1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,160 LAUGHTER 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:02,160 --> 00:00:04,320 MR BEAN: Aha. 4 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 5 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:14,960 Hooray! 6 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:16,960 Whee! 7 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:18,960 Oh! 8 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,320 MUSIC: 'Watch Me' by The Phantoms 9 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:35,960 Mr Bean was just who I was. 10 00:00:44,480 --> 00:00:48,960 I still find him funny and I think I can still perform him. 11 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,960 You know, dye my hair and I'm off. 12 00:00:57,960 --> 00:00:59,960 I do think Rowan is a genius. 13 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:04,960 They're the university boys and I was the secondary school kid. 14 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:06,960 You know, rough it up a bit. 15 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,960 I had the seventh most recognisable face in the world. 16 00:01:21,960 --> 00:01:23,960 Mr Bean! 17 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:28,160 He's also, in my opinion, the greatest clown of our lifetime. 18 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:45,960 At 8pm on New Year's Day 19 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,640 ITV broadcast a pilot for a new comedy sketch show 20 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,960 starring Rowan Atkinson, simply entitled Mr Bean. 21 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,960 ITV were looking for one half-hour show 22 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:00,960 to fill this one gap in the schedule 23 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:02,960 and ours was the only one that seemed to be about. 24 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,960 And it was just a complete fluke, really, 25 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:09,960 that the first time it was shown was at eight o'clock 26 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:11,960 immediately after Coronation Street. 27 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:13,960 It was put in this prime spot. 28 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:22,960 When it was presented to the British public it was so mainstream 29 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,000 that it never occurred to people that what they were watching 30 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,960 was a sort of unique bit of genius by an irreplaceable comedian. 31 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,960 They just thought, "Oh, here's a big, popular show". 32 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:35,960 SINGING HYMN 33 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:37,960 This first episode was made up of three sketches. 34 00:02:37,960 --> 00:02:41,960 'Church sketch was the first Mr Bean sketch 35 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,960 'with Richard Briars playing the guy 36 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:46,960 'that, unfortunately for him, I'm next to.' 37 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:48,960 MOUTHS 38 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:56,960 Just watching a guy trying to stay awake and he's failing. 39 00:02:56,960 --> 00:02:59,640 Ah! 40 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:01,000 And it's fun just to watch it in real time. 41 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:22,960 The longer it takes for him to slowly fall asleep in his own lap, 42 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:24,960 it becomes funnier. 43 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:32,960 The great joy of these was the rehearsal of them, 44 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,960 and they didn't take very long. 45 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,960 We had an idea, it seemed rich, and we would just sit in a room and say, 46 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:40,960 "Well, what's the next thing that could happen 47 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:42,960 "with the resources that we've got?" 48 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:50,960 So we've got a hymn book. 49 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:54,960 He could have something in the pockets of his jacket. 50 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:03,960 There'll be a hymn. 51 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:10,960 # Hallelujah, Hallelujah... # 52 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:16,960 And we just worked it out communally. 53 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:19,960 Probably Church took, you know, an hour. 54 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,960 # Hallelujah. # 55 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,960 Ro has this tremendous ability once he's got something that's funny, 56 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:29,960 never to forget it. 57 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:36,960 You know, really lucky to have met Richard 58 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:40,960 all those years ago when we were students. Really lucky. 59 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,960 Well, Rowan and I turned up at a sketch writing club in Oxford 60 00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:48,960 and I thought that Rowan was a stuffed toy, 61 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,800 cos he didn't say anything at all for the first three meetings. 62 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,960 And then we were asked to submit some material and he stood up 63 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,480 and did two sketches, and I thought, "Oh, no, he's a genius. 64 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,960 "That's awkward". 65 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,960 I actually met Rowan in my first hour of university. 66 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:07,960 I thought, I'd heard there might be, like, a comedy review group. 67 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:10,960 So I went to the desk and said, "Look, I do music 68 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:14,960 "and I'd love to maybe help out," and the guy at the desk was Rowan. 69 00:05:14,960 --> 00:05:16,960 He said, "Well, OK, someone will come and see you." 70 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,640 Richard came round and said, "We're doing a show in three weeks. 71 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,960 "Do you wanna do the music?" So I said, "Yes!" 72 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,800 It really was a group of friends 73 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:27,960 laughing at Rowan, you know, pulling faces. 74 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,960 We called it a one-man show. 75 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,960 That'll be Richard, myself, and Rowan, which is three people. 76 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:39,000 It started to be more and more about Rowan, really, 77 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,960 because everything he did, 78 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:42,960 an audience would just hang on what he was doing. 79 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,960 I mean, Mr Bean was created for theatre, 80 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:47,960 for the comedy show that Richard and I used to do. 81 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:51,960 We started to create these purely visual sketches. 82 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,480 If I had to tell a story entirely visually, 83 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,960 I just naturally became this character. 84 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:00,960 So Mr Bean was just who I was... 85 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:03,960 ..when denied verbal expression. 86 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,960 I think it's a funny idea, you know. He's absurd, but he makes me laugh. 87 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:11,960 The sketches they created for the theatre 88 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,960 would become the three sketches in the first episode of Mr Bean. 89 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,960 It hadn't occurred to us that there was a universal character. 