Only 15 episodes. I know, it sounds unbelievable! For the longest time, I felt like my entire childhood was built around this man in brown suit with his odd green car and even odder teddy bear. 

When I was a kid, life was much simpler. My happiest time of the day was coming home from school, dropping my heavy bag on the floor and watching Mr Bean on TV while eating steaming white rice. Even now, whenever I stumble upon Mr Bean on TV, I feel a strange, warm joy in my heart. No matter how many times I have seen the same episode, it still makes me laugh. 

The wild part is that I never realised there were only fifteen episodes. Not once did I stop and think about it. It was only a few days ago that I found out while scrolling reels when a video came in front of me saying “Did you know there are only 15 episodes of Mr Bean?” 

We might have been thinking there are hours of his comedy recorded but there is only six and a half hours’ worth of material to watch. The reason, according to some fans, is that each episode has 3 different stories in it making it feel like more episodes than there are. It is amazing how only 15 episodes have entertained millions of people across generations and continents. That is how powerful this show is.

More power goes to the man who brought this timeless character to life – Rowan Atkinson. What is fascinating is that Rowan was not even a trained actor at first. He actually studied electrical engineering at Newcastle University and then completed his masters at Oxford University. He carefully crafted this iconic character full of clever, physical humor and the show aired between 1990 and 1995, for six years. 

After the original series ended, Rowan did not leave Mr Bean behind. Over the years, he reprised the role into different ways, through animated series, stage performances and block buster movies like Bean (1997) and Mr Bean’s Holiday (2007). While these later projects gave us more Bean adventures, the magic of the original fourteen episodes remains unmatched. 

Rowan Atkinson’s vision for Mr Bean was revolutionary. He wanted to create a character who could make anyone laugh, regardless of language or culture. That is why Mr Bean barely speaks throughout the series. His comedy is universal. Everything about is it designed to make us laugh without a single word being spoken. And laugh we did. Rowan once described Mr Bean as “a child trapped in a grown man’s body” and I think, that is exactly what makes us feel so warm and conformable while watching his shenanigans. 

So, today, on the birthday of this revolutionary man, Rowan Atkinson, lets go binge watch all of the fifteen episodes and appreciate the timeless brilliance of our favorite funny vegetable man, Mr Bean.