History Series / MrBean

* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: In "Tee Off, Mr Bean", Mr Bean tries to retrieve his trousers which accidentally ended up in a woman's laundry. The woman is wearing headphones (with music loud enough for the audience to hear) and is unaware of Mr Bean's presence. She puts her clothes inside the tumble drier and switches it on, completely unaware that Mr Bean has climbed inside.

The vast majority of the show's humor is visual, to the point that the eponymous character says only a handful of complete sentences throughout the entire run of the series. Pretty much every plot is based around how Mr. Bean handles an everyday situation, such as going to a department store, going to church, sitting for an exam, etc. In essence, it was a SketchShow in disguise, especially considering the way that the "plot" was only maintained throughout a few of the episodes. Because of its largely visual and disconnected nature, it was cheap and easy to air in foreign markets as virtually no language dubbing was required and so was bought by networks all over the world. As a result, the show is big pretty much everywhere. It is still Rowan Atkinson's most lucrative and recognized work.

* IconicOutfit: While Bean will dress differently for certain occasions--pyjamas in bed, a swimsuit at the pool--when he is normally out and about he will always be wearing a brown tweed sport coat, a thin red tie, a white shirt, dark pants and black shoes.

* NakedPeopleAreFunny: Mr. Bean is stripped naked in "The Curse of Mr. Bean", "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", and "Mr. Bean in Room 426". In the latter episode, this leads to him employing HandOrObjectUnderwear and then [[DisguisedInDrag dressing in drag]].
* NakedPeopleTrappedOutside: He locks himself out of his hotel room in "Mr. Bean in Room 426".

* SlipperySwimsuit: Bean loses his trunks and is horrified, but successfully avoids getting seen by the lifeguard. Then he runs into the girls' swimming team when trying to leave the pool.

* AllForNothing: Some of Mr. Bean's antics end up being this. One such example is in "The Trouble with Mr. Bean". While waiting outside the dentist, Mr. Bean pours water onto a boy's lap so he has to go home, all so he can get the boy's "Batman" comic; no sooner does he start reading than he's called into the dentist's room.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Some elements of the show imply something along these lines. The opening sequence of Bean being dropped via a spotlight and the beamed back up in the episode's outro; the effect Bean has on various electronic devices like television sets; his ingenuity. It also offers another explanation for his bizarre behaviour and intrigue at the most basic everyday devices.

* AssShove: Mr. Bean uses Teddy as a paintbrush this way in "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean".

* AwesomeButImpractical: Many of Mr. Bean's plans are this, and occasionally their impracticality undoes them.

* {{Bathos}}: "Back to School, Mr. Bean" has by far the saddest ending, with Bean's car completely destroyed and a tear-jerking rendition of the theme tune playing as he staggers towards the remains before dropping to his knees. Then we see him salvage the driver door's padlock and crack a smile before scurrying off.
* BathtubScene: In ''Mr Bean in Room 426'', Mr Bean discovers that his hotel room does not have a bath, and is furious when he puts his ear to the wall and hears his neighbour having a bath. Later, the neighbour finds he cannot get into his bathroom, and it is revealed that Mr Bean is inside using the bath, having drilled a man-sized hole through the wall.

* BritishRoyalGuards: In "Goodnight Mr. Bean", Bean does an assortment of increasingly pesky things to a guard in preparation for a posed photograph, all while the guard remains perfectly still. It all basically amounts to one hell of a MotionlessMakeover. Among the things Bean does to the guard, he polishes the trigger of his gun, trims the guard's moustache to resemble [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler's]], and decorates him with flowers. [[spoiler: At the end, the guard receives his orders to march to his next post, just before the picture could be taken.]]
* TheBully: The jock that harasses Mr. Bean in the first act of "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" is even credited as "The Bully".

* CountingSheep: In "Good Night, Mr. Bean", Bean tries to get to sleep by literally counting the sheep in a large photograph. When he gets frustrated that he keeps losing count, he counts the sheep along two adjoining sides and then multiplies the results in a calculator. After marvelling at the tally, he instantly falls unconscious.

