Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean

"Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" is the seventh episode of the British television series Mr. Bean, produced by Tiger Television for Thames Television.^[1][2] It was first broadcast as a Christmas special on ITV on Tuesday 29 December 1992^[3] as part of ITV's Christmas schedule and was watched by 18.48 million viewers during its original transmission.

This was the last episode to be co-written by Richard Curtis and the last to be broadcast by Thames Television on behalf of the ITV network. It also marks the last appearance of Mr. Bean's girlfriend, Irma Gobb (Matilda Ziegler), in the original live-action series until reappearing on Mr. Bean: The Animated Series ten years later.

On Christmas Eve, Mr. Bean visits Harrods to buy decorations. While the cashier sorts out his purchases, Bean uses a Nativity display to act out a scene with other toys. His fun is halted when the store manager brings in a toy policeman.

Bean heads to the town square and meets his girlfriend, Irma Gobb. Irma points to a ring that she wants in the window of a jewellery shop, but Bean thinks she is pointing to the picture next to the ring and buys that instead.

Bean volunteers to assist the conductor of a Salvation Army brass band in collecting donations; in doing so, he catches a young pickpocket and forces him to hand over all of his stolen items. Bean ends up conducting the band while the conductor tries on jewellery that the pickpocket stole. Afterwards, he attempts to buy a Christmas tree but, finding none in stock, opts to steal the square's tree instead.

Back at his flat, Bean cuts off the top of the stolen tree and sets it up. After failing to pop a Christmas cracker, he stuffs multiple fuses into one "super cracker". Later, Bean hangs up three stockings: one for Teddy, one for himself, and one for a mouse living in a hole. A group of young carol singers arrive at his door and sing "Away in a Manger". Bean watches them, but eventually grows tired and shuts the door on them, heading to bed.

The next morning, Bean wakes up and pulls presents out of the stockings. He then prepares to cook a turkey, but loses his watch while stuffing it. When Bean tries to find the watch with his head inside the turkey, he becomes stuck just as Irma arrives. Irma gets the turkey off his head by tying it to a coal scuttle and tossing the scuttle out the window.

After Bean and Irma have dinner, Irma gifts Bean a model ship kit. In turn, Bean gives Irma her present, but she is disappointed to find that it is the picture from the window display. Bean then realises that he "forgot the main bit" and takes out a ring box, which delights Irma. When she opens the box, however, she discovers that it actually contains a hook for the picture. Irma storms out angrily, leaving Bean puzzled and hurt. Remembering his "super cracker", he decides to pull it himself, resulting in a loud explosion.

• Rowan Atkinson – Mr. Bean
• Matilda Ziegler – Irma Gobb
• C. J. Allen — Santa outside Harrods
• Owen Brenman – Harrods clerk
• John Warner — Band conductor
• Lee Barrett — Pickpocket
• Robin Driscoll — Turkey weight customer (deleted scene, uncredited)

Most of the location scenes, set in a market, were shot on videotape in Kingston upon Thames. Studio sequences were recorded before a live audience at Thames Television's Teddington Studios. Following its broadcast on American cable television network HBO, this episode won the 1995 CableACE award for best comedy special.^[4][5]

A number of elements were used as inspiration for other programmes. The "lights on a major building being accidentally switched off" gag is used by comedian Peter Kay at the end of his Live at the Top of the Tower DVD, while the turkey scene inspired a scene in an episode of Friends titled "The One with All the Thanksgivings", and later led to an adaptation for the film Bean, though it was cut out of the international release (outside North America) and reserved for a special feature section entitled "Bean Scenes Unseen".^[6] Another turkey gag was used in the Mr. Bean: The Animated Series episode "Dinner for Two".

During the nativity scene, Bean introduces a military marching band while humming "The British Grenadiers", the first two bars of which is sampled in the theme tune to Blackadder Goes Forth, another sitcom Rowan Atkinson starred in and Richard Curtis co-wrote.

An extended scene shows Bean winning the turkey that eventually gets stuck on his head. The contest being to guess the turkey's weight, he sneaks a scale to the counter; having already weighed himself, he subtracts his weight from the combined weight using a calculator. The person in charge of the contest is stunned when Bean guesses the exact weight and wins it. Bean then throws the turkey into the trunk of his Mini and slams the door shut. This was not seen in the original broadcast of the episode but was included in the American broadcasts on HBO and included in some home media versions.

• "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean" at IMDb