Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean
| "Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean" | |
|---|---|
| Mr. Bean episode | |
| Episode no. | Episode 10 |
| Directed by | Paul Weiland |
| Written by |
Robin Driscoll Rowan Atkinson |
| Produced by | Sue Vertue |
| Original air date | 25 April 1994 |
| Running time | 24:54 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Susie McKenna | |
"Mind the Baby, Mr. Bean" is the tenth episode of the British television series Mr. Bean, produced by Tiger Television and Thames Television for Central Independent Television. It was originally scheduled for broadcast on Monday March 1, 1993 on ITV but following the murder of Kirkby toddler James Bulger on February 12, 1993, it was delayed for over a year until Monday, April 25, 1994.
Plot
Act 1: The Baby
Mr. Bean decides to goes to an amusement park at Southsea, Portsmouth, but has difficulty finding it, especially after some people at the beach give him contradicting directions, but is eventually successful in locating the amusement park. However, the boot of his Mini was not properly closed and as he reverses and moves forward again; a baby's pram gets caught in the handle, and tags along with him to the funfair.[1] Once Bean notices the "kidnapped" baby, he initially attempts to leave it in a crowd of chatting mothers with babies, but they are oblivious to both Bean and the baby's presence; and leave the baby behind. Being a responsible citizen, Bean reluctantly goes back for him. Bean, however, sees a policeman outside the amusement park entrance and races to find him, but loses him among a crowd of teenagers wearing fake police helmets from a nearby gift shop. Bean eventually realises that he has no choice but to look after the baby whilst enjoying himself. Bean unchains a guard dog and uses the chain to tie the baby's pram while taking the baby with him on various rides. First, he goes to the dodgems, but in his hurry to pay the man in charge, he puts the baby's feet on the pedal and has difficulty getting back to the dodgem by riding on the back of other dodgems and driving his own while standing up. The man in charge stops the dodgems and confronts Bean, who manages to hide the baby and sneak off.
Act 2: The Kiddie Ride
Bean finds a Postman Pat kiddie ride and decides to put the baby inside to cheer him up, however, puts nine coins in it so it will play for ages and keep the baby safe while Bean can go off and have fun on his own. Bean goes on a roller coaster, but quickly gets bored and falls asleep (though he is frightened by someone awakening him). He then goes to a shooting range but accidentally hits the employee in the head, before running off. He tries his hand in an amusement arcade and cheats by repeatedly hitting the machine, though he gets his comeuppance when a young boy quickly steals his prize. Meanwhile, a long queue builds up by the kiddie ride. Bean, apparently oblivious to the queue, tries to put more coins in when an angry mother confronts him by complaining to him that they have been waiting for half an hour and makes him take the baby out. Disgruntled, Bean quickly makes his escape.
Act 3: Changing the Nappy
While walking the baby in his pram, Bean suddenly detects a bad smell and after wondering what it is and seeing that it is not coming from him; realises that the baby needs it's nappy changed. Unable to find any fresh nappies in the pram, Bean steals a teddy bear from a little girl (pretending that he will look after it while she goes on a ride), cuts the stuffing out and uses it as a makeshift nappy for the baby while leaving the real nappy to be blown about the funfair and ending up on various people's faces. Unfortunately, the baby cries and Bean tries to calm him with his squeaky toy, but the guard dog he set free earlier on follows the noise (comically barking each time Bean squeaks the toy) and gets close to the baby. Though the dog means no harm towards neither Bean nor the baby; Bean lures it into a ticket booth and locks it inside. In order to cheer the baby up, Bean cheats in a game of darts by prematurely piercing cards with his darts and throwing them in such a way that it appears he hit a card with all three darts, winning a goldfish. But the plastic bag carrying the fish leaks, and when the water fountain proves to be not working, Bean desperately puts the fish and the remaining water in his mouth in order to keep it alive. He then plays a round of Bingo and wins, but upon shouting "Bingo!" he accidentally swallows the water; along with the fish. Fortunately, he spits the goldfish and the water out of his mouth and into a fishbowl with another goldfish, in which Bean notices and smiles at before leaving.
Act 4: The Reunion
Later on, the baby cries again, and this time, nothing Bean does calms him down. Bean buys lots of balloons and ties them to the pram, but, although it succeeds in making the baby stop crying, the balloons carry the pram into the atmosphere while Bean is paying the vendor. In panic after seeing this, Bean steals a bow and arrow from the archery game, sharpens the tip of the wooden arrow with a pencil sharpener and fires it, popping some balloons and allowing the pram to road right in the same spot Bean accidentally took it from, where the baby's mother is complaining to the police. The mother is reunited with the baby, much to Bean's relief. Bean almost forgets to return the squeaky toy to the baby, but realizes how much he will miss the baby and decides to keep the toy to remember his little friend. Satisfied about returning the baby to his mother, Bean starts to drive home, unaware that the guard dog, having escaped from the ticket booth, has sneaked into the back of his Mini after Bean squeaked the toy. As he drives off, Bean squeaks the toy again and the dog barks, scaring Bean.
Production
The entire episode was filmed on location at Clarence Pier, Southsea.[2] This is one of only two episodes to be filmed entirely on location with one storyline and the last episode to be directed by Paul Weiland. The other episode-length story, Mr. Bean in Room 426, was also filmed in Southsea. This is also the last episode in the series to be shot on 35mm film.
This episode also appears to use a different prop car as Mr. Bean's Mini, as the car now has a later Austin grille and 2-door mirrors (one black plastic and one chrome), as opposed to the single black plastic door mirror of earlier episodes.
A clip of the scene where Mr. Bean puts the balloons on the pram was shown to illustrate the expected result of a myth in MythBusters; the myth that a large number of balloons could lift a small child into the sky. It was proven to be plausible, although an impracticably large number of balloons were needed for it to actually work.
References
- ↑ Bruce Dessau (1997). Bean There Done That: The Life and Times of Rowan Atkinson. Welcome Rain. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-1-55670-713-1.
In the early '90s his wife gave birth to a boy and a girl, which may have been part of the inspiration behind Mind the Baby Mr Bean, in which our intrepid hero's Mini hooks a pram and he finds himself lumbered with a baby at the seaside.
- ↑ "Where the fun fair in Mr Bean was filmed". TV Maps. Retrieved 27 February 2013.