Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean

MR BEAN: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION (DVD)
Universal Pictures

Release date: November 12th 2007
Certificate (UK): PG
Running time: 26 minutes

Year of production: 1992 onwards

Created by: Rowan Atkinson & Richard Curtis
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Teddy

Christmas mornings are unlike any other mornings during the whole year. You go to bed the night before either excited or exhausted (or both) after all that planning and hard work. Barely able to get any sleep at all you wake wide-eyed and leap out of bed, jumping for joy that the world’s best day has finally arrived!

Yes, I still do that and I can’t imagine a Christmas Day in my life where I wouldn’t do that. Neither could Mr. Bean.

21 years have now passed since he first bungled his way onto our TV screens. The first episode was broadcast on January 1st 1990 and saw him fumbling his way through a Maths exam without realising there were 2 papers to get through. I remember it was one of the few occasions my entire family sat down together over the Christmas period and did not annoy each other.

Mr. Bean’s innocent but yet mischievous nature made him a curious and utterly watchable character. A mixture of Charlie Chaplin’s silent humour with a bit of Dennis the Menace was a dangerous combination and you never knew for sure what would happen next, but your guesses wouldn’t be far off.

As the series developed we got see more of Mr Bean and Teddy’s exploits.

All 14 episodes made Mr. Bean a welcomed fixture in our household and it wasn’t long before we had them all on VHS. As a home collection they were great for whipping out during the holidays along with Only Fools and Horses, Steptoe & Son and ‘Allo ‘Allo!

One of my favourite episodes is of course Merry Christmas Mr. Bean. It opens with him driving up to Harrods during the festive period. After picking up a few decorations and using a T-Rex to frighten the bejesus of out of…well, Jesus, he then visits the Christmas market where further havoc ensues when he conducts an orchestra.

His girlfriend drops some pretty big hints about what she wants for Christmas, but whether or not Mr. Bean picks up on those hints is left to be seen. Back at his apartment on Christmas Eve night, he puts the finishing touches on his tree and settles down to watch telly.

When morning comes, Mr. Bean is all a-flutter with excitement, there’s so much to do; including preparing a bird that’s so big it might have been literally plucked from Sesame Street!

While I might have a few things in common with Mr. Bean, I’ve certainly never gotten my head stuck inside a turkey, but you never know, it’s still early days yet!

Even though there haven’t been any new episodes for quite some years, the magic of these old ones never fades. There something truly unique and special with every episode and a nostalgic feeling washes over when I watch them and remember yesteryear.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is a composer and music producer with a philosophy degree. Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and World Cinema, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

You can find his music on Soundcloud .

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