* CringeComedy: Mr. Bean's bizarre behaviour is often offset against normal people.
* DangerousKeyFumble: Played with in "Do it yourself, Mr Bean", although not with the key, the doorknob itself. Mr Bean paints his room by putting a firework in a can of paint and wrapping everything not to be painted in newspapers. He lights the fuse on the firework and dashes for the door, only to find that the doorknob is in the fruit bowl, wrapped in paper. He hastily unwraps an apple and tries to open the door with it, before finding the knob and making his escape.

* DIYDentistry: In "The Trouble With Mr. Bean", Bean accidentally renders his dentist unconscious and has to resort to filling his own cavity. He ends up putting paste on several teeth (due to the X-ray being readable in four different ways because the holder it's placed in spins around both horizontally and vertically), resulting in him gluing his jaw shut. The dentist wakes up and Bean screams, thus ungluing his jaw.

** [[spoiler: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". Irma hinted, nearly to the point of outright request, that she wanted an engagement ring for Christmas by pointing at one in a shop window. Bean doesn't really get hints that well, and after Christmas dinner, he proudly presents her with [[ComicallyMissingThePoint the picture that was sitting behind the ring in the window.]] This reduces her to tears, leading Bean trying to comfort her until he suddenly realizes he forgot something, says "I forgot the most important thing!" and pulls out a ring box from his pocket, presenting it to Irma. [[HopeSpot She's overjoyed and hugs him and upon opening the box, it does seem to contain a metal ring...]][[FromBadToWorse only for it to turn out to be a wall hook for the portrait instead, which Bean then proceeds to obliviously explain the use of to her, as her hopes are crushed again.]] Realizing he has no intention of proposing, Irma is crushed, and walks out in tears, leaving poor Mr. Bean alone, not even understanding what he did wrong.]]

* HandOrObjectUnderwear: In "Mr. Bean In Room 426", Bean gets locked out of his hotel room naked, and must get through the hotel unseen. He picks up a few signs from the hotel to cover his front and behind, though he doesn't hold onto them for long.

* ItWontTurnOff: A semi-realistic example in "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean" involves him putting the titular baby inside a coin-operated kiddy ride and depositing a massive number of coins into it so that he can visit rides and attractions himself without having to worry about the baby, which causes a huge line of angry mothers to form in front of the ride that just keeps going on with a baby inside it with nobody attending them, with the first mother in line asking Bean what the hell he's doing when he returns for the baby as the ride finally comes to a stop.

** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Bean isn't malicious for its own sake; it's more that he has little to no sense of perspective or sense of self. The movie ''Film/{{Bean}}'' explores this more fully when he's confronted with the fact that his actions can have horrendous consequences for people around him, [[MustMakeAmends and he makes a Herculean effort to set things right.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Though he occasionally gets a small dose of LaserGuidedKarma, Bean always escapes any serious consequences for his actions.
* KidsAreCruel: In "The Curse of Mr. Bean", a young boy stomps on Mr. Bean's hand as he dangles precariously from a diving board over a pool because he's scared of heights.

** Some victims of Mr. Bean's antics actually deserve it, such as TheBully in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" and the man who stole his pants in "Back to School, Mr. Bean." If you actually look closely when the man took Mr. Bean's pants, you'll realize that he actually took them by ''purpose'' rather than by mistake as he warily looked at Bean when he took the pants.

* LaughTrack: The show includes one as a mark of its age, though it is obviously shot with a single camera.

* LostToyGrievance: A particularly cruel KickTheDog moment in "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean". Mr Bean helps a young girl to climb on a merry-go-round horse, quietly stealing her teddy bear. The girl's reaction is not seen, only her distant cries of "My teddy!" can be heard as Mr. Bean cruelly mutilates the teddy, to use as an emergency nappy for the baby.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: Occasionally, as when Bean attempts to retrieve his trousers from the man in the bathroom stall in "Back to School, Mr. Bean" and the drill instructor walks in on them.

* PsychoStrings: A short horror film that Bean went to see was filled with dissonant string chords.

-> ''"[[GratuitousLatin Ecce homo qui est faba.]]"'' [[labelnote:translation]][[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Behold the man who is a bean.]][[/labelnote]]

!!This program provides examples of:

** The final sketch of the series in "[[Recap/MrBeanE14HairByMrBeanOfLondon Hair By Mr. Bean of London]]" has Mr. Bean attempt to sneak onto a passenger train by hiding inside a mail bag and sneaking across the platform. Unfortunately, the train leaves before he gets aboard, and then the station crew retrieve the bag and loads it onto its train, bound for Russia, with Bean still inside the bag.

