History YMMV / MrBean

** Then there's Irma, Bean's girlfriend. For a long time, viewers have asked the reasonable question as to what she saw in him, but given that her speech patterns seem to be as meagre as his, did she perhaps sense a kindred spirit in him? After all, she certainly didn't seem too upset by his actions in "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean Goes To Town," and actually expected him to propose to her (although she does leave him forever when he fails to do so). Perhaps she was far closer to being his DistaffCounterpart than she was to actually be his bride.

** In one episode of ''Series/{{QI}}'', Bill Bailey says he heard a sharp criticism of the series while in Australia, by a man whose objection was that Bean "wouldn't last ten minutes in the bush."

** Bean makes fun of a woman covered in bandages and casts in "Goodnight, Mr. Bean." Then taking advantage of her being paralyzed in order to get further ahead in the hospital queue. However, he does eventually get his comeuppance.
** Bean pours water over a boy's trousers to make it look like he's wet himself, just so he can get hold of the comic the kid was reading in the dentist's waiting room.
** Bean trimming a Buckingham guard's moustache to make him look like UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler. (He probably thought it made him look like Creator/CharlieChaplin)

** The dirty nappy in "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean", for example. Worse, there's even a scene where it falls onto a man's candy apple and he just knocks it away, intent on still ''eating'' the apple (thankfully, this made it fall off too).

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic: Mr Bean's take on the nativity has a few moments that could be seen as a stealthy jab at Christianity. First, there`s a bunch of sheep flocking to see the baby Jesus (a metaphor for religion demanding conformity?), then a T-rex crashes the scene (science and natural history contradicting religious scripture?), and finally some tanks and a Dalek wage war with the T-rex (militant fundamentalism?).

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Mr Bean's take on the nativity has a few moments that could be seen as a stealthy jab at Christianity. First, there`s a bunch of sheep flocking to see the baby Jesus (a metaphor for religion demanding conformity?), then a T-rex crashes the scene (science and natural history contradicting religious scripture?), and finally some tanks and a Dalek wage war with the T-rex (militant fundamentalism?).

* RetroactiveRecognition: Roger Lloyd Pack[[note]]most famous for playing Trigger in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'' and Owen Newitt in ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley'', and best known to ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fans as Barty Crouch, Sr. in [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire the fourth movie]].[[/note]] portrayed the waiter in the second episode, "Return of Mr. Bean".

** Then there's the [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off book]] ''Mr. Bean's Diary'', which has a few rather disturbing entries, including the deaths of two animals as a result of Bean's negligence (pets that he forgot to feed in both cases, one being his landlady's dog, the other his own pet terrapin who lasted less than a week), an [[StalkerWithACrush obsession]] with Music/ShirleyBassey, a plan to kill Irma's new boyfriend and various instances where Bean's actions come to the attention of the police.

*** Some also think that he's actually a humanoid alien who is completely unfamiliar with Earth society and technology (the AnimatedAdaptation heavily implies that this theory is true with the episode "Double Trouble").

** Then there's Irma, Bean's girlfriend. For a long time, viewers have asked the reasonable question as to what she saw in him, but given that her speech patterns seem to be as meager as his, did she perhaps sense a kindred spirit in him? After all, she certainly didn't seem too upset by his actions in "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean Goes To Town," and actually expected him to propose to her (although she does leave him forever when he fails to do so). Perhaps she was far closer to being his DistaffCounterpart than she was to actually being his bride.

** Bean making fun of a woman covered in bandages and casts in "Goodnight, Mr. Bean." Then taking advantage of her being paralyzed in order to get further ahead in the hospital queue. However, he does eventually get his comeuppance.

* FridgeLogic: "Mr. Bean in Room 426" opens with Mr Bean driving up to the hotel's entrance, opening the boot of the car and taking his suitcase out. The next scene has valet come up to Bean and ask for help moving his car. Mr Bean then opens his suitcase and takes out the car's steering wheel. How did he manage to drive to a hotel without access to his steering wheel?

** There is a rumor that a crowd of fans in Japan nearly tore Creator/RowanAtkinson to bits when he visited their country. An episode of the animated series referenced his popularity there by having Bean befriend a Japanese boy.

