the open day, he distracts calligraphers, gets in other people's way, and gets paper stuck to his body after using a Van de Graaff generator. When a lady helps Bean remove the offending piece of paper, the static electricity causes her skirt to blow up. In the science laboratory, Bean experiments with several solutions, eventually causing an explosion, with blue smoke emerging from the laboratory. Bean manages to escape in time, but a younger student is not so fortunate and is later seen covered head to toe in blue. In a still-life art class, Mr Bean is shocked and appalled at having to draw a naked woman, and promptly fashions a brassiere out of clay, allowing him to draw the woman without embarrassment. Later, at a judo lesson, a frightened Bean ultimately manages to confuse his teacher (David Schneider) and roll him up in a mat. However, when changing back into his regular clothes, he finds that he has swapped trousers with someone else, and goes on a long search for his own ones. In the gents' toilets, he spots them, cleverly seeing his name on the label while the wearer is sitting on the toilet. Bean frantically grabs the man by the legs and forces the trousers off him, as well as his underwear, which he throws back to the man — though it ends up falling down the toilet. Finally, Bean witnesses a tank demonstration, in which the tank crushes his car (recall the Mini he switched places with at the start of the episode). From the wreckage, he manages to salvage the padlock, and joyfully runs off to find the other Mini.
Tee Off, Mr. Bean
Mr. Bean does his laundry, but manages to lose his trousers as well as coming into conflict with several of the other customers. He then he plays a bizarre game of crazy golf, which involves him accidentally hitting his ball out of the course and all over the streets of London, because the manager of the course told him picking up the ball was against the rules. In his escapades, he ends up getting it stuck in all sort of bizarre places such as down a drain, lost in a fruit stall and up the exhaust pipe of a Proton.
Goodnight, Mr. Bean
Mr. Bean has to go to hospital after getting his hand stuck in a teapot, but loses patience while waiting his turn. First, he starts a fight to clear two men from the queue, then steals a ticket from another more seriously injured patient, although eventually manages to lose his place anyway. Second, he irritates a sentry guard with a camera by dressing him up in a ridiculous costume. Later, he prepares for bed but has trouble falling asleep.
Other episodes
The following full-length episode, "Hair by Mr. Bean of London", has only been screened on Nickelodeon UK, and was included as an extra on the VHS and DVD releases. Also unseen originaly on television were two short sketches, presumably intended for inclusion in earlier episodes, but ultimately cut: "The Library" and "The Bus Stop", which were included on the VHS and DVD releases.
Hair by Mr. Bean of London
This episode contains three frolics. First, Bean goes to Derrick's barber shop for a haircut. Just as he is about to have it cut, the barber has to take a telephone call. While waiting, three other customers come in assuming Mr.Bean is the hairdresser and he ends up cutting their hair very badly. They later return and blame Derrick for their awful haircuts. Second, Bean goes to a fair and cheats at the indoor games. First, he plays the Electro wire by switching it off at the plug. Then he plays "Whack the Headmaster" and gets a bit carried away. Third, Bean enters a dog show and uses Teddy as his pet — he wins a huge bone and gets the honey for Teddy. Later, Bean goes to a railway station. Unfortunately, he has lost his ticket, and decides to sneak past the guards. However, he ends up hiding inside a post office bag destined for Moscow.
The Library
Mr. Bean visits a rare book library, where he checks out a rare tome that must be handled with gloves. Soon after he begins to copy a page of the book by shading on a piece of tracing paper, he sneezes, and the tracing paper slips away. He doesn't notice this, and continues to use the pencil for shading, but on the rare book instead of the tracing paper. When he notices this, he attempts to remove the pencil marks — first by erasing, and then by using correction fluid, but eventually ends up tearing out the pages he has defiled. To neaten up the stubs of the pages he has torn out, he uses a boxcutter knife, but doesn't notice that he has cut through several undamaged pages of the book. His final solution is to swap his book with that of someone else at his table ... his plan works, but only until he returns to retrieve his bookmark from his original book.
The Bus Stop
Mr. Bean waits at a bus stop behind a man; when the bus arrives, the man gets on, but the driver turns Bean away. Determined to be the first in line for the next bus, Bean tries to cut ahead of a woman with a baby carriage (who gets in line ahead of Bean when he steps away for a moment), and a blind man. Soon after Bean manages to get to the front, several people join the end of the line, and the bus arrives. But the bus doesn't stop in front of Bean, it drives on for another few yards — just far enough so that the end of the line logically becomes the front of the line; everyone but Bean is allowed on the bus, and Bean, now at the end of the line, is left behind again. Judging by the location and setting, this adventure appears to have originally been part of Mr Bean Rides Again, in which Mr Bean does attempt to board a bus, but perhaps cut for time.