-> ''"[[GratuitousLatin Ecce homo qui est faba]]"'' [[labelnote:translation:]][[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Behold the man who is a bean...]][[/labelnote]]

The show is about a very odd man – about whom we know almost nothing except his last name – who spends his time wandering around, getting into trouble, finding unique solutions to predicaments, and both wittingly and unwittingly causing mayhem. Mr. Bean is perhaps the ultimate example of NoSocialSkills. Not only does he seem to be unfamiliar with all social conventions and standard methods for doing anything; he never even demonstrates normal human thought processes – witness his strategy for protecting his furniture and possessions when painting his flat, which is to wrap every single item (right down to ''individual grapes'') in newspaper, not to mention that his method of painting the flat includes a stick of dynamite.

Considering the mixture of stupidity and inspiration in his way of doing things, Mr. Bean epitomizes the aphorism, "Nothing can be made foolproof because fools are so ingenious".

It was [[WesternAnimation/MrBeanTheAnimatedSeries followed]] by an AnimatedAdaptation, which was less well-received by several fans who cited the whole point of the original show being Rowan Atkinson's physical performance. That said, it actually lasted a fairly long while, going for five seasons and 130 episodes.[[note]]Initially three from 2002 to 2004. But it suddenly [[{{Uncancelled}} came back]] in 2014 and ran until 2019.[[/note]] It can be found in kids' channels on Creator/PlutoTV or the full seasons streaming on Creator/{{Tubi}}.

There are two film adaptations, ''Film/{{Bean}}'' (1997) and ''Film/MrBeansHoliday'' (2007).

In 2006, the ''Series/MythBusters'' tried to reproduce Mr. Bean's "dynamite in a paint bucket" method of painting his flat, with no luck.

Speaking greatly to the popularity of the character, Mr. Bean was part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in London, via a skit in which he's part of the orchestra playing the theme from ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' (specifically only one note on the electric piano over and over again). That turned out to be Mr. Bean's farewell, as Atkinson said in November 2012 that he was retiring the character, citing among other reasons the problem of [[CharacterAgedWithTheActor playing a childlike man as he continues to age]].

However, in October 2014, the character returned in an ad for the chocolate bar Snickers as part of their "You're Not You When You're Hungry" campaign, where he plays the alter-ego of a Chinese assassin and blunders across rooftops, making a complete ass of himself... until he's told to "eat his Snickers" and reverts to assassin mode. Watch it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM4aD_B3WYA here]].

Atkinson also revived the character to take part in Comic Relief 2015, a fundraising event for the similarly named UK charity (founded by Curtis and Lenny Henry). In the short, Mr Bean gets into hijinks... [[TheFunInFuneral at a funeral.]]

The entire series is available on Website/YouTube, care of [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC1EDzqtkrh8QNm-HxtB83ub1O7DdVAfJ the official channel.]]

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Played for laughs with Mr. Bean combing the Queen's Guard's fur hat and sticking flowers in it. As various hecklers have discovered (check Website/YouTube), the Queen's Guard will ignore just about everything ''except'' laying hands on them or otherwise actively interfering in their duties.

Speaking greatly to the popularity of the character, Mr. Bean was part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in London, via a skit in which he's part of the orchestra playing the theme from ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' (specifically only one note on the electric piano over and over again). That turned out to be Mr. Bean's farewell, as Atkinson said in November 2012 that he was retiring the character, citing among other reasons the problem of [[TheCharacterAgedWithTheActor playing a childlike man as he continues to age]].

Speaking greatly to the popularity of the character, Mr. Bean was part of the opening ceremony of the 2012 UsefulNotes/OlympicGames in London, via a skit in which he's part of the orchestra playing the theme from ''Film/ChariotsOfFire'' (specifically only one note on the electric piano over and over again). That turned out to be Mr. Bean's farewell, as Atkinson said in November 2012 that he was retiring the character, citing among other reasons the problem of playing a childlike man as he continues to age.

