Bean -[F4N]-

The young sailor was subjected to an ordeal he found "beyond terrifying". Singled out by his captors in the mistaken belief he was the navigator of the British vessel that had supposedly strayed into Iranian waters, Arthur Batchelor was blindfolded, tied with plastic handcuffs and kept in solitary confinement for days. But what really seemed to enrage the 20-year-old Royal Navy operator maintainer was his interrogation. "All I could make out in their language were the words 'Mr Bean'. They were laughing at me ... making me feel about three inches tall," he told the Mirror. "I asked the interpreter what was going on and he said: 'They think you look like Mr Bean.' They were trying to make me feel like a fool, hoping that I would give away secrets to prove that I wasn't."

Mr Bean is one of the most successful British cultural exports ever: since the first Bean TV show was broadcast in 1990, its 14 half-hour programmes have been sold to more than 200 TV territories worldwide and shown on more than 50 airlines. The lastest Bean film, Mr Bean's Holiday, is a global smash hit, No 1 in 21 countries and top of the international box office. And if you ask a non-Brit to describe Mr Bean, these are the words they deliver back: hapless, awkward, self-conscious, childlike, disaster-prone ... and British. Resplendent in geeky tweed, the Mini-driving Mr Bean increasingly seems to be a symbol of Britishness around the globe. If Mr Bean has become an inadvertent ambassador for the British personality, it is uncomfortable not just for Batchelor, but for millions of us.

One of the many ironies in this story is that Atkinson says his quintessentially British creation was in part inspired by a French comic character, Monsieur Hulot, invented by French actor, director, writer and producer Jacques Tati, who released a series of films, including Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. Mainly, however, Bean was the result of decades of the comic studying himself. As Stephen Fry once memorably said of Atkinson: "It is as if God had an extra jar of comic talent, and for a joke gave it to a nerdy, anoraked northern chemist." Atkinson himself has said he based Bean on his nine-year-old self. "The essence of Mr Bean is that he's entirely selfish and self-centred and doesn't actually acknowledge the outside world," he said. "He's a child in a man's body. Which is what most visual comedians are about: Stan Laurel, Chaplin, Benny Hill."

Bean Speech

From Mr. Bean's "Every Joke Has a Victim":

In my opinion, freedom of expression is being allowed to cause trouble, or create discomfort, or offence, as long as your words or behaviour are not threatening.…

I wish the oxygen of free expression to be available to all but it is not enjoyed by all and where its availability is most poor is often within religious communities …Those who are most keen to stifle the free expression of others are often those who do not enjoy true freedom of expression themselves. And therefore fear it…

Ridiculous, outmoded or hateful religious practices need to be criticised and exposed. But because you cannot criticise practices without implicating the practitioners, practitioners are bound to be caught in the crossfire and in my opinion, they should just accept that. If the exposure of hateful or ridiculous religious practices generates dislike of that religion's followers, they should accept that also and not seek legal immunity. They cannot renounce responsibility for their practices.