90 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,160 One was a kind of bloke who goes to church a lot, 91 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:23,960 one was some awkward guy with some swimming trunks, 92 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,960 the other one was a younger guy who was cheating in an exam. 93 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,960 When we thought, let's do this TV show with whatever it was, 94 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,960 three of them, we thought, oh, we'd better wear the same costume. 95 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,960 What was usually funny was just the process 96 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:47,960 of how he gets out of a difficult situation, 97 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:49,960 or how he gets into a difficult situation. 98 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:55,960 Done your revision? 99 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,000 Oh, yes. 100 00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:03,960 I've concentrated on trigonometry. 101 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,160 I've done calculus, mainly. Oh. 102 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:12,960 I believe they concentrated on calculus last year. 103 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:13,960 Oh, dear. 104 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:17,960 SNIGGERS 105 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,960 Quiet, ladies and gentlemen, please. 106 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:22,960 The exam starts now. 107 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,480 'Bodily expression, particularly with Mr Bean, 108 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:29,960 'is so very, very important. It's sort of screaming at you. 109 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:32,960 'You know, there may be no words, but you're being shouted at, 110 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,960 'I think, very loudly by the bodily expression.' 111 00:07:53,160 --> 00:07:56,960 The word "compelling" is quite good, because I think 112 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,480 that's what draws you into a lot of Mr Bean's sketches. 113 00:08:09,960 --> 00:08:12,640 You only had to have the starting point of the idea. 114 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,800 He gets locked out of his room, 115 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:16,960 or he's going to a swimming pool or something like that. 116 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:18,960 And then you can be pretty confident 117 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:20,960 that we would be able to make it work. 118 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,960 Would those who answered the green calculus papers 119 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:26,960 please put them in the green box? 120 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,960 And those who answered the white trigonometry papers 121 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:33,960 please put them in the white box? 122 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,960 What I've always done on the Mr Beans, as it were, 123 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:47,960 I've done the charcoal outline 124 00:08:47,960 --> 00:08:50,960 and then Rowan adds all the colour and the texture 125 00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,800 and I laugh at him while he's doing it. 126 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:55,960 'I said stop writing.' 127 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:58,960 'Will you stop writing!' 128 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,960 ALARM CLOCK RINGS 129 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:14,960 It is 30 years since the first Mr Bean 130 00:09:14,960 --> 00:09:17,960 was shown on British television, and it became an instant hit. 131 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:27,800 Between 1990 and 1995, the team went on to produce 14 episodes in total. 132 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:31,320 I didn't know until this moment that there were only 14. 133 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:33,960 I thought there were probably 114 134 00:09:33,960 --> 00:09:37,800 and that Rowan had been coining it in for years and years 135 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,960 making this never-ending flow of Mr Beans. 136 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:45,960 We did the other 14 episodes in dribs and drabs. 137 00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,480 We didn't make 14 at once. We made two, 138 00:09:48,480 --> 00:09:50,960 and then we made three more, and then we made one more, 139 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:51,960 and then we made four more 140 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,960 and eventually, we got to this rather paltry sum of 14. 141 00:09:57,960 --> 00:10:00,640 They were always given a sort of prime spot 142 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:01,960 and earned their keep there. 143 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:03,960 And suddenly, you know, people realised 144 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,960 that visual comedy could actually hold a large audience. 145 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:13,960 Oh! 146 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,960 After the overnight success of episode one, 147 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,640 the team was in need of new material 148 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:22,960 and comedy writer, Robin Driscoll, was hired. 149 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:26,960 In your own time, sir. No rush. 150 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:29,960 He would also feature in various sketches as a straight man to Rowan. 151 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:32,960 I would say in the story of Mr Bean, 152 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:34,960 it's Rowan, Robin, and then possibly me. 153 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,960 I always think in a way Rowan and I did the obvious ones. 154 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,320 We got the low-hanging fruit. 155 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:53,960 And what was brilliant about Robin is that he's just kept, as it were, 156 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:56,960 squeezing the lemon, finding new things, finding different ways, 157 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,800 taking a little thread, 158 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:03,960 be it to do with the car or with the teddy or anything like that. 159 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,960 My agent rang and said that they were gonna commission 160 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:10,960 a bunch of writers just to send in some scripts to see if any of us 161 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,960 could write for the show and I just wrote a stack like that. 162 00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,960 Richard and Rowan called me in and said, "We'd love you to join us." 163 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:22,960 MR BEAN: Oh. 164 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,320 They're the university boys, the Oxford boys, 165 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:29,960 and I was the secondary school kid. 166 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,960 Yeah, I was the last in the team. You know, rough it up a bit. 167 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:39,960 One of the sketches was one that I'd actually submitted 168 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:40,960 in trying to get the job. 169 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:45,000 And it was being sat in an armchair on top of the Mini. 170 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:48,960 And I just thought, no, that'll cost too much. They'll never do that. 171 00:11:58,960 --> 00:12:00,800 And I watched it the other day 172 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:02,960 and I thought, "Oh, it's quite good, isn't it, really?" 173 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,960 A little lap belt, I think, is holding me in, I think. 