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Mr. Bean: The Animated Series | |
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Genre | Animated series |
Created by | Rowan Atkinson |
Based on | |
Voices of |
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Composers | Howard Goodall John Greswell (Bean Hypnotised) |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | British English |
No. of series | 5 |
No. of episodes | 130 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Editors |
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Running time | 11 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | ITV (CITV) ITVX Kids |
Release | 5 January 2002 2 June 2004 | –
Release | 16 February 2015 8 October 2019 | –
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]
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]
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]
Series | Episodes | Release dates | |||||
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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" |
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.