The vast majority of the show's humor is visual, to the point that the eponymous character says only a handful of complete sentences throughout the entire run of the series. Pretty much every plot is based around how Mr. Bean handles an everyday situation, such as going to a department store, going to church, sitting for an exam, etc. In essence, it was a SketchShow in disguise, especially considering the way that the "plot" was only maintained throughout a few of the episodes. Because of its largely visual and disconnected nature, it was cheap and easy to air in foreign markets as virtually no language dubbing was required and so was bought by networks all over the world. As a result, the show is big in pretty much everywhere. It is still Rowan Atkinson's most lucrative and recognized work.

The vast majority of the show's humor is visual, to the point that the eponymous character says only a handful of complete sentences throughout the entire run of the series. Pretty much every plot is based around how Mr. Bean handles an everyday situation, such as going to a department store, going to church, sitting for an exam, etc. In essence, it was a SketchShow in disguise, especially considering the way that the "plot" was only maintained throughout a few of the episodes. Because of its largely visual and disconnected nature, it was cheap and easy to air in foreign markets as virtually no language dubbing was required and so was bought by networks all over the world. As a result, the show is big in pretty much every part of the world. It is still Rowan Atkinson's most lucrative and recognized work.

It was [[WesternAnimation/MrBeanTheAnimatedSeries followed]] by an AnimatedAdaptation, which was less well-received by several fans who cited the whole point of the original show being Rowan Atkinson's physical performance. That said, it actually lasted a fairly long while, going for five seasons and 130 episodes.[[note]]Initially three from 2002-2004. But suddenly came back in 2014 and ran until 2019.[[/note]] It can be found in kids' channels on Creator/PlutoTV or the full seasons streaming on Creator/{{Tubi}}.

The vast majority of the show's humor is visual, to the point that the eponymous character says only a handful of complete sentences throughout the entire run of the series. Pretty much every plot is based around how Mr. Bean handles an everyday situation, such as going to a department store, going to church, sitting for an exam, etc. In essence, it was a SketchShow in disguise, especially considering the way that the "plot" was only maintained throughout a few of the episodes. Because of its largely visual and disconnected nature, it was cheap and easy to air in foreign markets as no language dubbing was required and so was bought by networks all over the world. As a result, it is big pretty much everywhere. It is still Rowan Atkinson's most lucrative and recognized work.

It was [[WesternAnimation/MrBeanTheAnimatedSeries followed]] by an AnimatedAdaptation, which was less well-received by the several fans who cited the whole point of the original show is Rowan Atkinson's physical performance. That said, it actually lasted a fairly long while, going for five seasons and 130 episodes.[[note]]Initially three from 2002-2004. But suddenly came back in 2014 and ran until 2019.[[/note]] It can be found in kids' channels on Creator/PlutoTV or the full seasons streaming on Creator/{{Tubi}}.

Atkinson also revived the character to take part in Comic Relief 2015, a fund raising event for the similarly named UK charity (founded by Curtis and Lenny Henry). In the short, Mr Bean gets into hijinks... [[TheFunInFuneral at a funeral.]]

** "[[Recap/MrBeanE4MrBeanGoesToTown Mr. Bean Goes to Town]]": Mr Bean has an itchy foot. He takes off his sock and shoe, and puts them on the roof of a parked car, which drives away. Only the roof of the car is visible to the audience, and the driver is BehindTheBlack.

** The final sketch of the series in "[[Recap/MrBeanE14HairByMrBeanOfLondon Hair By Mr. Bean of London]]" has Mr. Bean attempt to sneak onto a passenger train by hiding inside a mail bag and sneaking across the platform. Unfortunately, the train leaves before he gets aboard, and then the station crew retrieve the bag and load it onto its train, bound for Russia, with Bean still inside the bag.

* AcidRefluxNightmare: After Mr. Bean eats bad oysters in "Mr. Bean in Room 426" he has a nightmare about the waiter and his neighbor taunting him as he eats the oysters, which have deteriorated into yellow slime.
* AllForNothing: Some of Mr. Bean's antics end up being this. One such example is in "The Trouble with Mr. Bean". While waiting outside the dentist, Mr. Bean pours water onto a boy's lap so he has to go home, all so he can get the boy's "Batman" comic; no sooner does he start reading than he's called in to the dentist's room.

* AmbiguouslyHuman: Some elements of the show imply something along these lines. The opening sequence of Bean being dropped via a spotlight and the beamed back up in the episode's outro; the effect Bean has on various electronic devices like television sets; his ingenuity. It also offers another explanation for his bizarre behavior and intrigue at the most basic everyday devices.