174 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:18,960 That is the huge difference 175 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,320 between filming 30 years ago and filming now. 176 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:25,960 Basically, we did everything for real, and I so preferred that. 177 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,960 I'm sorry to have to tell you that there is a man hidden in the car 178 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:43,160 with a small video screen doing the donkey work. 179 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:46,960 But still, they're stunts. 180 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:50,960 CRASH 181 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:58,960 Even in that sketch, the sound of a Mini disappearing 182 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:01,960 into the back of a removal van into a pile of mattresses, 183 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,960 you know, what is that sound? And it was mainly... 184 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:06,960 EXHALES 185 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:08,960 Oh! 186 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:10,960 GROANS 187 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:12,960 Ho-ho. 188 00:13:12,960 --> 00:13:15,480 I like the little moment when he comes back into his room 189 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,960 and he blows some of the feathers out of his mouth. 190 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:24,960 You had other members of crew often, you know, whispering to me ideas. 191 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:26,960 One of the set hands just came up to me 192 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:28,960 and he just went... 193 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:29,960 COUGHS 194 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:31,960 And puffed out a load of feathers. 195 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,160 COUGHS 196 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:39,960 I like that. I'd forgotten that joke. 197 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:41,960 That's rather sweet. 198 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:48,960 The scripts of purely visual comedy, 199 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,320 non-verbal comedy, are sort of dull as ditch water. 200 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:55,800 You know, they're dull to read and they're dull to deal with. 201 00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,960 So it's actually much more fun just to have a one-line idea. 202 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:08,000 And then to be sort of semi-improvising. 203 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:11,320 And then Richard would be there very diligently or Robin just, you know, 204 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:15,160 writing down what I was doing. And then at least I could remember. 205 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,320 TV WHITE NOISE 206 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:20,960 WHITE NOISE STOPS, MUSIC ON TV STARTS PLAYING 207 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:25,640 MUSIC STOPS, TV WHITE NOISE 208 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,160 MUSIC ON TV STARTS AGAIN 209 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:34,960 The simpler it is, the more extraordinary Rowan is. 210 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:36,960 MUSIC ON TV STOPS, WHITE NOISE ON TV 211 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:40,960 MUSIC ON TV STARTS 212 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:45,960 WHITE NOISE ON TV 213 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:49,960 We set such small boundaries, because we were thinking 214 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:51,960 almost in terms of theatre rather than terms 215 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,320 of what you can set up with a camera. 216 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:57,480 MUSIC ON TV 217 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,960 WHITE NOISE ON TV 218 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:07,960 I'm a great believer that you've got to sit back, 219 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:09,960 you've got to shoot things wide, 220 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:13,960 so you can see as much of the body as you can at any one time. 221 00:15:15,480 --> 00:15:17,960 WHITE NOISE 222 00:15:17,960 --> 00:15:21,000 And you get this feeling that you are trapped 223 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,960 in that room with Mr Bean. 224 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:25,960 You're being forced to watch him 225 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:29,960 in this very voyeuristic, rather embarrassing way. 226 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,960 But it sort of generates a laughter, I think. 227 00:15:33,960 --> 00:15:35,960 I think it does. 228 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:40,960 WHITE NOISE STOPS, MUSIC STARTS 229 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:44,960 APPLAUSE 230 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,960 Just frame it and look at it 231 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,960 and stay there and let the action play out. 232 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:54,960 CLICKING 233 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:00,160 If you want a masterclass in physical comedy, 234 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:02,960 I would recommend that you look at the Queen Mother gag. 235 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,960 'You join us as the royal car 236 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,960 'winds its way to the front entrance of the Odeon cinema.' 237 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,960 It's the perfect set-up for Mr Bean. 238 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:14,960 A long line of people about to do something 239 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:17,960 or expectant about something, 240 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:19,960 and then you just kind of stick him in the middle. 241 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:25,640 Yes, the funny thing about this 242 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,480 is that it was originally conceived and supposed to be the Queen Mother. 243 00:16:29,480 --> 00:16:30,960 And of course, what happened is, you know, 244 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,000 the Queen Mother got older and the Queen got older 245 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,960 and the Queen started to look like the Queen Mother. 246 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:39,160 And so everyone now assumes it's the Queen that Mr Bean is meeting. 247 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:42,800 But that was never the intention. It was supposed to be the Queen Mother. 248 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:47,160 The man on the left there is a very, very handsome younger version of me. 249 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:52,000 I was put into that scene as a last-minute thing. 250 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,960 Someone else was gonna do it and I don't know what happened. 251 00:16:55,960 --> 00:16:59,960 But it was a last-minute insertion of Matilda. 252 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,960 Clearly, Mr Bean knows that this is a very formal occasion 253 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:05,960 and you're supposed to behave like an adult 254 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:08,960 and you're supposed to stand in line and wear the right clothing. 255 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:11,640 And he's got all dressed up. He feels as though he's done everything 256 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,960 he could possibly do to fit in with the conventions of polite society. 257 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:21,960 The expectation and the pay-offs 258 00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:26,960 that build throughout that scene, I thought was just amazingly clever. 259 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:32,960 I had this idea for the one with the Queen. 