1 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:02,280 LAUGHTER 2 00:00:02,280 --> 00:00:04,280 MR BEAN: Aha. 3 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:15,160 Hooray! 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:16,840 Whee! 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:18,840 Oh! 6 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,280 MUSIC: 'Watch Me' by The Phantoms 7 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,480 Mr Bean was just who I was. 8 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,960 I still find him funny and I think I can still perform him. 9 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:51,960 You know, dye my hair and I'm off. 10 00:00:58,200 --> 00:00:59,680 I do think Rowan is a genius. 11 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,920 They're the university boys and I was the secondary school kid. 12 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:06,920 You know, rough it up a bit. 13 00:01:08,280 --> 00:01:12,720 I had the seventh most recognisable face in the world. 14 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,160 Mr Bean! 15 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,320 He's also, in my opinion, the greatest clown of our lifetime. 16 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:45,600 At 8pm on New Year's Day 17 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:49,440 ITV broadcast a pilot for a new comedy sketch show 18 00:01:49,440 --> 00:01:53,600 starring Rowan Atkinson, simply entitled Mr Bean. 19 00:01:55,160 --> 00:01:58,000 ITV were looking for one half-hour show 20 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:00,520 to fill this one gap in the schedule 21 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,160 and ours was the only one that seemed to be about. 22 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:07,680 And it was just a complete fluke, really, 23 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:09,880 that the first time it was shown was at eight o'clock 24 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:11,520 immediately after Coronation Street. 25 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,520 It was put in this prime spot. 26 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,920 When it was presented to the British public it was so mainstream 27 00:02:22,920 --> 00:02:26,280 that it never occurred to people that what they were watching 28 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:30,760 was a sort of unique bit of genius by an irreplaceable comedian. 29 00:02:30,760 --> 00:02:34,120 They just thought, "Oh, here's a big, popular show". 30 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:35,520 SINGING HYMN 31 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,160 This first episode was made up of three sketches. 32 00:02:38,160 --> 00:02:42,000 'Church sketch was the first Mr Bean sketch 33 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,600 'with Richard Briars playing the guy 34 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:46,920 'that, unfortunately for him, I'm next to.' 35 00:02:46,920 --> 00:02:48,920 MOUTHS 36 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:56,640 Just watching a guy trying to stay awake and he's failing. 37 00:02:56,640 --> 00:02:59,440 Ah! 38 00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:01,200 And it's fun just to watch it in real time. 39 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:22,480 The longer it takes for him to slowly fall asleep in his own lap, 40 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,120 it becomes funnier. 41 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,160 The great joy of these was the rehearsal of them, 42 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:35,560 and they didn't take very long. 43 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,880 We had an idea, it seemed rich, and we would just sit in a room and say, 44 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,160 "Well, what's the next thing that could happen 45 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,000 "with the resources that we've got?" 46 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:51,040 So we've got a hymn book. 47 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:54,880 He could have something in the pockets of his jacket. 48 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:03,760 There'll be a hymn. 49 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:10,440 # Hallelujah, Hallelujah... # 50 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,800 And we just worked it out communally. 51 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,520 Probably Church took, you know, an hour. 52 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:22,520 # Hallelujah. # 53 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:27,800 Ro has this tremendous ability once he's got something that's funny, 54 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,000 never to forget it. 55 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,160 You know, really lucky to have met Richard 56 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,640 all those years ago when we were students. Really lucky. 57 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:46,000 Well, Rowan and I turned up at a sketch writing club in Oxford 58 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:49,160 and I thought that Rowan was a stuffed toy, 59 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,480 cos he didn't say anything at all for the first three meetings. 60 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,640 And then we were asked to submit some material and he stood up 61 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,360 and did two sketches, and I thought, "Oh, no, he's a genius. 62 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:00,760 "That's awkward". 63 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:05,040 I actually met Rowan in my first hour of university. 64 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:07,680 I thought, I'd heard there might be, like, a comedy review group. 65 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:10,760 So I went to the desk and said, "Look, I do music 66 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,520 "and I'd love to maybe help out," and the guy at the desk was Rowan. 67 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:16,720 He said, "Well, OK, someone will come and see you." 68 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,440 Richard came round and said, "We're doing a show in three weeks. 69 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,120 "Do you wanna do the music?" So I said, "Yes!" 70 00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,480 It really was a group of friends 71 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,520 laughing at Rowan, you know, pulling faces. 72 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,880 We called it a one-man show. 73 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,160 That'll be Richard, myself, and Rowan, which is three people. 74 00:05:37,160 --> 00:05:39,320 It started to be more and more about Rowan, really, 75 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:40,560 because everything he did, 76 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,520 an audience would just hang on what he was doing. 77 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,880 I mean, Mr Bean was created for theatre, 78 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,200 for the comedy show that Richard and I used to do. 79 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,760 We started to create these purely visual sketches. 80 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:55,400 If I had to tell a story entirely visually, 81 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:57,880 I just naturally became this character. 82 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,640 So Mr Bean was just who I was... 83 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,240 ..when denied verbal expression. 