** In "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", a friendly passer-by steals his camera in the park. Mr. Bean grabs a meshed litter bin, and plonks it over the thief's head and upper body, before wrestling him to the ground. But the thief escapes and runs off, still with the bin on his head.

* BathtubScene: In ''Mr Bean in Room 426'', Mr Bean discovers that his hotel room does not have a bath, and is furious when he puts his ear to the wall, and hears his neighbour having a bath. Later, the neighbour finds he cannot get into his bathroom, and it is revealed that Mr Bean is inside using the bath, having drilled a man-sized hole through the wall.

** On two other occasions, a car is parked, but the audience cannot see that somebody is inside it. In "Mr Bean Goes to Town", Mr Bean takes off his shoe and sock, and puts them on the roof of a parked car, which drives away. In "The Trouble with Mr Bean", he parks his car in an impossibly narrow space by getting out of the car, and pushing it into the space; then one of the adjacent cars drives away, the driver invisible to the audience.

* BritishBrevity: The original TV show consisted of only 14 episodes (with a 15th as a direct-to-video exclusive), airing gradually from 1990 through 1995, unusual for a British series. Two movies and several shorts came afterwards however. Subverted with the animated series, which ran for 52 episodes, before getting renewed ''twice'' for more, totalling in at 130 episodes by the end of it.
* BritishRoyalGuards: In "Goodnight Mr. Bean", Bean does an assortment of increasingly pesky things to a guard in preparation for a posed photograph, all while the guard remains perfectly still. It all basically amounts to one hell of a MotionlessMakeover. Among the things Bean does to the guard, he polishes the trigger of his gun, trims the guard's mustache to resemble [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler's]], and decorates him with flowers. [[spoiler: At the end, the guard receives his orders to march to his next post, just before the picture could be taken.]]

* ComedicSociopathy: Bean occasionally demonstrates this. In the first few minutes of "Goodnight, Mr. Bean", for instance, he blocks an ambulance by parking directly in back of it, cuts in line at the hospital, grabs the last empty seat in a waiting area just ahead of an old man, mocks a wheelchair-bound patient in a neck brace and full-body cast by moving around in his seat and then swipes her number ticket so he can be seen ahead of her.

** The Royal Guard in "Goodnight, Mr. Bean" doesn't move or even change his facial expression, no matter what increasingly ridiculous things Bean does to him (although he's shown eyeing Bean nervously whenever he comes up with a crazy new idea to try out on the guard), and it eventually comes time for him to change shifts, and he marches off with total seriousness.
** When Mr Bean takes an exam, he tries all sorts of tricks to cheat and look at his neighbour's paper. The invigilator is completely unphased, and merely stares at him.
** When Mr Bean has an itchy foot, he takes off his shoe and sock and puts them on the roof of a car, which then drives away. Mr Bean hops to a nearby shoe shop, and is greeted by a helpful salesman who has a complete non-reaction to Mr Bean hopping about, or trying to buy just one shoe.

* ContrivedCoincidence: In "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean", the titular character ends up with somebody else's baby when his car's trunk opens and the knob catches on the baby's pram. After several scenes of him dealing with the baby, it starts crying inconsolably. In an effort to get it to stop crying, he ties balloon after balloon to its pram, with [[{{Balloonacy}} predictable results]]. He rescues it by shooting out the balloons with a bow and arrow from a carnival stall [[BrickJoke from earlier in the episode]]. And of course, it floats down directly in front of its panicking mother.

* CountingSheep: In "Good Night, Mr. Bean", Bean tries to get to sleep by literally counting the sheep in a large photograph. When he gets frustrated that he keeps losing count, he counts the sheep along two adjoining sides and then multiplies the results in a calculator. After marveling at the tally, he instantly falls unconscious.

* CreatorCameo: Co-writer Robin Driscoll appears as minor character in several episodes. The composer of the theme music Howard Goodall also briefly appears in the pilot episode, as the church organist.
* CringeComedy: Mr. Bean's bizarre behavior is often offset against normal people.
* DangerousKeyFumble: Played with in "Do it yourself, Mr Bean", although not with the key, but the doorknob itself. Mr Bean paints his room by putting a firework in a can of paint, and wrapping everything not to be painted in newspaper. He lights the fuse on the firework and dashes for the door, only to find that the doorknob is in the fruit bowl, wrapped in paper. He hastily unwraps an apple and tries to open the door with it, before finding the knob and making his escape.