260 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:35,000 And I stood in my living room, I put on a suit, 261 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:38,960 and I basically stood still for an hour 262 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:41,320 thinking, "What might I have?" 263 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:52,960 Then I'd take my seven ideas, 264 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:54,960 this could happen, this could happen, this could happen... 265 00:17:54,960 --> 00:17:59,960 into the rehearsal with Rowan and they would turn into, you know, 15. 266 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:04,960 The costume department put dental floss inside the lace 267 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:07,000 so that Rowan could actually see it, this thing at the back, 268 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,960 and just pull it. 269 00:18:08,960 --> 00:18:12,480 And then when I leant forward to look for the Queen Mother 270 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:13,960 it just flopped down. 271 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,000 I'm on dirty look number seven right now. 272 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,960 That's very silly. His finger's sticking out the trousers. 273 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:40,960 Very, very silly. 274 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,800 Oh, yeah. Nothing too low. 275 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:45,960 I like that with comedy, 276 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,960 when you build up to something really very shocking and surprising. 277 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:53,960 HEADBUTT THUDS 278 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:01,960 Oh, yeah. It wasn't just thrown together. 279 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:03,960 Yeah, we tried to make it work. 280 00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,960 Matilda Ziegler was subsequently cast as Irma Gobb, 281 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,960 Mr Bean's girlfriend, and was the show's only returning character. 282 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,960 Irma's character, I'm so pleased to say, 283 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,960 was actively encouraged to be a bit sort of stroppy. 284 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:21,960 DANCE MUSIC 285 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,960 They're equally self-centred, 286 00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:36,640 which is why I thought they came together really well. 287 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:44,960 He met his match. 288 00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:55,960 No! 289 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,960 Matilda Ziegler has got a fantastic deadpan. 290 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:01,960 All the life drains from her body, 291 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:05,960 deliberately becoming part of the background. 292 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:07,960 TENSE HORROR MOVIE SOUNDTRACK 293 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,800 Except when he goes blank, and then it's your turn. 294 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:16,960 SHE SCREAMS 295 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,960 The last episode Irma appeared in was Merry Christmas Mr Bean. 296 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,320 It was watched by 19 million viewers. 297 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:33,960 SHATTERS 298 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:35,960 Christmas shopping is going on 299 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:38,960 and Mr Bean accidentally gets given a baton 300 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,000 to conduct the Salvation Army band that's playing carols. 301 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,960 Now, you could do that one way, which is just chaos. 302 00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:47,960 But what we wanted to do was something much more precise. 303 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:48,960 BAND PLAY SINGLE NOTE 304 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:52,960 TWO MORE NOTES 305 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:54,960 BAND PLAY 306 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:56,960 BAND STOP AND START 307 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,960 BAND PLAY 308 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:04,960 And the delight, I think, is seeing that work itself out 309 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:08,960 and the fantastic precision and beauty of his physical comedy. 310 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:10,960 BAND PLAY 311 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:16,960 BAND STOP 312 00:21:16,960 --> 00:21:17,960 ONE NOTE ON TUBA 313 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:19,960 So there were two turkeys, 314 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,160 one of them was absolutely brilliant, but not quite right. 315 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:23,960 It was smaller. 316 00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:25,960 And then on the day... 317 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:28,960 ..this thing arrived. 318 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,960 I thought of the idea for the turkey on a Christmas Day. 319 00:21:34,960 --> 00:21:36,960 CHOIR VOCALISES 320 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:44,960 Cos I was shoving stuff into a turkey 321 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:46,480 and then I just thought, "Oh!" 322 00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:59,640 And just that moment when he rises up into shock, 323 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,960 "Oh! I wasn't expecting that!" 324 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,480 'Mr Bean walking around with a turkey on his head 325 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,160 'looks like an alien creature from another place. 326 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,960 'There's something... He came from somewhere else.' 327 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:21,640 Are you all right in there? 328 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,800 Yes, fine, thank you. 329 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,960 Christ alive! If someone came down from Mars 330 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:30,960 and saw this, they would destroy the planet, wouldn't they? 331 00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,640 CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC 332 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:37,320 SHE SCREAMS 333 00:22:37,320 --> 00:22:39,960 The catchphrase of all the rehearsals was, 334 00:22:39,960 --> 00:22:41,960 "Will they get it in Egypt?". 335 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:43,960 The idea was that it had to be 336 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:46,960 something that every person in the world would get. 337 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,960 Ungh! 338 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:51,960 POP! 339 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:53,960 CRASH BELOW 340 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:55,960 LAUGHTER 341 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,960 APPLAUSE 342 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,000 Within three years of the first television show... 343 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:15,960 Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Bean. 344 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,960 ..Mr Bean had become a global sensation. 345 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,960 I've never been to Canada before and it's absolutely splendid. 346 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:24,960 Some strange survey 347 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:30,960 declared that I had the seventh most recognisable face in the world, 348 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:32,960 and you sort of think... Well, it's odd. 349 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:35,960 Our friend, Mr Bean. 350 00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:38,160 LAUGHTER 351 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:39,640 Sorry, Eric. 352 00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:42,960 Globally, I mean, I think we sold, 353 00:23:42,960 --> 00:23:45,960 I don't know how many television markets there are, 180 or something, 354 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:47,960 we've sold in 180. 