84 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,080 I think it's a funny idea, you know. He's absurd, but he makes me laugh. 85 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:11,560 The sketches they created for the theatre 86 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,160 would become the three sketches in the first episode of Mr Bean. 87 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,680 It hadn't occurred to us that there was a universal character. 88 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:21,320 One was a kind of bloke who goes to church a lot, 89 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,240 one was some awkward guy with some swimming trunks, 90 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,960 the other one was a younger guy who was cheating in an exam. 91 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:31,880 When we thought, let's do this TV show with whatever it was, 92 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,840 three of them, we thought, oh, we'd better wear the same costume. 93 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,560 What was usually funny was just the process 94 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,520 of how he gets out of a difficult situation, 95 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,840 or how he gets into a difficult situation. 96 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:56,200 Done your revision? 97 00:06:56,200 --> 00:06:58,200 Oh, yes. 98 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,680 I've concentrated on trigonometry. 99 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,240 I've done calculus, mainly. Oh. 100 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,640 I believe they concentrated on calculus last year. 101 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:14,120 Oh, dear. 102 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,040 SNIGGERS 103 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:20,800 Quiet, ladies and gentlemen, please. 104 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:22,680 The exam starts now. 105 00:07:24,040 --> 00:07:26,400 'Bodily expression, particularly with Mr Bean, 106 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,840 'is so very, very important. It's sort of screaming at you. 107 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:33,240 'You know, there may be no words, but you're being shouted at, 108 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:36,640 'I think, very loudly by the bodily expression.' 109 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:56,520 The word "compelling" is quite good, because I think 110 00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,320 that's what draws you into a lot of Mr Bean's sketches. 111 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:12,400 You only had to have the starting point of the idea. 112 00:08:12,400 --> 00:08:14,480 He gets locked out of his room, 113 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:16,680 or he's going to a swimming pool or something like that. 114 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:18,880 And then you can be pretty confident 115 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,160 that we would be able to make it work. 116 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,640 Would those who answered the green calculus papers 117 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:27,120 please put them in the green box? 118 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,960 And those who answered the white trigonometry papers 119 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,040 please put them in the white box? 120 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:45,840 What I've always done on the Mr Beans, as it were, 121 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,080 I've done the charcoal outline 122 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:51,040 and then Rowan adds all the colour and the texture 123 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:53,440 and I laugh at him while he's doing it. 124 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:55,440 'I said stop writing.' 125 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,040 'Will you stop writing!' 126 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:01,440 ALARM CLOCK RINGS 127 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:14,640 It is 30 years since the first Mr Bean 128 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,760 was shown on British television, and it became an instant hit. 129 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:27,240 Between 1990 and 1995, the team went on to produce 14 episodes in total. 130 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,160 I didn't know until this moment that there were only 14. 131 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:33,600 I thought there were probably 114 132 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,320 and that Rowan had been coining it in for years and years 133 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:41,480 making this never-ending flow of Mr Beans. 134 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,080 We did the other 14 episodes in dribs and drabs. 135 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:48,280 We didn't make 14 at once. We made two, 136 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:50,440 and then we made three more, and then we made one more, 137 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:51,760 and then we made four more 138 00:09:51,760 --> 00:09:55,640 and eventually, we got to this rather paltry sum of 14. 139 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,240 They were always given a sort of prime spot 140 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,040 and earned their keep there. 141 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,080 And suddenly, you know, people realised 142 00:10:04,080 --> 00:10:06,640 that visual comedy could actually hold a large audience. 143 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:13,960 Oh! 144 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,760 After the overnight success of episode one, 145 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,280 the team was in need of new material 146 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,680 and comedy writer, Robin Driscoll, was hired. 147 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:26,560 In your own time, sir. No rush. 148 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:29,360 He would also feature in various sketches as a straight man to Rowan. 149 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:32,720 I would say in the story of Mr Bean, 150 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:34,920 it's Rowan, Robin, and then possibly me. 151 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,720 I always think in a way Rowan and I did the obvious ones. 152 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,200 We got the low-hanging fruit. 153 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:53,440 And what was brilliant about Robin is that he's just kept, as it were, 154 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,960 squeezing the lemon, finding new things, finding different ways, 155 00:10:56,960 --> 00:10:59,320 taking a little thread, 156 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,880 be it to do with the car or with the teddy or anything like that. 157 00:11:03,880 --> 00:11:07,640 My agent rang and said that they were gonna commission 158 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,040 a bunch of writers just to send in some scripts to see if any of us 159 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:14,440 could write for the show and I just wrote a stack like that. 160 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,640 Richard and Rowan called me in and said, "We'd love you to join us." 161 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:22,800 MR BEAN: Oh. 162 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,160 They're the university boys, the Oxford boys, 163 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:29,440 and I was the secondary school kid. 164 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,360 Yeah, I was the last in the team. You know, rough it up a bit. 165 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,560 One of the sketches was one that I'd actually submitted 166 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:41,040 in trying to get the job. 167 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:45,080 And it was being sat in an armchair on top of the Mini. 168 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,680 And I just thought, no, that'll cost too much. They'll never do that. 169 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:00,280 And I watched it the other day 170 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:02,480 and I thought, "Oh, it's quite good, isn't it, really?" 