** [[spoiler: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". Irma hinted, nearly to the point of outright request, that she wanted an engagement ring for Christmas by pointing at one in a shop window. Bean doesn't really get hints that well, and after Christmas dinner he proudly presents her with [[ComicallyMissingThePoint the picture that was sitting behind the ring in the window.]] This reduces her to tears, leading Bean trying to comfort her, until he suddenly realizes he forgot something, says "I forgot the most important thing!" and pulls out a ring box from his pocket, presenting it to Irma. [[HopeSpot She's overjoyed and hugs him and upon opening the box, it does seem to contain a metal ring...]][[FromBadToWorse only for it to turn out to be a wall hook for the portrait instead, which Bean then proceeds to obliviously explain the use of to her, as her hopes are crushed again.]] Realizing he has no intention of proposing, Irma is crushed, and walks out in tears, leaving poor Mr. Bean alone, not even understanding what he did wrong.]]

** The first episode is different from all that would follow right from the start, as it omits the usual 'falling from the sky' intro and choral theme song and instead simply begins with a subtitle and jaunty theme, though the standard intro is added on in later releases. In the exam scene, Bean speaks a couple sentences to another student that are slightly wordier and more coherent (albeit still in a funny-sounding voice) than his usual mumbling. In the same episode, he drives a red Mini instead of a green one, [[spoiler:which he crashes during the credits, perhaps explaining why he probably gets a new Mini later on.]]

* FriendToAllChildren: Hilariously subverted in [[ChristmasEpisode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean"]]. After getting frustrated that everything on TV is either violent or horror, Mr. Bean hears some young carolers outside his door, and greets them, turning his chair to face them and watch. However, the song starts to make him sleepy, so he gets up with his box of chocolates and [[ComedicSociopathy nonchalantly slams the door in their faces]].

* GratuitousLaboratoryFlasks: In "Back to School, Mr Bean", an unattended laboratory arrangement of various connected pieces of glassware attracts Mr Bean's attention. He finds a beaker of liquid nearby, and pours it into an opening in the highly complex arrangement. The glassware starts vibrating furiously, and Mr Bean makes his escape, just before an explosion is heard. Later, a young boy who was nearby is seen covered from head to toe with blue powder.

* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: In "Tee Off, Mr Bean", Mr Bean tries to retrieve his trousers which accidentally ended up in a woman's laundry. The woman is wearing headphones (with music loud enough for the audience to hear), and is unaware of Mr Bean's presence. She puts her clothes inside the tumble drier and switches it on, completely unaware that Mr Bean has climbed inside.

* IconicOutfit: While Bean will dress differently for certain occasions--pajamas in bed, a swimsuit at the pool--when he is normally out and about he will always be wearing a brown tweed sport coat, a thin red tie, a white shirt, and dark pants.

** Throughout the series, Mr. Bean often comes off as not only bumbling and eccentric, but also mean-spirited. He's at his worst in the hospital scene in "Good Night, Mr Bean." He parks his car right behind an ambulance so they can't open their doors, throws a little girl's doll across the room and gets two men to start a fight with each other just so he can be first in line, steals a seat from an old man with a cane, mocks the woman sitting next to him who's in a bodycast and switches numbers with her, and changes the number of a little boy from 85 to ''850.''
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Bean isn't malicious for its own sake; it's more that he has little to no sense of perspective, or sense of self. The movie ''Film/{{Bean}}'' explores this more fully when he's confronted with the fact that his actions can have horrendous consequences for people around him, [[MustMakeAmends and he makes a Herculean effort to set things right.]]
* JingleTheCoins: In "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean", Mr. Bean tries to beat a fairground arcade machine by taking a run at it, and throwing his whole weight against it. He smiles happily as he hears the sound of lots of coins falling; then he is faced with a grinning young boy who has seized the money, and is gleefully shaking his clothes full of it.

** Some victims of Mr. Bean's antics actually deserve it, such as TheBully in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" and the man who stole his pants in "Back to School, Mr. Bean." If you actually look closely when the man took Mr. Bean's pants, you'll realize that he actually took it by ''purpose'' rather than by mistake as he warily looked at Bean when he took the pants.

