Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean

"Merry Christmas Mr. Bean" is the seventh episode of the television series Mr. Bean broadcast on ITV on 29 December 1992.^[3] It was produced by Tiger Television. ^[4]

Plot

Act 1

On Christmas Eve, Bean visits Harrods during a very busy Christmas shopping spree, causing his usual brand of chaos by behaving rather inappropriately while inside such a prestigious department store. After parking directly at the front of the store and harassing a man dressed as Father Christmas by pulling his fake beard, Bean proceeds to shop for Christmas decorations, subjecting them to his usual scrutiny—if it breaks, do not buy it. He also tests some Christmas lights using the same socket used for the exterior Christmas lights, blacking out the exterior of the store in the process.

He then starts playing with an in-store display, performing a rather inaccurate Nativity scene involving a T. rex, two army tanks, a Dalek, a helicopter, a delivery truck and also the bedroom of a dollhouse where he transports the figures to. The store manager stops him by putting a figurine of a policeman onto the set and gives him his bag of Christmas shopping and Bean leaves while the store manager looks on.

Act 2

Upon seeing another man dressed as Father Christmas he pulls the beard again like earlier, only for the beard to be real, causing Bean to make a quick exit while the man recovers. Bean meets Irma Gobb where she sees a sparkly ring in a jeweller's shop window. She points to the ring in the window, where it sits next to a picture of a couple getting engaged. Bean incorrectly assumes that she means the picture, and Irma is delighted to see him entering the shop after she leaves. He then participates in a "guess the weight" game, with the prize being a turkey. He wins, whilst standing on scales and using a calculator, and is able to determine the correct answer (to three decimal places).

He then volunteers to collect money for a Salvation Army brass band. He then catches a young boy robbing people and gives the thief's items to the band's conductor. Bean then ends up conducting the band in a ridiculous way while the conductor tries on the items that the pickpocket stole. Bean conducts the band in two versions of "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" – one mournful and the other jazzy – and after he has finished conducting the band and gets a big round of applause, he tries to get a Christmas tree, but the last ones are taken and he ends up leaving, but not before he takes the town's very large Christmas tree home with him, the people watching the band play "Silent Night" and roaming police officers equally unaware. He then drives home to his flat.

Act 3

When Bean goes home later that night, he prepares for Christmas by setting up the Christmas tree that he stole (it is also revealed that he is cutting bits of it with a saw while it stands outside). Then he puts out three stockings for Father Christmas; one for himself, one for Teddy and a tiny one for a (mouse). He makes a super cracker, a Christmas cracker with many fuses from other crackers inside. Bean posts himself several Christmas cards—all of the same design.

While having a glass of wine, he then tries to find something good to watch on TV, but finds nothing but war films and a horror film, which do not interest him. As Bean shuts the TV off, young carol singers arrive at his door singing "Away in a Manger". Bean sits down to listen to them while eating chocolates from a box, but after a few seconds gets drowsy, he then walks to the door with the chocolate box, seemingly for them, but then shuts the door rudely without giving them anything and then takes off his robe and goes to bed.

Act 4

The next morning Bean wakes up and eagerly gets out of bed acting like a child for a minute, and then discovers what Father Christmas gave him. He got a new sock that matches the stocking, so he puts both of them on. Teddy got a tin of two drawing pins to replace his eyes as his button eyes were taken off; the pins give Teddy a new look, and Bean holds up three fingers to "test his new eyes". The mouse got a piece of cheese—which Bean immediately places on a mousetrap.

Later, Bean goes in the kitchen to get his turkey ready. He then tries to prepare the turkey, but loses his watch while stuffing it, and pokes his head inside to find it. However just as his girlfriend arrives he gets the turkey stuck on his head and tries to prevent Irma from seeing it, while bumping into things as he tries to find his way around without being able to see. He picks up a crosscut saw to try to get it off, but accidentally freaks her out. She then helps Bean get the turkey off, by attaching a heavy object to the turkey and then throwing the former out of the window. However, the turkey is lost out of the window as well.