355 00:23:47,960 --> 00:23:51,960 So he became very, very, very globally famous. 356 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:53,960 You know, the internationalist thing 357 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,480 means that people certainly can enjoy Mr Bean 358 00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,960 without speaking any particular language. 359 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:05,960 I remember a video signing and there were policemen on horseback 360 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,960 dispelling the crowds and there was an extraordinary turn-out. 361 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:11,960 I remember having this arch of policemen allowing us 362 00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:15,640 to get out the back of the building into a car and zoom off, 363 00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,960 and I thought, "This is fun", and Rowan getting in the back saying, 364 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:20,960 "I'm hating every minute of this". 365 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,960 Cos he doesn't hanker after that sort of adulation, 366 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,640 whereas I thought it was an absolute riot. 367 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:29,960 Well, it almost WAS a riot. 368 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:32,960 One of the things I love about Mr Bean and its success 369 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,960 is the strange fact that it's so English 370 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,960 and at the same time be so completely international. 371 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:44,960 Yeah. 372 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:46,960 LAUGHING 373 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,960 It's odd how such an inherently selfish 374 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,960 and self-centred person can generate affection in people. 375 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:55,960 Oh, come in. 376 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:56,960 Oh. 377 00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:58,000 Rupert. Bean. 378 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,160 Hubert. Bean. Come in. 379 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:04,960 The likeability of Mr Bean I think is one of his charms. 380 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,480 LAUGHTER 381 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:11,960 LAUGHTER 382 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:18,960 LAUGHTER 383 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:29,960 I suppose it's the sympathy or the empathy that you have for children, 384 00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,960 finding it very difficult to contain his excitement. 385 00:25:33,960 --> 00:25:36,960 He just gets it slightly wrong. 386 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:43,960 CLOCK CHIMES 387 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:45,960 BOTH: Oh, Happy New Year! 388 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:48,960 Goodness me! 389 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,960 Doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself? 390 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:54,960 Not easy company. 391 00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:56,960 Good night, thank you for coming. Thank you. 392 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:00,960 Oh. 393 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:04,960 An awful lot of people say to me, 394 00:26:04,960 --> 00:26:08,320 "Oh, wouldn't it be fun to have dinner with Mr Bean?" 395 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,960 And you think, "No, no, no, no, no, you don't want to be doing that." 396 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,160 He would ruin your evening. 397 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,960 He's just got that sort of tension between conformity... 398 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:19,960 Is everything all right, sir? 399 00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:21,480 Oh, yes. 400 00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:22,960 Are you sure? 401 00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:23,960 Oh, yes. 402 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:29,480 ..and non-conformity, which I think actually is inside me a bit. 403 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:35,960 MUSIC GETS LOUDER 404 00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:38,960 LAUGHTER 405 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:43,960 That fight that Bean has between doing what you're supposed to do 406 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:48,160 and doing what he wants to do, the desire to challenge and to undermine 407 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:53,160 and to be silly, and to not do what people expect you to do... 408 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,960 and that's definitely a big part of me. 409 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:58,960 LAUGHTER 410 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,000 It's a very interesting juxtaposition, 411 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:09,960 but the more you know him, the more Mr Bean sort of makes sense 412 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,960 because, in a way, there's an element of Rowan, 413 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:17,960 the quite lonely school boy who people didn't talk to 414 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:21,960 existing in a silent world, you know, in that character. 415 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,000 It was myself and a friend of mine who used to run a thing 416 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:33,960 called the Sixth Form Film Society when we were at school, 417 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,960 and this was just an excuse to get a whole lot of, you know, 418 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:39,960 weird and arty films and enjoy them really for ourselves 419 00:27:39,960 --> 00:27:42,960 and if anyone else, you know, wanted to watch them, then fine. 420 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,960 And I remember getting Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday 421 00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:49,960 and being so inspired by it. 422 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:54,960 Yeah, Rowan used to bang on about Jacques Tati a bit. 423 00:27:54,960 --> 00:28:00,960 The comedy that I'd seen had been mostly verbal rather than visual, 424 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:03,960 and it was just a moment of revelation for me. 425 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,960 It just opened up a world that I'd never seen before, really, 426 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:12,960 of a sort of a very particular kind of comedy which took its time. 427 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:17,960 That, I think, is a feature actually of the Mr Bean live action TV, 428 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,960 is that the comedy actually is never in a rush. 429 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,960 Morning. Do sit down. 430 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:23,960 Yep. 431 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,480 We have the extremely good Richard Wilson playing the dentist. 432 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:32,960 GENTLE HISSING 433 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:34,960 HISSING STOPS AND STARTS 434 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:36,960 LAUGHTER 435 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,960 LAUGHTER 436 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:46,960 When I met Rowan for the first time, quiet farmer's son, you know, 437 00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:48,960 studying chemical engineering, 438 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,960 that couldn't have been further from this extraordinary outpouring 439 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,960 when he just uses all his physical skills 440 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:57,960 to be a great silent comedian. 