Mr. Bean: The Animated Series

This article is about the main animated show. You may be looking for the YouTube shorts, Mr. Bean: The Animated Shorts.

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series

Genre

Animated Sitcom

Creative Show

Created By

Rowan Atkinson

Producer

Claudia Lloyd (Season 1)

Tom Beattie (Season 2) Christopher Skala (Season 3) Arnold Widdowson (Season 4)

Running Time

11 minutes per segment15 minutes per broadcasted segment

3 minutes (special episode)

Written By

Season 1 (2002-04)

Robin DriscollJon CanterAndrew CliffordStephen PowellLee CornesTony HaaseRebecca StevensGary ParkerMark ClompusSeason 2 (2015-16)Ciaran MurtaghAndrew Barnett JonesAlex CollierJimmy HibbertSpecial (2018)Earl KressSeason 3 (2019)Denise CassarSeason 4 (2025-present)Tasha DhanrajMark HuckerbyNick OstlerSeyi Odusanya

Directed By

Season 1 (2002-04)

Richard PurdumMiklós VargaKatalin MóréMihály SikurAndrei IgnatenkoEvgueni PavlenkoElena RogovaSergey GordeevEvgueni PavlenkoElena RogovaSergey GordeevIldikó TáboritaMihály SikurMikhail TumeliaIgor VeichtaguinZhenia PavlenkoSeason 2 (2015-16)Tim FehrenbachSeason 3 (2019)Dave OsborneSeason 4 (2025-present)Filippo Cigognini

Behind The Scenes

Debut

March 2, 2002 (ITV - Original Run)October 5, 2004 (CITV- Original Run)

February 16, 2015 (CITV - Revival)May 1, 2025 (ITVX - Revival)

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series is a British animated comedy series, based on the live-action series of the same name. It began on Saturday, March 2nd, 2002 and originally ended on Monday, November 1st, 2004 for the first series. The series was eventually revived, it has been running actively since February 16th, 2015. It consists of 156 episodes and one YouTube special across four series.

Contents

• 1 Plot summary
• 2 Development
• 3 Characters
• 4 Buildings
• 5 Series Overview
• 6 Soundtrack
• 7 Merchandising
• 8 Games
• 9 Running Gag
• 10 Differences from the live-action series
• 11 Feature film
• 12 Trivia

Plot summary

Mr. Bean: The Animated Series follows the hilarious and often chaotic adventures of the titular character, Mr. Bean, a quirky, resourceful, and eccentric individual with a knack for turning ordinary situations into extraordinary predicaments. Living in a small apartment in London, Mr. Bean spends his days navigating everyday tasks and challenges, which often spiral into absurd and comical escapades due to his unique problem-solving methods and childlike curiosity.

Throughout the series, Mr. Bean is accompanied by his beloved teddy bear, Teddy, who serves as his confidant and silent partner in mischief. Recurring characters include his grumpy landlady, Mrs. Wicket, and her bad-tempered cat, Scrapper, both of whom often become unwitting participants in Bean's antics. Irma Gobb, Mr. Bean’s kind-hearted but sometimes exasperated girlfriend, also appears frequently, adding a touch of heart to the humor as she tries to navigate Bean’s unpredictable behavior.

Each episode presents a standalone story where Mr. Bean faces a challenge—whether it’s replacing his broken sofa, dealing with pests, or going on holiday—and his attempts to solve these problems usually lead to unintended chaos. The series combines visual comedy, slapstick humor, and surreal elements, making it a universally appealing show for audiences of all ages.

Development

Tiger Aspect Productions announced the series in October 2000. Valued at $15 million, the series was already pre-sold to ITV but did not have an animation studio tied into the production. The following month, it was announced that Varga would handle animation production. In February 2001, Entertainment Rights acquired all UK merchandising and licensing rights to the series

Prior to the series' UK premiere in March 2002, Fremantle International Distribution pre-sold the series in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Portugal, Cyprus and French-speaking Belgium, with Super RTL securing rights in Germany. Fremantle held all rights except in the US, UK, Hungary and Japan. Varga, who handled all Hungarian rights, pre-sold the series to RTL Klub and it premiered in April, a month after its UK premiere. By December, the series was pre-sold in Sweden and Finland.

In April 2003, the series made its debut in the United States through various public television stations, with A&E Home Video acquiring home media rights. Sharpe, the North American license holder for the show, signed a deal with Toy Play to release a toyline based on the show for the US and Canadian markets in September. In December, Fremantle International continued to pre-sell the series internationally while BBC Worldwide acquired Japanese licensing and home media rights.