171 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,880 A little lap belt, I think, is holding me in, I think. 172 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:18,760 That is the huge difference 173 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:21,080 between filming 30 years ago and filming now. 174 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,680 Basically, we did everything for real, and I so preferred that. 175 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:38,440 I'm sorry to have to tell you that there is a man hidden in the car 176 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:43,040 with a small video screen doing the donkey work. 177 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:46,520 But still, they're stunts. 178 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:50,960 CRASH 179 00:12:54,520 --> 00:12:58,440 Even in that sketch, the sound of a Mini disappearing 180 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,920 into the back of a removal van into a pile of mattresses, 181 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:04,880 you know, what is that sound? And it was mainly... 182 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:06,760 EXHALES 183 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:08,800 Oh! 184 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:10,840 GROANS 185 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,040 Ho-ho. 186 00:13:13,040 --> 00:13:15,240 I like the little moment when he comes back into his room 187 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:18,680 and he blows some of the feathers out of his mouth. 188 00:13:18,680 --> 00:13:24,960 You had other members of crew often, you know, whispering to me ideas. 189 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:26,840 One of the set hands just came up to me 190 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:28,320 and he just went... 191 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:29,360 COUGHS 192 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:31,600 And puffed out a load of feathers. 193 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,040 COUGHS 194 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:39,520 I like that. I'd forgotten that joke. 195 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:41,520 That's rather sweet. 196 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:48,920 The scripts of purely visual comedy, 197 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,160 non-verbal comedy, are sort of dull as ditch water. 198 00:13:52,160 --> 00:13:55,280 You know, they're dull to read and they're dull to deal with. 199 00:13:55,280 --> 00:14:00,240 So it's actually much more fun just to have a one-line idea. 200 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,080 And then to be sort of semi-improvising. 201 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,160 And then Richard would be there very diligently or Robin just, you know, 202 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,080 writing down what I was doing. And then at least I could remember. 203 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:17,080 TV WHITE NOISE 204 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:20,880 WHITE NOISE STOPS, MUSIC ON TV STARTS PLAYING 205 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,160 MUSIC STOPS, TV WHITE NOISE 206 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:30,120 MUSIC ON TV STARTS AGAIN 207 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,800 The simpler it is, the more extraordinary Rowan is. 208 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:36,760 MUSIC ON TV STOPS, WHITE NOISE ON TV 209 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:40,960 MUSIC ON TV STARTS 210 00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:45,360 WHITE NOISE ON TV 211 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,680 We set such small boundaries, because we were thinking 212 00:14:49,680 --> 00:14:52,040 almost in terms of theatre rather than terms 213 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:55,120 of what you can set up with a camera. 214 00:14:55,120 --> 00:14:57,120 MUSIC ON TV 215 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,560 WHITE NOISE ON TV 216 00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,720 I'm a great believer that you've got to sit back, 217 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:09,920 you've got to shoot things wide, 218 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:14,080 so you can see as much of the body as you can at any one time. 219 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,840 WHITE NOISE 220 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:21,040 And you get this feeling that you are trapped 221 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,280 in that room with Mr Bean. 222 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,720 You're being forced to watch him 223 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:29,960 in this very voyeuristic, rather embarrassing way. 224 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,440 But it sort of generates a laughter, I think. 225 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,440 I think it does. 226 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:40,440 WHITE NOISE STOPS, MUSIC STARTS 227 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:44,400 APPLAUSE 228 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:49,480 Just frame it and look at it 229 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:52,880 and stay there and let the action play out. 230 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:54,880 CLICKING 231 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,120 If you want a masterclass in physical comedy, 232 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,800 I would recommend that you look at the Queen Mother gag. 233 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,320 'You join us as the royal car 234 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,480 'winds its way to the front entrance of the Odeon cinema.' 235 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,640 It's the perfect set-up for Mr Bean. 236 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:14,840 A long line of people about to do something 237 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:17,360 or expectant about something, 238 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,480 and then you just kind of stick him in the middle. 239 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,240 Yes, the funny thing about this 240 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:29,200 is that it was originally conceived and supposed to be the Queen Mother. 241 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:31,000 And of course, what happened is, you know, 242 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,200 the Queen Mother got older and the Queen got older 243 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,400 and the Queen started to look like the Queen Mother. 244 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:39,120 And so everyone now assumes it's the Queen that Mr Bean is meeting. 