441 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:02,960 LAUGHTER 442 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,160 I mean, he is very, very physically skilled. 443 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:10,960 He makes it look easy. 444 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:11,960 Well, he doesn't - 445 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,960 he makes it look difficult for the character, but not for him. 446 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,960 CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS 447 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:21,960 LAUGHTER 448 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:27,320 LAUGHTER 449 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,960 And you see how well-executed that is. 450 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:32,960 To get the timing of that right is not easy. 451 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:36,960 Ah! Ah! 452 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,960 GROANS 453 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,960 It's all, in a sense, so very predictable 454 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,960 and yet so gloriously funny. 455 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:11,160 Mr Bean is in a dentist's chair and he somehow has managed to contrive 456 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:14,960 to render unconscious the dentist that he turned up to see, 457 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:16,960 then he's got to do it himself. 458 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:18,960 You know, he's got to get to the same place, 459 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:20,160 but via a different route, 460 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,960 and it involves his own ingenuity. 461 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:24,960 BUZZING 462 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,960 And working out, mechanically, how the problem could be solved. 463 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:44,960 That's my brain at work, I'm afraid. 464 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:47,960 Ah! 465 00:30:56,640 --> 00:30:58,960 LAUGHTER 466 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,960 I think the truth of the matter is, Mr Bean was huge fun to rehearse, 467 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:10,320 quite a lot of fun to perform in the theatre, 468 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:12,960 and quite hard to film. 469 00:31:12,960 --> 00:31:14,960 Excuse us a minute. RINGING 470 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:16,480 Susie? 471 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:19,960 HE SIGHS Yeah? 472 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:22,960 No, no, no, not busy at all. 473 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:24,800 Yeah? 474 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:25,960 Yeah, Saturday? 475 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,960 Yeah, yeah. 476 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:31,960 Sorry, look, can I just leave Jamie here with you for a moment? 477 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:34,160 I've left my purse in the shop back there. 478 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:36,960 But just give him a good haircut, will you? Be good, Jamie. 479 00:31:36,960 --> 00:31:40,160 The thing you would find surprising about watching Rowan rehearse 480 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:43,960 some of these sketches is how the atmosphere is really about detail. 481 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:47,960 Time to stop, but I have a feeling that if this happened, 482 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:49,960 that Bean would... 483 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:52,000 You know, normal people would say, "Hang on a minute. 484 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,960 "He'll be back in a second and I'm first," you know what I mean? 485 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:57,960 He will want to do something again and again and again 486 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:00,960 until he's absolutely sure that he's got it right. 487 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:06,960 Just popped out for luncheon. 488 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:11,960 Me, too. 489 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:13,640 Oh. 490 00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:15,640 Nothing like a quick sandwich. 491 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:17,960 No, absolutely. 492 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:18,960 LAUGHTER 493 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,960 When you're actually on the studio floor trying to make the joke work 494 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,640 and do what I'm supposed to be good at, which is to perform 495 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:32,800 and make things work, that's when it just gets very, very stressful. 496 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,320 LAUGHTER 497 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:45,960 Rowan is a perfectionist. 498 00:32:45,960 --> 00:32:49,000 He's constantly taking in, "Is that lighting right?" 499 00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:50,960 "Is that chair the right chair?" 500 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:53,160 "Is there a draft? No, I don't think there's a draft," 501 00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:54,960 and da-da-blah-blah-di-da, 502 00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:56,960 all that is going on inside him. 503 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:02,960 It's part of that perfectionism that means that you never lose a laugh. 504 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,960 So wherever there is a potential funny moment, 505 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:07,960 the audience will see it. 506 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:09,800 LAUGHTER 507 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:16,960 People say, 508 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,960 "Oh, oh, it's so marvellous, cos he's a perfectionist, you know?" 509 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,960 And I don't regard perfectionism as a particularly admirable quality. 510 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:28,160 I think it's more a disease than a quality, 511 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:30,960 cos it's very debilitating. 512 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:32,960 It's very draining. 513 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:41,960 My flexible friend. 514 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:43,160 LAUGHTER 515 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:49,960 I didn't feel the burden to be funny on The Blackadder, 516 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:51,800 whereas something like Bean 517 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,320 it does tend to come down to me and my performance. 518 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,480 You'd definitely get letters now if you did that. 519 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:09,320 You can't kill fish like that, even if they ARE rubber. 520 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,960 Now, that probably would've taken about 30 takes. 521 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:14,960 I mean, I can't... He certainly didn't do it first time. 522 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:20,960 LAUGHTER 523 00:34:29,640 --> 00:34:32,000 Sometimes I've just got to get to the point when, literally, 524 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,960 I can't be bothered to do any more takes. 