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 do his shopping for Christmas decorations, first by subjecting two different types of baubles to his usual scrutiny—if it breaks, do not buy it (for some reason, he only ends up buying one bauble). He also tests some Christmas lights using the same socket used for all of the exterior Christmas lights, plunging the exterior of the store into darkness in the process.

Afterwards, Bean goes to the counter to pay for his items, when he notices an in-store display and performs a rather inaccurate Nativity scene involving a Royal Guard parade, sheep (and a sheepdog he accidentally throws in), a lorry, a Dalek, two army tanks, a T-rex, a helicopter with a magnet, all the characters repeatedly shushing each other, and the bedroom of a doll house. Eventually, the store manager stops him by putting a figurine of a policeman onto the set and gives Bean his bag of shopping. Bean then leaves content with his work while the store manager looks on.

Act 2

Beans meets his girlfriend Irma Gobb in the town's Christmas market where she drags Bean over to a jeweller's shop window after spotting a sparkly ring that she likes. She tries to give him the message that she wants her present to be the ring, which is sitting next to a portrait of a couple getting engaged, by pointing at it. Bean seemingly understands what she wants and Irma is delighted to see him enter the shop after she leaves. Later, he participates in a "guess the weight" competition, with the prize being a large turkey. He manages to win by standing on a bathroom scale and using a calculator to determine the correct answer (to three decimal places). Bean then leaves before the next customer promptly trips on the scales that he had left behind, before he throws the turkey into the boot of his car.

Bean then notices another man dressed as Father Christmas and decides to pull the beard like earlier, only for the beard to be real, causing Bean to make a quick exit while the man recovers. He then volunteers to collect money for a Salvation Army brass band performing in the market. He catches a young boy pick-pocketing people and forces him to surrender all the items he stole (notably by retrieving a ring that the boy hid in his mouth by smacking him on the back of the head). But instead of returning the stolen items, Bean gives the basket of loot to the conductor. Bean ends up conducting the band in a ridiculous way while the conductor tries on some of the jewelry the thief stole in his car (implying that he isn't donating what he collects but is greedily stealing it for himself). Bean conducts the band in two versions of "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen"- one mournful and the other jazzy - and after he finishes he earns a big round of applause by the crowd.

Afterwards, Bean wants to buy a Christmas tree, but he gets to the stand just as the last ones have been bought. He ends up chopping down the town's very large Christmas tree and straps it to the top of his car, while the many people around him are oblivious to the theft.

Act 3

When Bean goes home later that night, he prepares for Christmas by setting up the top of the stolen Christmas tree (it is also revealed that he is cutting bits of it with a saw while it stands outside, but he accidentally sends it crashing down onto the street below). 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, both of 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 rudely slams the door into their faces without giving them anything. He then takes off his robe and goes to bed.

Act 4

The next morning, Bean wakes up excited that it is Christmas morning. After jumping around like a child, he discovers what Father Christmas gave him. He got a new sock that matches his stocking and puts them both on, Teddy got a tin of two drawing pins to replace his button eyes as they were taken off. The pins give Teddy a new look, and Bean holds up three fingers to "test his new eyes". Finally, the mouse got a piece of cheese- which Bean immediately places onto a mousetrap.

That afternoon, Bean goes into the kitchen to prepare the turkey that he won, but he loses his watch while stuffing it. He then pokes his head inside the turkey to try to find it, only for it to become stuck on his head just as Irma arrives at the door. He tries prevent Irma from seeing his predicament, but ends up freaking her out after he grabs a crosscut saw to try to get it off. Eventually, she helps Bean get it off by attaching a heavy object to the turkey and throwing the former out the window. Unfortunately, the turkey is lost after it is pulled out of the window as well but Bean retrieves his watch.

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, only for Bean to outsmart and cruelly snatch it from her. Ignoring her anger, Bean opens it to find a modelling ship and marvels at all the guns and parts in the plastic frames. Bean then remembers to give Irma her present, but Irma's excitement quickly turns to confusion when she is given something that is big and flat; it turns out that instead of the ring she wanted, Bean bought her the picture of the engaged couple that was used as part of the ring's display (revealing that Bean misunderstood what she was pointing to earlier).

As Bean continues happily playing with his ship, Irma sits on Bean's bed and starts to cry, upset that Bean didn't get her a decent present. Concerned, Bean goes over to comfort her, but then mutters "I forgot the main bit!". He then produces a small present from his coat pocket, which Irma opens to reveal a ring box. Overjoyed thinking that this is the real present, Irma happily hugs Bean and eagerly opens the box to find what appears to be a sparkly ring inside. Unfortunately, upon taking it out of the box, she finds that it's actually a screw-in hook meant for hanging the picture. As Bean shows her how to put it on the wall, a very angry and distraught Irma storms out of the flat, slamming the door behind her.

A puzzled Bean then mutters "What was wrong with it?", before he sadly picks up his "super cracker" he made earlier and says Merry Christmas to himself. The episode ends with an outside view of Bean's window as he pulls the cracker, which produces a loud bang and a bright flash that can be 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