245 00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:42,200 But that was never the intention. It was supposed to be the Queen Mother. 246 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:47,040 The man on the left there is a very, very handsome younger version of me. 247 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:52,080 I was put into that scene as a last-minute thing. 248 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,440 Someone else was gonna do it and I don't know what happened. 249 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,440 But it was a last-minute insertion of Matilda. 250 00:17:00,960 --> 00:17:03,760 Clearly, Mr Bean knows that this is a very formal occasion 251 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:05,800 and you're supposed to behave like an adult 252 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,400 and you're supposed to stand in line and wear the right clothing. 253 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,240 And he's got all dressed up. He feels as though he's done everything 254 00:17:11,240 --> 00:17:15,760 he could possibly do to fit in with the conventions of polite society. 255 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,800 The expectation and the pay-offs 256 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:26,520 that build throughout that scene, I thought was just amazingly clever. 257 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,920 I had this idea for the one with the Queen. 258 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:35,120 And I stood in my living room, I put on a suit, 259 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:38,600 and I basically stood still for an hour 260 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,080 thinking, "What might I have?" 261 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,520 Then I'd take my seven ideas, 262 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:55,000 this could happen, this could happen, this could happen... 263 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:59,640 into the rehearsal with Rowan and they would turn into, you know, 15. 264 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,600 The costume department put dental floss inside the lace 265 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:07,040 so that Rowan could actually see it, this thing at the back, 266 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,000 and just pull it. 267 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,160 And then when I leant forward to look for the Queen Mother 268 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:13,760 it just flopped down. 269 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:21,000 I'm on dirty look number seven right now. 270 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,480 That's very silly. His finger's sticking out the trousers. 271 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,520 Very, very silly. 272 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,240 Oh, yeah. Nothing too low. 273 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,320 I like that with comedy, 274 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:48,640 when you build up to something really very shocking and surprising. 275 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:53,640 HEADBUTT THUDS 276 00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,400 Oh, yeah. It wasn't just thrown together. 277 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,320 Yeah, we tried to make it work. 278 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,520 Matilda Ziegler was subsequently cast as Irma Gobb, 279 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:12,880 Mr Bean's girlfriend, and was the show's only returning character. 280 00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:15,560 Irma's character, I'm so pleased to say, 281 00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:19,440 was actively encouraged to be a bit sort of stroppy. 282 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,440 DANCE MUSIC 283 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,040 They're equally self-centred, 284 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,160 which is why I thought they came together really well. 285 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:44,360 He met his match. 286 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:55,880 No! 287 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:59,280 Matilda Ziegler has got a fantastic deadpan. 288 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,040 All the life drains from her body, 289 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:05,360 deliberately becoming part of the background. 290 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:07,360 TENSE HORROR MOVIE SOUNDTRACK 291 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:14,240 Except when he goes blank, and then it's your turn. 292 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:16,240 SHE SCREAMS 293 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,520 The last episode Irma appeared in was Merry Christmas Mr Bean. 294 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:27,080 It was watched by 19 million viewers. 295 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,440 SHATTERS 296 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:35,640 Christmas shopping is going on 297 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,840 and Mr Bean accidentally gets given a baton 298 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,080 to conduct the Salvation Army band that's playing carols. 299 00:20:42,080 --> 00:20:44,880 Now, you could do that one way, which is just chaos. 300 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,440 But what we wanted to do was something much more precise. 301 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:48,960 BAND PLAY SINGLE NOTE 302 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:52,360 TWO MORE NOTES 303 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:54,400 BAND PLAY 304 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:56,840 BAND STOP AND START 305 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,840 BAND PLAY 306 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:04,880 And the delight, I think, is seeing that work itself out 307 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:08,640 and the fantastic precision and beauty of his physical comedy. 308 00:21:08,640 --> 00:21:10,640 BAND PLAY 309 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:16,280 BAND STOP 310 00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:17,920 ONE NOTE ON TUBA 311 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:19,600 So there were two turkeys, 312 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,080 one of them was absolutely brilliant, but not quite right. 313 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:23,760 It was smaller. 314 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:25,440 And then on the day... 315 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:28,680 ..this thing arrived. 316 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:34,440 I thought of the idea for the turkey on a Christmas Day. 317 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:36,440 CHOIR VOCALISES 318 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:44,640 Cos I was shoving stuff into a turkey 319 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:46,120 and then I just thought, "Oh!" 320 00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,200 And just that moment when he rises up into shock, 321 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:02,720 "Oh! I wasn't expecting that!" 322 00:22:10,680 --> 00:22:14,200 'Mr Bean walking around with a turkey on his head 323 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:17,120 'looks like an alien creature from another place. 324 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:19,360 'There's something... He came from somewhere else.' 325 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:21,200 Are you all right in there? 