525 00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:39,960 And maybe, you know, take 18 is better than take five, 526 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,960 but usually it isn't. 527 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:56,960 There's definitely a number of looks that, as a straight man, 528 00:34:56,960 --> 00:34:59,960 you have to make sure you don't double up on. 529 00:34:59,960 --> 00:35:03,960 So there's the sort of look askance and the look surprised, 530 00:35:03,960 --> 00:35:05,480 and the look disapproving. 531 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,960 And you have to kind of, "Which one shall I use here?" 532 00:35:08,960 --> 00:35:10,960 Seven A, "Oh, we'll use condescending." 533 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,960 After five years of continuing success... 534 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:45,960 Good night. 535 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:50,160 ..Good Night Mr Bean was the last episode to be made for television. 536 00:35:50,160 --> 00:35:51,960 THUD 537 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,960 I felt towards the end of the 14 episodes that we made 538 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:58,000 that I felt as though we'd sort of done it. 539 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:03,960 You know, not done the character, necessarily, but done the TV world. 540 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:07,320 And of course, it was after that we made the first movie. 541 00:36:07,320 --> 00:36:09,960 Are you feeling lucky, punk? 542 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,960 Seven years after Mr Bean was first shown on TV, 543 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:26,960 Bean - The Ultimate Disaster Movie was released, 544 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,160 followed by Mr Bean's Holiday. 545 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,160 You speak very good French. 546 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:32,960 Gracias. 547 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:36,960 Between them, they took half a billion dollars at the box office. 548 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:39,160 # She call me Mr Boombastic 549 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:40,960 # Telly-fantastic 550 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:41,960 # Touch me on me back 551 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:45,320 # She says I'm Mr Ro... # 552 00:36:45,320 --> 00:36:50,960 When we made The Bean Movie in 1996, we decided to plagiarise ourselves 553 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,960 and use the turkey-on-the-head joke again. 554 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:55,960 Hello? 555 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,960 And also shooting in the '90s was Friends, 556 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:03,960 the famous American sitcom, and they stole the joke. 557 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:07,960 Oh! 558 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:09,960 Oh, my God! 559 00:37:09,960 --> 00:37:11,960 And of course, when it came out in the movie everyone said, 560 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:14,960 "Oh, well, of course they stole that from Friends". 561 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:16,960 I'm absolutely dazzled by the Friends thing. 562 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:18,480 I only saw it the other day. 563 00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:20,960 I literally can't believe what happened there. 564 00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,640 Bizarre! Bizarre! 565 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:26,960 But in the end, you know, you can't steal jokes. 566 00:37:26,960 --> 00:37:30,960 Jokes are there to be stolen or to inspire... to inspire others. 567 00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:34,960 RINGING 568 00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:36,960 Hello? 569 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,960 We made him talk a lot in the first Mr Bean movie. 570 00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:40,960 You know, 571 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:43,960 we decided that he had to talk a lot in order to tell our story, 572 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,960 sort of like finding another aspect to him, and I like the way he talks. 573 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,960 Ah, Mr Grierson, yes. 574 00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:52,960 He's just here in the shower with me. 575 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,320 After the success of the TV shows and films, 576 00:37:57,320 --> 00:38:01,960 Mr Bean made a surprising move to a new audience... 577 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:02,960 Ah! Phew! 578 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,000 Now, to find my card. 579 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,960 How hard can it be? 580 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,000 ..when in 2002 Rowan became the voice of Mr Bean 581 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,960 for a children's animation series. 582 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:19,000 When it came to contriving an animated series for Mr Bean, 583 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,960 it wasn't conceptually that big a shift. 584 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:23,960 Oh, the bargain bucket. 585 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:27,960 My relationship with the animation is the single business deal 586 00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,960 of which I am most proud, 587 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,800 cos Ro rang me up and said, you know, "We've got this idea. 588 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:34,960 "We should do an animation of Mr Bean," 589 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,960 and it was a quick phone call and I remember saying, 590 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:38,960 "I wouldn't if I were you," 591 00:38:38,960 --> 00:38:42,000 and I've been receiving cheques for it ever since. 592 00:38:44,960 --> 00:38:47,960 I find that I can't do the voice, you know, without, you know, 593 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:49,160 doing the face. 594 00:38:49,160 --> 00:38:52,960 It has to, you know, the two have to go together. 595 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:57,960 MUMBLES 596 00:38:57,960 --> 00:38:59,960 You know, that I tend to, I very quickly go into it. 597 00:38:59,960 --> 00:39:01,960 That sort of switch has to be switched 598 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:04,960 before he becomes that strange entity. 599 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:06,960 Go on! Move, you stupid... 600 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:08,960 Just! 601 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:09,960 So you've never seen him in the booth? 602 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:11,960 I've never seen him in the booth. 603 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:14,960 Oh! Oh, no! 604 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:18,960 Teddy! 605 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,960 Oh! Come on! 606 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,000 Ah! 607 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:28,640 Oh, Teddy! 608 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:32,800 That is hilarious. That's even worse than I thought. 609 00:39:32,800 --> 00:39:34,960 Poor Ro. Honestly, I'm glad he's getting paid. 610 00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:35,960 You know, I think if ever 611 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,960 they made a cartoon about the adventures of Baldrick 612 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:41,960 and it was as good as the cartoon of Mr Bean, 613 00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:43,160 I would be quite happy with that. 614 00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:54,640 I think most of us forget quite how gloomy the nation was 615 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:56,960 in the run-up to the London Olympics. 616 00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:59,960 So when the opening ceremony happened I think 617 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:02,960 we were all sitting there, "Go on, then. 618 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:03,960 "Prove something to me." 619 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:10,960 The London Symphony Orchestra going to play Chariots Of Fire. 620 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:14,320 Now, that's just poetry, isn't it, for any Olympian? 