* LimitedWardrobe: Mr. Bean is almost always attired in his trademark ensemble of dark brown trousers, white shirt, red tie, and brown tweed sportcoat.
* LookBehindYou: Mr. Bean does this on several occasions: to distract a fellow candidate in an exam so he can copy, when his girlfriend is hiding his present behind her back while she wait for him to kiss her, and to distract somebody sitting in a toilet cubicle who has mistakenly taken his trousers, so that he can reclaim them by force.
* LostFoodGrievance: In "Tee Off, Mr. Bean", Mr. Bean's golf ball lands in a child's double ice-cream cone, displacing one of the balls of ice-cream. Mr. Bean then hits the golf ball away, leaving the child holding a tiny stump of a cone, looking disappointed. Not seeing what had happened, the child's mother says sternly "No more".

* NoNameGiven: Bean's girlfriend is simply billed as "The Girlfriend" in her first couple appearances, although she's eventually identified as one Irma Gobb.

* OverlyLongGag: Just before Mr. Bean takes an exam, he takes a pen out of his pocket; then a pencil, then another pen, and another, and another, and another. Then he reaches inside his jacket and takes out a whole handful of pens. Not content with this, he then produces two mascots, and an alarm clock. When the exam begins, he dithers over which pen to use; and finally, at the end of the exam when he is writing furiously, the pen in his hand stops working, so he grabs one from his neighbour, oblivious to all the other pens in front of him.

** After Mr Bean has fawned over a Mr Wilkinson, the last entry on a page is "Mr Wilkinson borrowing car this afternoon", followed by "car due back". Then, over the page: "Where is Mr Wilkinson???", as it is revealed that Mr Wilkinson is a con man who has stolen Mr Bean's car.
* PetTheDog: By Mr. Bean's standards, the scene where he encounters a busker playing saxophone, finds he doesn't have any small change on hand, and then goes so far as to start dancing nearby just so he can earn some money to tip him.
* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: Mr. Bean feels uncomfortable in the presence of nudity and the show has him disapproving not only of nude models but also nude art. So whenever he sees a nude statue or a painting of a nude he uses the closest piece of cloth or paper to hide the offending area. With the nude model, he crafts a makeshift bra out of the art studio's clay and gets it on her without the instructor noticing.

* ProperlyParanoid: Mr Bean often goes to ridiculous lengths to secure his property. He's right to do it. (A carjacker tries to steal his Mini only to discover that there is no steering wheel.) However, Bean habitually removing his own doorknob for similar reasons almost gets him caught in a paint explosion when he can't find it in the objects he's wrapped up in newspaper.

** In "The Trouble with Mr. Bean", the titular character's response to his electronic alarm clock going off is to drop it into a glass of water and then hanging it up to dry on a clothesline off the lanyard hanging off it, implying that it's what he does every day and somehow the alarm clock isn't permanently damaged by it.

* RoadTripEpisode: "Mr. Bean Rides Again" is all about Bean taking a trip first by train and then by plane, although we never do see where he was going to.

* ShrunkInTheWash: Teddy gets shrunk in the wash in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean". Of course he's back to normal again next episode.

* SixIsNine: In "Goodnight, Mr. Bean", he is waiting in a doctor's office. Bean has ticket #52. He realizes that on the digital display #25 and #52 are the same number flipped upside down, so he flips the counter over after #24 is called, causing his number to be called next by a confused receptionist.

* StairsAreFaster: Parodied in "Mr. Bean in Room 426''. Another guest makes it into the elevator to head to the top floor, and the doors close just before Mr. Bean gets there. He races up the stairs to the next floor and presses the button there, so that the elevator stops; he does this on every floor.
* StatusQuoIsGod: Poor Teddy gets decapitated in "Mr. Bean in Room 426", used as a paintbrush in "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean", and shrunk in the wash in "Tee Off, Mr. Bean", but is back to normal at the beginning of the next episode. (On the other hand, since Teddy's look varies from episode to episode, there may be a succession of individual toys Bean uses in universe as he constantly damages poor Teddy.)