** Malaysia also created their own knock-off named "Bendul", as well as having a thriving industry of Mr. Bean impersonators to the point where BBC Asia will occasionally hold official Mr. Bean impersonation contests. Also, any Austin or Clubman Minis (of which there are plenty in the country owing to being part of the British Commonwealth and a former British colony) are nicknamed “Mr. Bean cars”. The show's popularity is such that Mars Foods Malaysia imported the Chinese assassin Snickers ad from the U.K. in 2016 despite hefty restrictions placed on imported ads by the local broadcasting bodies -- seems that the appearance of Atkinson in-character alone outweighed the massive cost and red tape that was presumably involved.

** One of Mr. Bean's earliest appearances (before the TV show) was at the Montreal comedy festival "Just for Laughs" in 1987. Creator/RowanAtkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill as a way of testing if his pantomime skills were good enough to appeal to a non English-speaking audience. Needless to say, it paid off tremendously, and Canada became yet another country who loves the character.
** As for France, being a country which loves its physical comedy, such as Creator/JerryLewis and Creator/JacquesTati's Monsieur Hulot (which Atkinson admitted as being an influence on Bean), ensured that Bean would be popular there as well.

** One of the skits in "The trouble with Mr. Bean" has the titular character battling a bee who disturbs his picnic time. Fast forward years later and Creator/RowanAtkinson decide to [[Series/ManVsBee make a series out of it]].

* SignatureScene: Mr Bean riding his car home -- while sitting on an armchair tied to the roof -- is seen as the moment that succinctly encapulates his CrazyIsCool nature.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Mr Bean's take on the nativity has a few moments that could be seen as a stealthy jab at Christianity. First there`s a bunch of sheep flocking to see the baby Jesus (a metaphor for religion demanding conformity?), then a T-rex crashes the scene (science and natural history contradicting religious scripture?), finally some tanks and a Dalek wage war with the T-rex (militant fundamentalism?).

** Though not to the same degree as all the aforementioned places, other countries that love Mr. Bean include the United States and Germany (see AmericansHateTingle above), as well as Scandinavian countries like Sweden and Denmark (where reruns still air from time to time).

** In the animated series' episode "Bean and Nurse", Bean steals some grapes from the patient next to him. What brings it into this is that the patient seems to be ''dead''.

** In "Mr. Bean Rides Again," a man standing next to Mr. Bean at the bus stop suddenly collapses. Bean's attempts to revive him are actually funny, but that's still a horrifying moment.

** In one episode, Mr. Bean goes on a date, but when he wants to check his hair it turns out he forgot to take his mirror, so he uses a ''photo booth'' instead. Today, when every cell phone has a digital camera, taking a picture of yourself instead of looking in a mirror doesn't seem so ridiculous anymore ... although no-one would think of using a photo booth for this purpose.
** In the same episode, Mr. Bean buys a new television, and the plug is not fitted to the TV. This was pretty standard in Britain up to the 1980s because of some older houses having different sockets, but would be baffling to younger viewers who have only experienced electrical appliances being sold with a fitted (and non-removeable) plug.
** The Mini is an interesting example -- although Mr. Bean's one was fairly old by TheNineties (it's a late 1970s model, going by the registration plate), the Mini itself remained in production until 1999. They were a fairly common sight on British roads at the time; now, much less so.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: While most agree that the live-action series is a lot more humorous, the AnimatedAdaptation still has some hugely appealing designs, especially Bean himself, whose animation is a spot-on caricature of how Atkinson plays him, thanks to the generous amount of live reference he gave the animators.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Mr Bean's take on the nativity has a few moments that could be seen as a stealthy jab at Christianity. First there`s a bunch of sheep flocking to see the baby Jesus (a metaphor for religion demanding conformity?), then a T-rex crashes the scene (science and natural history contradicting religious scripture?), finally some tanks and a Dalek wage war with the T-rex (militant fundamentalism?). As stated above, Creator/RowanAtkinson does consider organised religion to be an AcceptableTarget.

*** Many have suggested that Bean is [[UsefulNotes/HighFunctioningAutism autistic]], given his [[NoSocialSkills difficulty with social interactions]], his eccentric ways of solving mundane problems and his [[ManChild childlike persona]].

** In one episode of ''Series/QI'', Bill Bailey says he heard a sharp criticism of the series while in Australia, by a man whose objection was that Bean "wouldn't last ten minutes in the bush."

* AcceptableReligiousTargets: Creator/RowanAtkinson has gone on record saying that he considers organised religion an Acceptable Target.
** In the first episode alone, you'd realize that the vicar is actually speaking complete gibberish in a satire of boring and barely coherent sermons. And ''that's'' even before the infamous ChorusOnlySong where Mr. Bean doesn't know any of the "All Creatures of Our God and King" lyrics save for the repeated "Alleluia" chorus, which he happily sings at the top of his lungs.
** The scene where Mr Bean plays with a nativity set is hilariously sacrilegious.