621 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:18,960 So, you know, the violin started, it was amazing. 622 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:23,960 And so you're kind of just waiting for that synthesised bit to come in, 623 00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:25,960 dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. 624 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:30,480 We saw the finger, an arm, and then... 625 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:37,960 ..you saw Mr Bean. 626 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:39,960 Just genius! 627 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:42,640 I mean, I just remember the whole stadium erupting, 628 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,960 and that was an international stadium. 629 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:49,960 My heart almost burst when they cut to Rowan and in some way, 630 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:54,960 it's symbolising something about the glorious daftness of our nation. 631 00:40:54,960 --> 00:40:56,160 Bosh! 632 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:59,960 Beckham, Bean and Bond in one opening ceremony. 633 00:40:59,960 --> 00:41:00,960 Brilliant! 634 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:07,960 PIANO MUSIC PLAYS 635 00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,960 Quite early on in the first couple of years, 636 00:41:18,960 --> 00:41:21,960 we began developing specifically musical sketches. 637 00:41:24,000 --> 00:41:26,320 We later did a sketch, for example, 638 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:29,960 where the whole stage was full of an invisible drum kit. 639 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:31,960 DRUMMING 640 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,160 And I suppose the legacy of those sketches 641 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,960 ended up in its perhaps finest moment 642 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,960 at the opening of the Olympic Games in 2012. 643 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:46,000 He was never intended to be Mr Bean, particularly. 644 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,160 He was just a guy in an orchestra 645 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,960 that Richard and I used to do on stage. 646 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:51,960 I mean, obviously, because it was me and cos I was, you know, 647 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,960 trying to be funny without words, unsurprisingly, 648 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:57,960 I looked remarkably similar in terms of his body language 649 00:41:57,960 --> 00:42:00,960 and his general demeanour to Mr Bean. 650 00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:05,960 It was never meant to be. It's just me being silly. 651 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:09,960 And yet, when you go on YouTube and an astonishing amount of people 652 00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:14,960 have watched it, it says on the bottom, "Mr Bean at the Olympics". 653 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:16,960 Even though, you know, 654 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:20,960 you're in front of endless billions out there all watching on TV, 655 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:23,960 bring it all down to the job that you're doing, 656 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:25,960 which is basically that. 657 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:28,960 It wasn't quite perfect when he took a picture of the audience. 658 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:33,960 60,000 people laughing at him, 659 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:38,960 1.2 billion people enjoying it, and fundamentally, 660 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:41,960 Ro's just a bit annoyed about the fact that the flash didn't go off. 661 00:42:41,960 --> 00:42:45,960 MUSIC: 'Heroes' by David Bowie 662 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,960 It was an enlightened invention. 663 00:42:56,960 --> 00:42:58,960 You know, well done, Rowan and Richard. 664 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:00,480 A-ha! 665 00:43:00,480 --> 00:43:04,960 I suppose I always had faith in its longevity as an idea, 666 00:43:04,960 --> 00:43:08,960 because I thought the idea was broad and simple. 667 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:12,960 You know, this idea of a childlike figure just doing silly things. 668 00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,960 The fact that it's lasted is not, to me, 669 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:17,960 much more surprising than the fact that, you know, 670 00:43:17,960 --> 00:43:21,960 Buster Keaton has lasted, or Charlie Chaplain has lasted. 671 00:43:24,960 --> 00:43:29,320 So if anything was gonna last of our work, it would probably be Mr Bean. 672 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:34,960 Get off! What are you doing? 673 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,960 There's a scene in Four Weddings, 674 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:41,960 which was originally a Mr Bean sketch in my mind. 675 00:43:41,960 --> 00:43:43,960 It's the one where Hugh Grant's in a room 676 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,960 and then a couple come in and you know, 677 00:43:46,960 --> 00:43:49,960 do what couples do, and he has to hide in a cupboard. 678 00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:56,960 Found it. 679 00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,640 You know, Hugh's performance isn't as funny as Rowan's would've been. 680 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:04,960 'Now future Mr Bean...' 681 00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:08,320 And I mean, he'd be older, there's no doubt about that. 682 00:44:08,320 --> 00:44:10,960 Old Bean is what we're now thinking of doing. 683 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:16,960 He's always had a kind of grumpy selfishness, which might adapt well. 684 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:24,800 I still like him. 685 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:26,960 I suppose what I mean is I still find him funny 686 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:28,960 and I think I can still perform him. 687 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:41,960 Ugh! 688 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,960 We've had some meetings and some discussions and some, 689 00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,960 sort of, mini rehearsals where we do exactly what we used to do before. 690 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:50,160 I hope it happens and then it'll be another opportunity to see 691 00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:53,960 the original Mr Bean in his original setting. 692 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:56,960 You know, dye my hair and I'm off, I think. 693 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,000 You know, you must never say never. 694 00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:01,960 Here. 695 00:45:04,960 --> 00:45:06,960 Oh. 696 00:45:07,960 --> 00:45:11,960 I mean, it's just been an honour in my life to have, you know, 697 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,960 worked with someone who's that, you know, 698 00:45:14,960 --> 00:45:16,960 who's got that basic brilliance. 699 00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:20,960 Yes! 700 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:28,800 I think of Rowan as a brother, really. 701 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:31,960 AS BEAN: Oh. 702 00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:36,960 Oh! What? 703 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:38,960 GUFFAWS 704 00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:40,800 AS ROWAN: Yeah, something like that. 705 00:45:46,960 --> 00:45:48,640 Right. 706 00:45:48,640 --> 00:45:52,800 Erm, if you're ready, erm, we can, er... 707 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,000 Hello? 708 00:45:57,320 --> 00:45:58,960 Hello? 709 00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:02,960 Oh! 710 00:46:03,960 --> 00:46:05,960 LOUD POP 711 00:46:05,960 --> 00:46:07,960 Subtitles by accessibility@itv.com