In February 2004, Tiger Aspect announced that they had pre-sold UK Pay-TV rights to the series to Nickelodeon UK to air on their Nicktoons TV channel for a three-year deal.

In 2010, the show started broadcast on the British feed of Boomerang, from its previous broadcast on Nicktoons.

Characters

• 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. In addition, he often talks in complete sentences (particularly in the later series) compared to his live-action counterpart, who rarely spoke a few mumbled words that are all in a comically low-pitched voice.
• Teddy - Mr. Bean's lifelong best friend. As a stuffed companion, Mr. Bean assumes Teddy is alive, speaking to him.
• 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 series). 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 series, she often plays an antagonistic role, but acts much nicer beginning since the second series.
• Irma Gobb (voiced by Matilda Ziegler) - Mr. Bean's long-suffering girlfriend. She is in love sometimes with other guys but Mr. Bean tries to stop her. She has a teddy name Lottie. She is often seen helping out at the library.
• Reliant Supervan III - the three-wheeler blue car known as a Reliant Regal usually happens to be a victim of a collision when Mr. Bean speeds up his Mini, similar to the live action episodes. It's plate number is "DUW 742", but for the first couple of episodes was "A631 LDE". The driver of Reliant is only seen once in "Young Bean" where he appears as a small kid driving a little Reliant pedal car.
• Mary Wince - A close friend of Mrs. Wicket who she has known since she was a young adult. She comes over occasionally to stay in touch with Mrs. Wicket but the two do not get along all the time much like Wicket to Bean.

For more characters, the main article here: List of Mr. Bean Characters

Buildings

• Havlotts Department Store: A ten-story department store where Mr. Bean buys whatever he wants. An example of that is buying a sofa in the episode "The Sofa" (which is similar to the live episode Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean), buying the lamps for his watermelons in the episode "SuperMarrow", and finally buying a tent for camping in the episode "Camping". The name of the store is a possible reference to Harrods.
• S.O.S: An animal shelter that stores some different breeds of cats. The building is only seen in "Dead Cat", where Mr. Bean finds a replacement for Mrs. Wicket's cat named Scrapper after he presumed that Scrapper is crushed to death by garbage truck. The owner of that building is seen also in SuperMarrow.
• Goodall's Music: A music store selling different kinds of musical instruments. A place where Bean buys a grand piano after the record of Beethoven is broken in the episode "Keyboard Capers", and where Bean buys a violin after realizing that the tickets to Eduardo's Concert are expensive in "Bean Encore". The name of the store is a reference to Howard Goodall, who composed the music for the live action Mr. Bean series.
• Purrrrdums: A store which sells pets such as dogs, cats, parrots, and a chameleon. Bean buys a dog, a parrot, then a chameleon for his pet in the episode "No Pets". During the episode "In the Pink", the owner is once a victim of the burglar duo, when he is threatened by selling the 'rare' pink badgers from the burglar duo.
• Restaurant Haute Cuisine des Toffs: A fancy restaurant. The restaurant consists of the French American owner and head waiter Maitre D', his crew including a waiter, two violinists, and an overweight chef. It is seen in the episodes "The Visitor" (where Bean invites Harry to eat), "Restaurant" (where Bean celebrates his birthday, plus unaware that he is to be dined together with the two celebrities), and "Hot Date" (where Bean invites his girlfriend, Irma to eat).
• Morsels Superstore: A supermarket. It is seen in the episode "Super Trolley" where Bean buys the groceries for Mrs. Wicket plus the three corn cereal for himself (POP). However, when the trolley he used is already damaged, the store manager stalks him until he makes his own homemade mechanical trolley.
• W.E. Starchit: A laundromat. It is seen only in the episode "Goldfish" where Bean brought his stinky-smelled Teddy after he had accidentally thrown him into a bucket of fishes. The scene where Bean washed himself inside the washing machine is similar to the live episode Tee Off, Mr. Bean (act 1).
• Harry's Barber Shop: A barber shop where Bean is about to have his hair trimmed but he walks out impatiently when the barber is too slow to cut, seen in the episode "Haircut". The scene is similar to the live episode Hair by Mr. Bean of London, only the owner is Derrick.
• Antiques: An establishment of selling vintage and antique objects. Example of that is that Bean abandons his damaged sofa in the episode "The Sofa" and Bean buys an air balloon after he sells the damaged car in the junk yard in the episode Car Trouble.
• Toots Toys: An establishment of selling different kinds of toys and dolls. It is seen in the episode "Birthday Bear" (where Bean buys the toy for birthday celebrant, Teddy), and Chocks Away (where Bean buys a toy remote plane).
• Toots Sweets: A confectionery shop, only seen on In The Pink.
• Library: A library. Seen on "Valentine's Bean", and "Viral Bean".
• Charity Shop: A shop, where sell characters clothing. Only seen on "Super Spy".
• Smart's phone: A smartphone shop. Only seen on "Bean Phone".
• Irma Gobb's House: Often seen in many episodes.

