Mr. Bean Rides Again

"Mr. Bean Rides Again"
Mr. Bean episode
Episode no.	Episode 6
Directed by	Paul Weiland (film sequences) John Birkin (studio)
Written by	Robin Driscoll Richard Curtis Rowan Atkinson
Original air date	17 February 1992 (1992-February-17)
Running time	24:30 (original transmission) 28:33 (inclusion of deleted scene)
Guest appearances
Roger Sloman (heart attack man) Su Douglas (lady with letter) John Rolfe (postman) Matilda Ziegler (woman with baby on pram) Robin Driscoll (blind man) Nick Hancock (train conductor) Stephen Frost (laughing man) Hugo Mendez (boy on plane) Eryl Maynard (air hostess)

"Mr. Bean Rides Again" is the sixth episode of the television series Mr. Bean that originally aired on ITV on 17 February 1992.

Plot

Act 1

Bean wants to go to the post office, but his car battery is dead, so he decides to catch a bus instead. He reaches the bus stop, where there is a man already waiting. The man then has a heart attack. Bean tries to revive him by stomping on him, stuffing pills down his throat, trying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation (with the man's magazine) and using electric shock treatment, using jump leads connected to a nearby lamppost. This initially works, but he forgets to remove the jump leads from his hands when the man offers a handshake, giving the man another electric shock, making him pass out again. An ambulance arrives, but while the paramedics treat the man, Bean uses the ambulance battery to jumpstart his Mini. Bean drives off, leaving the ambulance disabled, due to a dead battery.

Act 2

Bean heads to a postbox, but on the way he accidentally swallows his postage stamp. He offers to post a letter for a lady, pretends that he has posted it, but hangs on to it until she is gone, so that he can use it for his own letter. He removes the stamp, using steam from his car radiator, and sticks it to his own letter, using a sweet, stuck (since the first episode) to the inside of his pocket. He sticks it to his own letter with a fist (when using just one finger to stick it down does not work). The postman arrives to empty the postbox, just as the lady returns to find her letter on the ground. She complains to the postman that there was a stamp on her letter, but now it is gone. Bean hides inside the postbox, to avoid getting told off by the postman for the theft of the stamp. He gets locked inside for an unknown amount of time (the original commercial break occurred here), though as the postbox had a "1" showing, it was probably all night. When he is finally released (by another postman), he loses his keys down a drain and gets a bus home. He waits at the bus stop with another man. The man gets on the bus, but Mr. Bean is not so lucky – the driver tells him he cannot enter the bus, as all the seats are full, forcing Bean to wait for the next one.

Act 3

Bean tries to pack for a holiday, but his small case does not have space for his clothes, as well as his tins of baked beans. He reduces the size of his belongings (often using scissors) to fit them into the case. He cuts up a pair of trousers (which was unnecessary since he already had shorts), breaks his toothbrush, pours some toothpaste down the sink, takes just one sandal and uses a flannel for a towel. He does not have the heart to cut up his teddy bear. After finally managing to fit his things in the tiny briefcase, he reaches under the bed, only to discover that he owns another briefcase, almost double the size of the small one. But since his small briefcase is already packed, he just puts it into the larger suitcase, along with the one thing he could not pack before — a book.

Act 4

Bean boards a train and reads a book, across from another man who is also reading. The man begins laughing loudly and continually at a passage in the book. Bean struggles to plug his ears to avoid the laughter, eliciting curious stares when the man looks up,the man laughs is such annoying, then he finds some bubblegum, put it on his ears, and it worked. Finally, the train guard comes in and asks to see their tickets. Bean is startled by his presence, accidentally ejecting his book, with the ticket tucked inside, out of the train window, and the man bursts out laughing once more.

Act 5

Bean boards an aeroplane, but is forced to look after a sick boy next to him. He tries to cheer the boy up by various means, by sticking magazine bits on his face to amuse him, playing with a self-inflating life jacket (it later flies out of Bean's seat) and by blowing air into a paper bag and trying to pop it. He discovers that the bag is too small, and starts rummaging for another bag. While his back is turned, the boy vomits into a Mid-flight Sick Bag when the plane experiences a bit of turbulence, and offers the bag to Bean, who takes it unaware and smashes the vomit-filled bag. The act ends with the popping noise of the bag, and the screen cuts to black, not showing the outcome.

Production

Location sequences for this episode were mostly shot on 35mm film at Dalgarno Gardens in Kensington and studio sequences were recorded before a live audience at Thames Television's Teddington Studios.

The end credits of this episode is one of two to perform a volte-face: showing the reverse of the opening titles where Mr. Bean is sucked back into the sky, and the only one to do so with the street scenery. This is the last episode of to feature the name of the episode in the first opening sequence. In later episodes, the main title of "Mr. Bean" is displayed. The episode title is then displayed once the episode actually starts.

Broadcast

Mr. Bean Rides Again was final broadcast & ceased transmission by Thames Television on 17 February 1992.

Casting

Nick Hancock, who played the thief in Mr. Bean Goes to Town, returned as the train conductor.

Legacy

The joke of Mr. Bean popping a vomit filled bag is reused in the movie Bean, although in this episode the scene ends without showing the outcome. The joke of Mr. Bean cheering up the boy on the plane using paper strips torn from a magazine is reused in Mr. Bean's Holiday, cheering up the Cannes Film Festival jury member and film director's son Stepan on the train.

"Car Trouble" from the Animated Series was inspired by Act 1. Act 4 indirectly segued into Act 3 of a later Mr. Bean episode Hair by Mr. Bean of London in which he departed the train, only to find out that he does not have his ticket. Both acts later inspired the train scene from Mr. Bean's Holiday.

Broadcast and reception

The heart attack scene was edited out when broadcast on Nickelodeon UK.

External links

• "Mr. Bean Rides Again" at IMDb