* StorefrontTelevisionDisplay: Just before the closing credits of ''Mr. Bean goes to Town'', an entire window display of televisions goes fuzzy when he passes, in a reference to earlier in the episode, when his television at home would do the same thing.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In "Artful Bean", Bean uses various condiments as substitute for actual paint. This results in his painting attracting a lot of flies.

* UnexplainedRecovery: At the end of "Back To School, Mr. Bean", his Mini is crushed by a tank. This doesn't stop it showing up again (with the same numberplate, even) in two subsequent episodes, "Goodnight Mr. Bean" and "Hair by Mr. Bean of London". (That said, given the nature of the show, AnachronicOrder or even NegativeContinuity may be in effect.)

* UnplannedCrossdressing: "Mr. Bean in Room 426" finally found clothing to prevent going around naked, and to get the room key from the reception, after he broke into the luggage of professional drag artist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_La_Rue Danny La Rue]]. However, La Rue spots him wearing it, angrily informs Bean that that's his frock, and rips off the earring he's wearing.
* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: It's a bit complicated. On occasion he can be casually cruel, as when he torments the calligrapher in "Back to School, Mr. Bean." On the whole, however, his misdeeds are the result of childish selfishness, curiosity, or misunderstanding, and when LaserGuidedKarma catches up with him it's hard not to feel bad for him.

** [[spoiler: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean". Irma hinted, nearly to the point of outright request, that she wanted an engagement ring for Christmas by pointing at one in a shop window. Bean doesn't really get hints that well, and after Christmas dinner he proudly presents her with [[ComicallyMissingThePoint the picture that was sitting behind the ring in the window.]] This reduces her to tears, leading Bean trying to confort her, until he suddenly realizes he forgot something, says "I forgot the most important thing!" and pulls out a ring box from his pocket, presenting it to Irma. [[HopeSpot She's overjoyed and hugs him and upon opening the box, it does seem to contain a metal ring...]][[FromBadToWorse only for it to turn out to be a wall hook for the portrait instead, which Bean then proceeds to obliviously explain the use of to her, as her hopes are crushed again.]] Realizing he has no intention of proposing, Irma is crushed, and walks out in tears, leaving poor Mr. Bean alone, not even understanding what he did wrong.]]

** In "Back To School Mr. Bean", there's a brief scene of Bean in a chemistry lab mucking up a little boy's experiment and causing an explosion, but getting away just in time. In the next scene, Bean is in an art class, ''extremely'' prudish about drawing a nude model, so he scurries away to the pottery section. Just as he does, the boy from the chemistry lab (who is now ''covered'' in blue chemical powder) and his teacher burst into the room to find Bean... only for the teacher to grab the boy and rush right back out as soon as the boy notices the nude model.

The show is about a very odd man about whom we know nothing except his last name, who basically wanders around, getting into trouble, finding unique solutions to predicaments, and both wittingly and unwittingly causing mayhem. Mr. Bean is perhaps the ultimate example of NoSocialSkills. Not only does he seem to be unfamiliar with all social conventions and standard methods for doing anything, he never even demonstrates normal human thought processes -- witness his strategy for protecting his furniture and possessions when painting his flat, which is to wrap every single item in newspaper right down to individual grapes, not to mention that his method of painting the flat includes a stick of dynamite.

The vast majority of the humor is visual, to the point that the eponymous character says only a handful of complete sentences throughout the entire run of the series. Pretty much every plot is based around how Mr. Bean handles an everyday situation, such as going to a department store, going to church, sitting for an exam, etc. In essence, it was a SketchShow in disguise, especially considering the way that the "plot" was only maintained throughout a few of the episodes. Because of its largely visual and disconnected nature, it was cheap and easy to air in foreign markets as no language dubbing was required and so was bought by networks all over the world. As a result, it is big pretty much everywhere. It is still Rowan Atkinson's most lucrative and recognized work.

* UnplannedCrossdressing: "Mr. Bean in Room 426" finally found clothing to prevent going around naked, and to get the room key from the reception. However, another actor approaches, and tells Mr. Bean that's his prop, and rips off the earring.

-> ''"[[GratituitousLatin Ecce homo qui est faba]]"'' [[labelnote:translation:]][[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext Behold the man who is a bean...]][[/labelnote]]

-> ''"Ecce homo qui est faba"'' [[labelnote:translation:]]Behold the man who is a bean[[/labelnote]]