326 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,200 Yes, fine, thank you. 327 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,360 Christ alive! If someone came down from Mars 328 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:31,000 and saw this, they would destroy the planet, wouldn't they? 329 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,160 CHURCH ORGAN MUSIC 330 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:37,160 SHE SCREAMS 331 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:39,600 The catchphrase of all the rehearsals was, 332 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:41,400 "Will they get it in Egypt?". 333 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:43,480 The idea was that it had to be 334 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,360 something that every person in the world would get. 335 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,360 Ungh! 336 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,400 POP! 337 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:53,640 CRASH BELOW 338 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,680 LAUGHTER 339 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,520 APPLAUSE 340 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:14,520 Within three years of the first television show... 341 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,200 Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Bean. 342 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,440 ..Mr Bean had become a global sensation. 343 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:24,200 I've never been to Canada before and it's absolutely splendid. 344 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:25,480 Some strange survey 345 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:30,840 declared that I had the seventh most recognisable face in the world, 346 00:23:30,840 --> 00:23:33,320 and you sort of think... Well, it's odd. 347 00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:36,280 Our friend, Mr Bean. 348 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,560 LAUGHTER 349 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:39,640 Sorry, Eric. 350 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:43,080 Globally, I mean, I think we sold, 351 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,960 I don't know how many television markets there are, 180 or something, 352 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,320 we've sold in 180. 353 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:52,040 So he became very, very, very globally famous. 354 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,400 You know, the internationalist thing 355 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,680 means that people certainly can enjoy Mr Bean 356 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:00,240 without speaking any particular language. 357 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,040 I remember a video signing and there were policemen on horseback 358 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,840 dispelling the crowds and there was an extraordinary turn-out. 359 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,240 I remember having this arch of policemen allowing us 360 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,720 to get out the back of the building into a car and zoom off, 361 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,480 and I thought, "This is fun", and Rowan getting in the back saying, 362 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:21,360 "I'm hating every minute of this". 363 00:24:21,360 --> 00:24:25,800 Cos he doesn't hanker after that sort of adulation, 364 00:24:25,800 --> 00:24:28,680 whereas I thought it was an absolute riot. 365 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:30,280 Well, it almost WAS a riot. 366 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,360 One of the things I love about Mr Bean and its success 367 00:24:33,360 --> 00:24:37,360 is the strange fact that it's so English 368 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,320 and at the same time be so completely international. 369 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:45,040 Yeah. 370 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:47,080 LAUGHING 371 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:50,240 It's odd how such an inherently selfish 372 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,120 and self-centred person can generate affection in people. 373 00:24:54,120 --> 00:24:55,880 Oh, come in. 374 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,000 Oh. 375 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:58,560 Rupert. Bean. 376 00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,600 Hubert. Bean. Come in. 377 00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:05,360 The likeability of Mr Bean I think is one of his charms. 378 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,600 LAUGHTER 379 00:25:09,880 --> 00:25:11,800 LAUGHTER 380 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:18,840 LAUGHTER 381 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:30,120 I suppose it's the sympathy or the empathy that you have for children, 382 00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:34,080 finding it very difficult to contain his excitement. 383 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,840 He just gets it slightly wrong. 384 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:44,360 CLOCK CHIMES 385 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:46,160 BOTH: Oh, Happy New Year! 386 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:49,160 Goodness me! 387 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,880 Doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself? 388 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:54,840 Not easy company. 389 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:56,800 Good night, thank you for coming. Thank you. 390 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:01,200 Oh. 391 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:04,840 An awful lot of people say to me, 392 00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:08,640 "Oh, wouldn't it be fun to have dinner with Mr Bean?" 393 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:12,360 And you think, "No, no, no, no, no, you don't want to be doing that." 394 00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:14,600 He would ruin your evening. 395 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,880 He's just got that sort of tension between conformity... 396 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:19,760 Is everything all right, sir? 397 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:21,640 Oh, yes. 398 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:23,360 Are you sure? 399 00:26:23,360 --> 00:26:24,360 Oh, yes. 400 00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,600 ..and non-conformity, which I think actually is inside me a bit. 401 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,120 MUSIC GETS LOUDER 402 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,160 LAUGHTER 403 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:43,920 That fight that Bean has between doing what you're supposed to do 404 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:48,600 and doing what he wants to do, the desire to challenge and to undermine 405 00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:53,600 and to be silly, and to not do what people expect you to do... 406 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:55,840 and that's definitely a big part of me. 407 00:26:57,320 --> 00:26:58,960 LAUGHTER 408 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,560 It's a very interesting juxtaposition, 409 00:27:05,560 --> 00:27:10,160 but the more you know him, the more Mr Bean sort of makes sense 410 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,400 because, in a way, there's an element of Rowan, 411 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:18,040 the quite lonely school boy who people didn't talk to 412 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,200 existing in a silent world, you know, in that character. 