Later, they have dinner (consisting of cranberry sauce sandwiches and carrot slices) and Irma gives Bean his present but wants a Christmas kiss off him first. But Bean outsmarts her and rudely snatches it from her and he opens it to find a modelling ship. Bean then gives Irma her present - however, it is not the engagement ring she wanted but the picture of the engaged couple that was next to it (revealing that Bean didn't realise what she was pointing to). While Bean begins to play with his ship happily, Irma begins to cry, but Mr. Bean mutters "I forgot the main bit!". He then produces a small present, which Irma opens to reveal a ring box. Now crying tears of joy thinking that this is the real present, she hugs Bean and opens the box to find what appears to be a beautiful ring inside. However, upon taking it out of the box, Irma discovers that it's actually a screw-in hook meant for the picture. As Bean shows her how to put it on the wall, a very upset Irma storms out of the flat, slamming the door behind her. A confused Bean then looks at the portrait and mutters "What was wrong with it?". The episode ends with Mr. Bean picking up the "super cracker" he made earlier and saying "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", before the scene changes to an outside view of the flat's window where a bright flash is seen through the curtains.

Continuity

Bean appears to have moved, as the flat and its exterior have changed. This is the last episode to star Matilda Ziegler as Irma Gobb. Some of Mr. Bean's art collection, including a famous photo of Shirley Bassey, were later packed and brought along in "Mr. Bean in Room 426", in which Bean hung his art collection inside his hotel room.

In this episode, Irma Gobb saw Teddy for the only time in the live-action Bean episodes. They would not see each other again until Mr. Bean, The Animated Series, this time with Irma's own female Teddy.

This episode is also the first time Irma Gobb's name is revealed. Previous episodes credited Ziegler's character as "the girlfriend".

Guest cast

• Owen Brenman as Store clerk
• Matilda Ziegler as Irma Gobb
• John Warner
• Jonathan Stratt
• C.J. Allen
• Lee Barrett
• Chris Sanders

Production

This was the final episode written by Richard Curtis. The market scene was shot in Kingston.^[5]

Broadcast and reception

Merry Christmas, Mr Bean was first broadcast on the ITV network on Tuesday 29 December 1992.

This was also the final episode to be presented by Thames Television on behalf of the network as the company was to lose its franchise and cease broadcasting two days later. Subsequent repeats and future episodes of Mr. Bean would be commissioned and presented by Central Independent Television.

It was also one of the highest rating episodes, with 18.48 million viewers watching the original transmission.

Censors

The scene where Mr Bean buys the turkey was cut out on some children's channels. The scene where Irma Gobb helps Mr. Bean to get the turkey off was edited out when broadcast on Nickelodeon UK for unknown reason.

Outside references

During Act 1, when Mr. Bean plays with the toys, he hums "The British Grenadiers" when using the soldiers. This tune is also the theme tune for Blackadder Goes Forth, also starring Atkinson.

Alternative versions

The retail version of this episode includes an extra scene where Bean attempts to win the turkey he eventually ended up wearing on his head. The contest being to guess the turkey's weight, he sneaks a pair of scales to the counter; having already weighed himself, he subtracts his weight from the combined weight using a Casio calculator. The person in charge of the contest is shocked when Bean guesses the exact weight (to three decimal places) and wins it. The turkey is then thrown into the boot of Mr. Bean's Mini uncovered. The deleted scene is inserted into the Act 2 of this episode between when Bean purchases his girlfriend's present from the jewellers and when Mr. Bean assists the Salvation Army band. The A&E DVD release (distributed in the US by New Video) is missing this scene.

Awards and legacy

After its broadcast on American cable television network HBO, this episode won the 1995 CableACE award for best comedy special. ^[1][2]

The 'lights on a well known building being accidentally switched off' gag is used by comedian Peter Kay at the end of his Live at the Top of the Tower DVD.

Bean also contained the turkey joke, although they eventually tried to cook the turkey before the microwave explodes. This scene like others were cut out of the film and is seen on the special feature "Deleted Bean" The turkey scene also inspires another Mr. Bean, The Animated Series short called "Dinner for Two". The turkey scene may have also inspired the Friends episode "The One with All the Thanksgivings" where Joey gets a turkey stuck on his head (in a flashback to 1992) and afterwards Monica puts a turkey on her head.

References

External links

• "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" at the Internet Movie Database