** In one episode of ''Series/QuiteInteresting'', Bill Bailey says he heard a sharp criticism of the series while in Australia, by a man whose objection was that Bean "wouldn't last ten minutes in the bush."

** Then there's the [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off book]] ''Mr. Bean's Diary'', which has a few rather disturbing entries, including the deaths of two animals as a result of Bean's negligence (pets that he forgot to feed in both cases, one being his landlady's dog, the other his own pet terrapin who lasted less than a week), an [[StalkerWithACrush obsession]] with Music/ShirleyBassey, various instances where Bean's actions come to the attention of the police, and a plan to kill Irma's new boyfriend.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** Recognized and {{averted|Trope}} by the show's production staff in the case of a skit where Mr. Bean tricks a blind man into walking in front of a bus. While most of his antics can be either mischievous or insensitive, nearly harming a disabled person is just straight-up malicious. As a result, the staff sensibly chose to [[DeletedScene cut the bit from the episode it was taped for]].
** The broadcast of the episode "Mind the Baby, Mr Bean" where Mr Bean accidentally kidnaps a baby was delayed by a year, because of the abduction of James Bulger. Sure, he tries to return the baby to his mother and succeeds, but still.

** Though not to the same degree as all the aforementioned places, other countries that love Mr. Bean include the United States and Germany (see AmericansHateTingle above), as well as Scandinavia (where reruns still air from time to time).

** It seems most Americans find ''Mr. Bean'' alienating and bizarre, and can't quite understand why this series is as popular as it is. This is very much not the stereotype in Britain, where instead it is widely believed that ''Mr. Bean'' is insanely popular in both the United States and Germany, largely as a disparaging comment on those countries having simplistic senses of humour (as the humour in ''Mr. Bean'' is visual rather than verbal).

** Though not to the extent of all the aforementioned countries, other regions that love Mr. Bean include the United States and Germany (see AmericansHateTingle above), as well as Scandinavia (where reruns still air from time to time).

** Other places that love Mr. Bean include Germany (see AmericansHateTingle above) and Scandinavia (where reruns still air from time to time).

** Then there's the [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off book]] ''Mr. Bean's Diary'', which has a few rather disturbing entries, including the deaths of two animals as a result of Bean's negligence (pets that he forgot to feed in both cases, one being his landlady's dog, the other a terrapin he bought to have as his own pet), [[StalkerWithACrush obsession]] with Music/ShirleyBassey, various instances where Bean's actions come to the attention of the police, and some detailed plans for killing Irma's new boyfriend.

** Then there's the [[AllThereInTheManual spin-off book]] ''Mr. Bean's Diary'', which has a few rather disturbing entries, including the deaths of two animals as a result of Bean's negligence, an [[StalkerWithACrush obsession]] with Music/ShirleyBassey, various instances where Bean's actions come to the attention of the police, and some rather detailed plans for killing Irma's new boyfriend.

** It seems most Americans find Mr. Bean alienating and bizarre, and can't quite understand why this series is as popular as it is. This is very much not the stereotype in Britain, where instead it is widely believed that ''Mr. Bean'' is insanely popular in both the United States and Germany, largely as a disparaging comment on those countries have simplistic senses of humour (as the humour in ''Mr. Bean'' is visual rather than verbal).

* SignatureScene: Mr Bean riding his car home - while sitting on an armchair tied to the roof - is seen as the moment that succinctly encapulates his CrazyIsCool nature.
* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** "Goodnight Mr. Bean" features Mr. Bean using a handgun to shoot out the light in his bedroom instead of simply flicking the light switch. The show ended just months before the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre Dunblane Massacre]], which resulted in the UK's already strict gun laws becoming even more rigid, outlawing private ownership of most handguns like that depicted in the episode.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Mr Bean's take on the nativity has a few moments that could be seen as a stealthy jab at Christianity. First there`s a bunch of sheep flocking to see the baby Jesus (a metaphor for religion demanding conformity?), then a T-rex crashes the scene (science and natural history contradicting religious scripture?), finally some tanks and a Dalek wage war with the T-rex (militant fundamentalism?). Creator/RowanAtkinson has gone on record saying that he considers organised religion an Acceptable Target.