413 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,560 It was myself and a friend of mine who used to run a thing 414 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:34,160 called the Sixth Form Film Society when we were at school, 415 00:27:34,160 --> 00:27:37,440 and this was just an excuse to get a whole lot of, you know, 416 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,240 weird and arty films and enjoy them really for ourselves 417 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,720 and if anyone else, you know, wanted to watch them, then fine. 418 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,080 And I remember getting Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot's Holiday 419 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,200 and being so inspired by it. 420 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,400 Yeah, Rowan used to bang on about Jacques Tati a bit. 421 00:27:55,400 --> 00:28:01,240 The comedy that I'd seen had been mostly verbal rather than visual, 422 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,320 and it was just a moment of revelation for me. 423 00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:07,480 It just opened up a world that I'd never seen before, really, 424 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:13,440 of a sort of a very particular kind of comedy which took its time. 425 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,920 That, I think, is a feature actually of the Mr Bean live action TV, 426 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,120 is that the comedy actually is never in a rush. 427 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:23,200 Morning. Do sit down. 428 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:24,440 Yep. 429 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:27,600 We have the extremely good Richard Wilson playing the dentist. 430 00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:33,040 GENTLE HISSING 431 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:35,480 HISSING STOPS AND STARTS 432 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:37,040 LAUGHTER 433 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,200 LAUGHTER 434 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:46,760 When I met Rowan for the first time, quiet farmer's son, you know, 435 00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:48,960 studying chemical engineering, 436 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:53,520 that couldn't have been further from this extraordinary outpouring 437 00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:56,400 when he just uses all his physical skills 438 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,360 to be a great silent comedian. 439 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,720 LAUGHTER 440 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,560 I mean, he is very, very physically skilled. 441 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:10,920 He makes it look easy. 442 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:12,040 Well, he doesn't - 443 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,880 he makes it look difficult for the character, but not for him. 444 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,960 CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS 445 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,240 LAUGHTER 446 00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,640 LAUGHTER 447 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,920 And you see how well-executed that is. 448 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:33,320 To get the timing of that right is not easy. 449 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:36,960 Ah! Ah! 450 00:29:55,520 --> 00:29:57,320 GROANS 451 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:00,880 It's all, in a sense, so very predictable 452 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,000 and yet so gloriously funny. 453 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:11,600 Mr Bean is in a dentist's chair and he somehow has managed to contrive 454 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,880 to render unconscious the dentist that he turned up to see, 455 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,080 then he's got to do it himself. 456 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:18,800 You know, he's got to get to the same place, 457 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:20,560 but via a different route, 458 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,960 and it involves his own ingenuity. 459 00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:25,080 BUZZING 460 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,080 And working out, mechanically, how the problem could be solved. 461 00:30:42,920 --> 00:30:45,400 That's my brain at work, I'm afraid. 462 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:47,840 Ah! 463 00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:58,800 LAUGHTER 464 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,840 I think the truth of the matter is, Mr Bean was huge fun to rehearse, 465 00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:10,600 quite a lot of fun to perform in the theatre, 466 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,200 and quite hard to film. 467 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,360 Excuse us a minute. RINGING 468 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:16,600 Susie? 469 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,400 HE SIGHS Yeah? 470 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,440 No, no, no, not busy at all. 471 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:24,720 Yeah? 472 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:26,400 Yeah, Saturday? 473 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:27,960 Yeah, yeah. 474 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:32,440 Sorry, look, can I just leave Jamie here with you for a moment? 475 00:31:32,440 --> 00:31:34,640 I've left my purse in the shop back there. 476 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,480 But just give him a good haircut, will you? Be good, Jamie. 477 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,600 The thing you would find surprising about watching Rowan rehearse 478 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:44,000 some of these sketches is how the atmosphere is really about detail. 479 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:48,200 Time to stop, but I have a feeling that if this happened, 480 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,080 that Bean would... 481 00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:52,560 You know, normal people would say, "Hang on a minute. 482 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,200 "He'll be back in a second and I'm first," you know what I mean? 483 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,440 He will want to do something again and again and again 484 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:00,800 until he's absolutely sure that he's got it right. 485 00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:06,760 Just popped out for luncheon. 486 00:32:10,880 --> 00:32:12,040 Me, too. 487 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:13,680 Oh. 488 00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:15,680 Nothing like a quick sandwich. 489 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,960 No, absolutely. 490 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:19,480 LAUGHTER 491 00:32:19,480 --> 00:32:23,920 When you're actually on the studio floor trying to make the joke work 492 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:27,720 and do what I'm supposed to be good at, which is to perform 493 00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:32,680 and make things work, that's when it just gets very, very stressful. 494 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,560 LAUGHTER 495 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,280 Rowan is a perfectionist. 