Series Overview

Season	Episodes	Originally aired		Status	Network
		First aired	Last aired
1	52	2 March 2002	1 November 2004	Concluded	ITV, CITV
2		16 February 2015	10 March 2016		CITV
Special Episode (2018) - Diamonds are a Bean's Best Friend					YouTube
3	26	9 April 2019	8 October 2019		CITV
4	52	1 May 2025	TBA	Streaming	ITVX, ITV2

Soundtrack

The music in the series was composed by Howard Goodall, Rowan Atkinson's friend who also happens to be the same person who also composed music for the classic sitcom, as well as two feature films.

Merchandising

There is far too much to list of the animated series' merchandising to be listed here but the obvious will be listed below.Very scarce information about this but a 2001 promotional brochure pitching the series was made so networks would pick up the series in the US.

• In 2002, Spanish company "MARUKATSU" released Mr. Bean figures of Mr. Bean with his suitcase and pointing, Teddy, Irma, Mrs. Wicket and Scrapper.
• In 2003, ABC Books released a Mr. Bean book series called "The Adventures of Mr. Bean", a total of 10 books in the series were made.
• In 2003, PEZ made dispensers based on the animated designs of Mr. Bean, Irma, Teddy and the Mini, interesting trivia is that Bean and Irma were manufactured in Hungary compared to Teddy and the Mini who were manufactured in Slovenia.
• In 2003, Spanish company "Quirón" released Mr. Bean soft toys. Only Bean and Teddy were ever made with Bean being rereleased several times with different outfits and even being an amusement prize under the company "City Chix". Though in 2006, Mr. Bean got revamped with the removal of the plastic eyes and a flatter head. Teddy saw loads of re-releases even up to the revival.
• In 2004, Italian company "ICA CRIK CROK" released a Mr. Bean figure collection within Kinder Surprise eggs consisting of Mr. Bean with his suitcase, pointing, holding teddy and in his car, Irma and Mrs. Wicket in her armchair with Scrapper sitting atop of it.
• In 2004, an unknown company made a magazine series called "Mr. Bean's Amazing A to Z". This consisted of 52 issues, all were full of facts about "amazing animals, science, famous people and much more" of the time.
• There were several Funko Pop vinyl figures released.
• There also were Beanie Babies plush Teddy toys released in various versions: casual, wearing Mr. Bean's suit (albeit much smaller), with a "I heart Bean" white t-shirt with a heart on it with a union jack pattern, and royal guard.

Games

Several Mr. Bean games based on the animated series have been released, view a list of the Mr. Bean games here.

Running Gag

In the Animated Series, there is a running gag where characters (typically Julia Wicket) slamming the door and then an item hanging falls and breaks.

Differences from the live-action series

• In some episodes in the live-action series, Mr. Bean would live in different flats, but in the animated series, he'd live in the same flat throughout the entire series.
• In the first episode of the live-action series, Mr. Bean had an orange Mini and, later, a green one starting from episode 3. In the animated series, Mr. Bean had the same green Mini since the beginning, which eventually became his signature vehicle.
• Mr. Bean lived alone in the live-action series, but he lived with Mrs. Wicket and several next-door neighbours in the animated series.
• In the live-action series, Mr. Bean's mini's registration was SLW 287R (except in the pilot episode which is RNT 996H). This was changed in the animated series, in which it is now STE 952R.
• Originally in the live action series, the Reliant Regal's registration was GRA 26K, but in the animated series, it's DUW 742.
• Irma Gobb broke up with Mr. Bean in the live-action series' seventh episode, but she never dumped him in the animated series. She also never had a teddy bear in the live-action series, but she had one in the animated series, named Lottie.
• Lastly, the live-action series' theme song was a slow, melancholy choir singing "Ecce/vale homo qui est faba". For the animated series, it was more of an upbeat piano tune that also served as the leitmotif for Mr. Bean.

Feature film

Main article: Mr. Bean: The Animated Movie

Trivia