Editing Mr. Bean (section)

=== Mr. Bean ===
{{Main|Mr. Bean (character)}}
[[File: Atkinson Rowan.jpg|thumb|left|220px|[[Rowan Atkinson]] portraying Mr. Bean in August 1997]]
The title character and protagonist, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a childish [[Jester#Buffoon|buffoon]] who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He lives alone at the address of Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, [[Highbury]], and is almost always seen in his trademark [[Tweed (cloth)|tweed]] jacket and a skinny red tie. He also usually wears a digital [[calculator watch]]. Mr. Bean rarely speaks, and when he does, it is generally only a few mumbled words which are in a comically low-pitched voice. His first name (he names himself "Bean" to others) and profession, if any, are never mentioned. In the [[Bean (film)|first film adaptation]], "Mr." appears on his passport in the "first name" field and he is shown employed as a guard at London's [[National Gallery, London|National Gallery]].<ref>Mel Smith, ''Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie'', PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, 1997</ref>

Mr. Bean often seems unaware of basic aspects of the way the world works, and the programme usually features his attempts at what would normally be considered simple activities, such as going swimming, using a television set, [[interior decorating]] or going to church. The humour largely comes from his original (and often absurd) solutions to problems and his total disregard for others when solving them, and his pettiness and occasional malevolence.

In the title sequence of [[The Return of Mr. Bean|episode two]], Mr. Bean falls from the sky in a beam of light accompanied by a choir singing ''Ecce homo qui est faba'' ("Behold the man who is a bean") which was sung by the [[Southwark Cathedral]] choir in 1990. The opening sequence was initially in [[black and white]] in episodes two and [[The Curse of Mr. Bean|three]], which was intended by the producers to show his status as an "ordinary man cast into the spotlight". However, later episodes showed Mr. Bean dropping from the night sky in a deserted London street against the backdrop of [[St. Paul's Cathedral]]. At the end of episodes three and [[Mr. Bean Rides Again|six]], he is also shown being sucked right back up into the sky in the respective background scenes (the black scene in episode 3 and street scene in episode 6). Regarding the opening credits, Atkinson has acknowledged that Bean "has a slightly [[Extraterrestrial life|alien]] aspect to him".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030217224736/http://www.rowanatkinson.org/articles/00062.htm "The Fine Art of Being Mr. Bean"], archive interview in ''The [[Buffalo News]]''. Retrieved 15 June 2006.</ref> In the  ''[[Mr. Bean (animated series)|Mr. Bean: The Animated Series]]'' episode "Double Trouble", the alien aspect of him was used in a storyline in which he is taken inside a spacecraft with aliens who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. In an obvious homage towards the end, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light and music similar to the opening of the original ''Mr. Bean'' series. Whether Bean is an extraterrestrial is not made clear.