496 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:49,520 He's constantly taking in, "Is that lighting right?" 497 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:51,480 "Is that chair the right chair?" 498 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,640 "Is there a draft? No, I don't think there's a draft," 499 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,200 and da-da-blah-blah-di-da, 500 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:56,920 all that is going on inside him. 501 00:32:56,920 --> 00:33:03,040 It's part of that perfectionism that means that you never lose a laugh. 502 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,240 So wherever there is a potential funny moment, 503 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:08,000 the audience will see it. 504 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,680 LAUGHTER 505 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:16,960 People say, 506 00:33:16,960 --> 00:33:20,840 "Oh, oh, it's so marvellous, cos he's a perfectionist, you know?" 507 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:25,080 And I don't regard perfectionism as a particularly admirable quality. 508 00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,560 I think it's more a disease than a quality, 509 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,360 cos it's very debilitating. 510 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:33,320 It's very draining. 511 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:42,040 My flexible friend. 512 00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:43,520 LAUGHTER 513 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:50,080 I didn't feel the burden to be funny on The Blackadder, 514 00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:51,760 whereas something like Bean 515 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:54,560 it does tend to come down to me and my performance. 516 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:05,760 You'd definitely get letters now if you did that. 517 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:09,640 You can't kill fish like that, even if they ARE rubber. 518 00:34:09,640 --> 00:34:12,280 Now, that probably would've taken about 30 takes. 519 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,440 I mean, I can't... He certainly didn't do it first time. 520 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:20,880 LAUGHTER 521 00:34:29,720 --> 00:34:32,560 Sometimes I've just got to get to the point when, literally, 522 00:34:32,560 --> 00:34:36,120 I can't be bothered to do any more takes. 523 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:40,360 And maybe, you know, take 18 is better than take five, 524 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:42,920 but usually it isn't. 525 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:57,280 There's definitely a number of looks that, as a straight man, 526 00:34:57,280 --> 00:34:59,880 you have to make sure you don't double up on. 527 00:34:59,880 --> 00:35:03,760 So there's the sort of look askance and the look surprised, 528 00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:05,680 and the look disapproving. 529 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,880 And you have to kind of, "Which one shall I use here?" 530 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,280 Seven A, "Oh, we'll use condescending." 531 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:44,440 After five years of continuing success... 532 00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,320 Good night. 533 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:50,560 ..Good Night Mr Bean was the last episode to be made for television. 534 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,040 THUD 535 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:55,240 I felt towards the end of the 14 episodes that we made 536 00:35:55,240 --> 00:35:58,560 that I felt as though we'd sort of done it. 537 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:04,280 You know, not done the character, necessarily, but done the TV world. 538 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,600 And of course, it was after that we made the first movie. 539 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:10,120 Are you feeling lucky, punk? 540 00:36:21,290 --> 00:36:25,130 Seven years after Mr Bean was first shown on TV, 541 00:36:25,130 --> 00:36:27,690 Bean - The Ultimate Disaster Movie was released, 542 00:36:27,690 --> 00:36:29,850 followed by Mr Bean's Holiday. 543 00:36:29,850 --> 00:36:31,770 You speak very good French. 544 00:36:31,770 --> 00:36:33,450 Gracias. 545 00:36:33,450 --> 00:36:37,170 Between them, they took half a billion dollars at the box office. 546 00:36:37,170 --> 00:36:39,770 # She call me Mr Boombastic 547 00:36:39,770 --> 00:36:41,290 # Telly-fantastic 548 00:36:41,290 --> 00:36:42,530 # Touch me on me back 549 00:36:42,530 --> 00:36:45,850 # She says I'm Mr Ro... # 550 00:36:45,850 --> 00:36:51,410 When we made The Bean Movie in 1996, we decided to plagiarise ourselves 551 00:36:51,410 --> 00:36:54,650 and use the turkey-on-the-head joke again. 552 00:36:54,650 --> 00:36:56,090 Hello? 553 00:36:58,050 --> 00:37:01,330 And also shooting in the '90s was Friends, 554 00:37:01,330 --> 00:37:04,610 the famous American sitcom, and they stole the joke. 555 00:37:06,210 --> 00:37:08,210 Oh! 556 00:37:08,210 --> 00:37:10,010 Oh, my God! 557 00:37:10,010 --> 00:37:12,370 And of course, when it came out in the movie everyone said, 558 00:37:12,370 --> 00:37:15,290 "Oh, well, of course they stole that from Friends". 559 00:37:15,290 --> 00:37:17,450 I'm absolutely dazzled by the Friends thing. 560 00:37:17,450 --> 00:37:18,890 I only saw it the other day. 561 00:37:18,890 --> 00:37:21,610 I literally can't believe what happened there. 562 00:37:21,610 --> 00:37:24,930 Bizarre! Bizarre! 563 00:37:24,930 --> 00:37:27,210 But in the end, you know, you can't steal jokes. 564 00:37:27,210 --> 00:37:31,250 Jokes are there to be stolen or to inspire... to inspire others. 565 00:37:31,250 --> 00:37:35,290 RINGING 566 00:37:35,290 --> 00:37:37,330 Hello? 567 00:37:37,330 --> 00:37:40,090 We made him talk a lot in the first Mr Bean movie. 568 00:37:40,090 --> 00:37:41,330 You know, 569 00:37:41,330 --> 00:37:44,450 we decided that he had to talk a lot in order to tell our story, 570 00:37:44,450 --> 00:37:48,650 sort of like finding another aspect to him, and I like the way he talks. 571 00:37:48,650 --> 00:37:51,050 Ah, Mr Grierson, yes. 572 00:37:51,050 --> 00:37:53,170 He's just here in the shower with me. 573 00:37:54,490 --> 00:37:57,850 After the success of the TV shows and films, 574 00:37:57,850 --> 00:38:02,050 Mr Bean made a surprising move to a new audience... 575 00:38:02,050 --> 00:38:03,610 Ah! Phew! 576 00:38:03,610 --> 00:38:05,770 Now, to find my card. 577 00:38:05,770 --> 00:38:07,570 How hard can it be? 578 00:38:07,570 --> 00:38:10,730 ..when in 2002 Rowan became the voice of Mr Bean 579 00:38:10,730 --> 00:38:13,330 for a children's animation series. 580 00:38:15,450 --> 00:38:19,770 When it came to contriving an animated series for Mr Bean, 581 00:38:19,770 --> 00:38:22,010 it wasn't conceptually that big a shift. 582 00:38:22,010 --> 00:38:24,250 Oh, the bargain bucket. 583 00:38:25,490 --> 00:38:28,530 My relationship with the animation is the single business deal 584 00:38:28,530 --> 00:38:30,050 of which I am most proud, 585 00:38:30,050 --> 00:38:32,970 cos Ro rang me up and said, you know, "We've got this idea. 586 00:38:32,970 --> 00:38:35,410 "We should do an animation of Mr Bean," 587 00:38:35,410 --> 00:38:37,970 and it was a quick phone call and I remember saying, 588 00:38:37,970 --> 00:38:39,570 "I wouldn't if I were you," 589 00:38:39,570 --> 00:38:42,690 and I've been receiving cheques for it ever since. 590 00:38:45,570 --> 00:38:48,490 I find that I can't do the voice, you know, without, you know, 591 00:38:48,490 --> 00:38:49,810 doing the face. 592 00:38:49,810 --> 00:38:52,970 It has to, you know, the two have to go together. 