It’s Bean 30 years
Sending birthday greetings to Atkinson’s hapless comic hero
Mr Bean is the idiot man child whose madcap antics have made him a worldwide phenomenon since he first bumbled across our screens in 1990.
Played by Rowan Atkinson, he was never expected to be more than a oneseries wonder. But 30 years on, he has a huge global fanbase and is a social media megahit with movies, animations, games, apps and merchandise. He even has his face in a rice paddy in China.
Rowan, 65, is not surprised. He says: “Mr Bean is essentially a child in a man’s body. Across all races and cultures, the behaviour of children tends to be the same and is easily identified and laughed at. Childish, anarchic behaviour will always be funny.”
To celebrate Mr Bean’s birthday milestone, we are bringing you an exclusive illustration of him enjoying his Daily Mirror and 30 facts about one of TV’s best-loved characters…
1
Atkinson invented the character while he was studying for a master’s degree at Oxford University.
2
In a 2014 British Council survey, Mr Bean was voted one of the greatest Brits, ahead of Princess Diana, Sir Paul McCartney and Charlie Chaplin. 3Mr
Bean has 98 million followers on Facebook, making his the 14th biggest Facebook page globally, bigger than Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.
Bean’s shows and animations are screened in 190 countries. 5Mr
Bean is huge in China, with the face of Rowan Atkinson’s character crafted into a rice paddy in Shenyang. 6He has also been immortalised in wax in a Chinese wax museum, alongside Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un. 7He is double diamond on YouTube with more than 20 million followers. 8Atkinson developed the original Mr Bean TV show with Ben Elton and Love, Actually director Richard Curtis. 9He was originally set to be called Mr White or Mr Cauliflower. 10Mr
Bean performed at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics with a rendition of Chariots of Fire. 11Nobody knows Mr Bean’s first name. In his passport he is simply Mr Bean. 12Mr
Bean’s only friend was a teddy bear he called “Teddy.” The original was donated by Atkinson to Gyles Brandreth’s Teddy Bear Museum in Stratford-upon-Avon, then later auctioned and sold for £180. 13Mr
Bean’s girlfriend Irma Gobb was played by actress Matilda Ziegler.
14Atkinson
retired Mr Bean in 2012 as he felt playing the character was becoming harder in his fifties, saying: “Playing a child-like figure at that age becomes a bit sad.” He returned for a special for the 25th anniversary. 15The
first Mr Bean movie, Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie, was a massive success, taking almost £200million worldwide. 16Rowan
Atkinson’s daughter Lily made a cameo appearance in the second movie, Mr Bean’s Holiday. 17Mr
Bean drives a citron-green 1977 British Leyland Mini 1000, Mark 4. It is on display in the National Motor Museum and Collections Centre in Hampshire.
18Rowan
Atkinson went to school with former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.
19The
character of Mr Bean was influenced by the French silent comedy star Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot.
20Mr
Bean has been part of the in-flight entertainment on more than 100 airlines. 21Mr
Bean lives alone at Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, Highbury, and is almost always seen in his tweed jacket and a skinny red tie. 22The
Latin theme tune to the shows was sung by the Southwark Cathedral choir.
23He makes an appearance in the music video of the Boyzone song Picture Of You. 24When meeting the Queen in a line-up at The Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square, Mr Bean accidentally head-butted her as he prepared to bow. 25At its peak, Mr Bean episodes attracted 18 million viewers. 26A
Mr Bean lookalike Brit stranded in Wuhan in the pandemic became a social media star, with 400 million Chinese social media followers. 27Mr
Bean was a contestant on Blind Date with Cilla Black in 1993. 28Mr
Bean has appeared in TV ads for Nissan, M&Ms and Snickers. 29
Rowan Atkinson is estimated to be worth around £120million. 30Mr
Bean has been nominated for five BAFTAs and in 1990 won the Golden Rose at the Rose D’Or Light Entertainment Festival.