593 00:38:56,050 --> 00:38:58,250 MUMBLES 594 00:38:58,250 --> 00:39:00,450 You know, that I tend to, I very quickly go into it. 595 00:39:00,450 --> 00:39:02,610 That sort of switch has to be switched 596 00:39:02,610 --> 00:39:05,330 before he becomes that strange entity. 597 00:39:05,330 --> 00:39:07,490 Go on! Move, you stupid... 598 00:39:07,490 --> 00:39:08,970 Just! 599 00:39:08,970 --> 00:39:10,570 So you've never seen him in the booth? 600 00:39:10,570 --> 00:39:12,050 I've never seen him in the booth. 601 00:39:13,250 --> 00:39:15,450 Oh! Oh, no! 602 00:39:15,450 --> 00:39:19,410 Teddy! 603 00:39:19,410 --> 00:39:22,610 Oh! Come on! 604 00:39:24,810 --> 00:39:26,690 Ah! 605 00:39:26,690 --> 00:39:28,810 Oh, Teddy! 606 00:39:29,970 --> 00:39:32,930 That is hilarious. That's even worse than I thought. 607 00:39:32,930 --> 00:39:35,450 Poor Ro. Honestly, I'm glad he's getting paid. 608 00:39:35,450 --> 00:39:36,610 You know, I think if ever 609 00:39:36,610 --> 00:39:39,970 they made a cartoon about the adventures of Baldrick 610 00:39:39,970 --> 00:39:42,170 and it was as good as the cartoon of Mr Bean, 611 00:39:42,170 --> 00:39:43,690 I would be quite happy with that. 612 00:39:49,970 --> 00:39:54,890 I think most of us forget quite how gloomy the nation was 613 00:39:54,890 --> 00:39:57,290 in the run-up to the London Olympics. 614 00:39:57,290 --> 00:40:00,330 So when the opening ceremony happened I think 615 00:40:00,330 --> 00:40:03,010 we were all sitting there, "Go on, then. 616 00:40:03,010 --> 00:40:04,130 "Prove something to me." 617 00:40:06,130 --> 00:40:11,050 The London Symphony Orchestra going to play Chariots Of Fire. 618 00:40:11,050 --> 00:40:14,810 Now, that's just poetry, isn't it, for any Olympian? 619 00:40:14,810 --> 00:40:19,250 So, you know, the violin started, it was amazing. 620 00:40:19,250 --> 00:40:24,370 And so you're kind of just waiting for that synthesised bit to come in, 621 00:40:24,370 --> 00:40:26,570 dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. 622 00:40:26,570 --> 00:40:30,770 We saw the finger, an arm, and then... 623 00:40:36,170 --> 00:40:38,050 ..you saw Mr Bean. 624 00:40:38,050 --> 00:40:40,130 Just genius! 625 00:40:40,130 --> 00:40:42,890 I mean, I just remember the whole stadium erupting, 626 00:40:42,890 --> 00:40:45,490 and that was an international stadium. 627 00:40:45,490 --> 00:40:50,370 My heart almost burst when they cut to Rowan and in some way, 628 00:40:50,370 --> 00:40:55,370 it's symbolising something about the glorious daftness of our nation. 629 00:40:55,370 --> 00:40:56,770 Bosh! 630 00:40:56,770 --> 00:41:00,330 Beckham, Bean and Bond in one opening ceremony. 631 00:41:00,330 --> 00:41:01,570 Brilliant! 632 00:41:05,930 --> 00:41:08,050 PIANO MUSIC PLAYS 633 00:41:15,730 --> 00:41:19,010 Quite early on in the first couple of years, 634 00:41:19,010 --> 00:41:22,370 we began developing specifically musical sketches. 635 00:41:24,690 --> 00:41:26,890 We later did a sketch, for example, 636 00:41:26,890 --> 00:41:30,370 where the whole stage was full of an invisible drum kit. 637 00:41:30,370 --> 00:41:32,050 DRUMMING 638 00:41:34,410 --> 00:41:37,770 And I suppose the legacy of those sketches 639 00:41:37,770 --> 00:41:40,490 ended up in its perhaps finest moment 640 00:41:40,490 --> 00:41:43,330 at the opening of the Olympic Games in 2012. 641 00:41:43,330 --> 00:41:46,690 He was never intended to be Mr Bean, particularly. 642 00:41:46,690 --> 00:41:48,770 He was just a guy in an orchestra 643 00:41:48,770 --> 00:41:50,290 that Richard and I used to do on stage. 644 00:41:50,290 --> 00:41:52,690 I mean, obviously, because it was me and cos I was, you know, 645 00:41:52,690 --> 00:41:55,530 trying to be funny without words, unsurprisingly, 646 00:41:55,530 --> 00:41:58,650 I looked remarkably similar in terms of his body language 647 00:41:58,650 --> 00:42:01,530 and his general demeanour to Mr Bean. 648 00:42:01,530 --> 00:42:06,090 It was never meant to be. It's just me being silly. 649 00:42:06,090 --> 00:42:10,170 And yet, when you go on YouTube and an astonishing amount of people 650 00:42:10,170 --> 00:42:15,610 have watched it, it says on the bottom, "Mr Bean at the Olympics". 651 00:42:15,610 --> 00:42:16,970 Even though, you know, 652 00:42:16,970 --> 00:42:20,970 you're in front of endless billions out there all watching on TV, 653 00:42:20,970 --> 00:42:24,450 bring it all down to the job that you're doing, 654 00:42:24,450 --> 00:42:26,090 which is basically that. 655 00:42:26,090 --> 00:42:29,050 It wasn't quite perfect when he took a picture of the audience. 656 00:42:31,770 --> 00:42:34,410 60,000 people laughing at him, 657 00:42:34,410 --> 00:42:39,290 1.2 billion people enjoying it, and fundamentally, 658 00:42:39,290 --> 00:42:42,610 Ro's just a bit annoyed about the fact that the flash didn't go off. 659 00:42:42,610 --> 00:42:46,050 MUSIC: 'Heroes' by David Bowie 660 00:42:54,410 --> 00:42:56,970 It was an enlightened invention. 661 00:42:56,970 --> 00:42:59,330 You know, well done, Rowan and Richard. 662 00:42:59,330 --> 00:43:00,850 A-ha! 663 00:43:00,850 --> 00:43:05,530 I suppose I always had faith in its longevity as an idea, 664 00:43:05,530 --> 00:43:09,210 because I thought the idea was broad and simple. 665 00:43:09,210 --> 00:43:13,490 You know, this idea of a childlike figure just doing silly things. 666 00:43:13,490 --> 00:43:16,410 The fact that it's lasted is not, to me, 667 00:43:16,410 --> 00:43:18,450 much more surprising than the fact that, you know, 668 00:43:18,450 --> 00:43:22,010 Buster Keaton has lasted, or Charlie Chaplain has lasted. 669 00:43:25,690 --> 00:43:29,850 So if anything was gonna last of our work, it would probably be Mr Bean. 670 00:43:33,250 --> 00:43:35,250 Get off! What are you doing? 671 00:43:36,690 --> 00:43:38,970 There's a scene in Four Weddings, 672 00:43:38,970 --> 00:43:42,090 which was originally a Mr Bean sketch in my mind. 673 00:43:42,090 --> 00:43:44,530 It's the one where Hugh Grant's in a room 674 00:43:44,530 --> 00:43:47,050 and then a couple come in and you know, 675 00:43:47,050 --> 00:43:50,290 do what couples do, and he has to hide in a cupboard. 676 00:43:55,970 --> 00:43:57,330 Found it. 677 00:43:57,330 --> 00:44:00,810 You know, Hugh's performance isn't as funny as Rowan's would've been. 678 00:44:04,130 --> 00:44:05,610 'Now future Mr Bean...' 679 00:44:05,610 --> 00:44:08,810 And I mean, he'd be older, there's no doubt about that. 680 00:44:08,810 --> 00:44:11,330 Old Bean is what we're now thinking of doing. 681 00:44:11,330 --> 00:44:17,130 He's always had a kind of grumpy selfishness, which might adapt well. 682 00:44:22,850 --> 00:44:24,930 I still like him. 683 00:44:24,930 --> 00:44:27,090 I suppose what I mean is I still find him funny 684 00:44:27,090 --> 00:44:29,370 and I think I can still perform him. 685 00:44:40,650 --> 00:44:42,570 Ugh! 686 00:44:42,570 --> 00:44:45,210 We've had some meetings and some discussions and some, 687 00:44:45,210 --> 00:44:48,250 sort of, mini rehearsals where we do exactly what we used to do before. 688 00:44:48,250 --> 00:44:50,770 I hope it happens and then it'll be another opportunity to see 689 00:44:50,770 --> 00:44:54,490 the original Mr Bean in his original setting. 690 00:44:54,490 --> 00:44:57,370 You know, dye my hair and I'm off, I think. 691 00:44:57,370 --> 00:44:59,650 You know, you must never say never. 692 00:45:00,890 --> 00:45:02,210 Here. 693 00:45:05,250 --> 00:45:07,370 Oh. 694 00:45:08,330 --> 00:45:12,010 I mean, it's just been an honour in my life to have, you know, 695 00:45:12,010 --> 00:45:15,050 worked with someone who's that, you know, 696 00:45:15,050 --> 00:45:17,170 who's got that basic brilliance. 697 00:45:19,410 --> 00:45:21,090 Yes! 698 00:45:22,210 --> 00:45:28,850 I think of Rowan as a brother, really. 699 00:45:30,810 --> 00:45:32,610 AS BEAN: Oh. 700 00:45:34,010 --> 00:45:36,970 Oh! What? 701 00:45:36,970 --> 00:45:39,210 GUFFAWS 702 00:45:39,210 --> 00:45:40,850 AS ROWAN: Yeah, something like that. 703 00:45:47,090 --> 00:45:48,890 Right. 704 00:45:48,890 --> 00:45:52,850 Erm, if you're ready, erm, we can, er... 705 00:45:54,650 --> 00:45:56,650 Hello? 706 00:45:57,770 --> 00:45:59,410 Hello? 707 00:46:01,570 --> 00:46:02,890 Oh! 708 00:46:04,290 --> 00:46:05,930 LOUD POP