A Persian mid-relief (mezzo-rilievo) from the Qajar era, located at Tangeh Savashi in Iran, which might also be described as two stages of low-relief.

Relief, or relievo rilievo, is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane.^[1] What is actually performed when a relief is cut in from a flat surface of stone or wood is a lowering of the field, leaving the unsculpted parts seemingly raised. The technique involves considerable chiselling away of the background, which is a time-consuming exercise with little artistic effect if the lowered background is left plain, as is often the case. On the other hand, a relief saves forming the rear of a subject, and is less fragile and more securely fixed than a sculpture in the round, especially one of a standing figure where the ankles are a potential weak point, especially in stone. In other materials such as metal, clay, plaster stucco, ceramics or papier-mache the form can be just added to or raised up from the background, and monumental bronze reliefs are made by casting.

There are different degrees of relief depending on the degree of projection of the sculpted form from the field, for which the Italian appellations are still sometimes used. The full range includes high relief (alto-rilievo), where more than 50% of the depth is shown and there may be undercut areas, mid-relief (mezzo-rilievo), low-relief (basso-rilievo, or French: bas-relief), and shallow-relief or rilievo schiacciato,^[2] where the plane is scarcely more than scratched in order to remove background material. There is also sunk relief, which was mainly restricted to Ancient Egypt. However the distinction between high relief and low relief is the clearest and most important, and these two are generally the only terms used to discuss most work. The definition of these terms is somewhat variable, and many works combine areas in more than one of them, sometimes sliding between them in a single figure; accordingly some writers prefer to avoid all distinctions.^[3] The opposite of relief sculpture is counter-relief, intaglio, or cavo-rilievo,^[4] where the form is cut into the field or background rather than rising from it; this is very rare in monumental sculpture.

Reliefs are common throughout the world on the walls of buildings and a variety of smaller settings, and a sequence of several panels or sections of relief may represent an extended narrative. Relief is more suitable for depicting complicated subjects with many figures and very active poses, such as battles, than free-standing "sculpture in the round". Most ancient architectural reliefs were originally painted, which helped to define forms in low relief. The subject of reliefs is for convenient reference assumed in this article to be usually figures, but sculpture in relief often depicts decorative geometrical or foliage patterns, as in the arabesques of Islamic art, and may be of any subject.

A face of the high-relief Frieze of Parnassus round the base of the Albert Memorial in London. Most of the heads and many feet are completely undercut, but the torsos are "engaged" with the surface behind.

Types[link]

Lorenzo Ghiberti's cast gilt-bronze "Gates of Paradise" at the Baptistery, Florence combine high-relief main figures with backgrounds mostly in low relief.

The distinction between high and low relief is somewhat subjective, and the two are very often combined in a single work. In particular, most later "high reliefs" contain sections in low relief, usually in the background. From the Parthenon Frieze onwards, many single figures have heads in high relief, but their lower legs are in in low relief; the slightly projecting figures created in this way work well in reliefs that are seen from below (see Moissac portal in gallery). As unfinished examples from various periods show, raised reliefs, whether high or low, were normally "blocked out" by marking the outline of the figure and reducing the background areas to the new background level, work no doubt performed by apprentices (see gallery).

Hyphens may or may not be used in all these terms, though they are rarely seen in "sunk relief" and are usual in "bas-relief" and "counter-relief". Works in the technique are described as "in relief", and, especially in monumental sculpture, the work itself is "a relief".

Low-relief on Sestertius of Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus, 238 AD

Bas-relief or low relief[link]

A bas-relief ("low relief", French pronunciation: [baʁəljɛf], from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a projecting image with a shallow overall depth, for example used on coins, on which all images are in low relief. In the lowest reliefs the relative depth of the elements shown is completely distorted, and if seen from the side the image makes no sense, but from the front the small variations in depth register as a three-dimensional image. Other versions distort depth much less. It is a technique which requires less work, and is therefore cheaper to produce, as less of the background needs to be removed in a carving, or less modelling is required. In the art of Ancient Egypt and other ancient Near Eastern and Asian cultures, and also Meso-America, a very low relief was commonly used for the whole composition. These images would all be painted after carving, which helped to define the forms; today the paint has worn off in the great majority of surviving examples, but minute, invisible remains of paint can usually be discovered through chemical means.

The Ishtar Gate of Babylon, now in Berlin, has low reliefs of large animals formed from moulded bricks, glazed in colour. Plaster was sometimes used in Egypt and Rome, and probably elsewhere, but needs very good conditions to survive - Roman decorative plasterwork is mainly known from Pompeii and other sites buried by ash from Mount Vesuvius. Low relief was relatively rare in Western medieval art, but may be found, for example in wooden figures or scenes on the insides of the folding wings of multi-panel altarpieces.

The revival of low relief, which was seen as a classical style, begins early in the Renaissance; the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, a pioneering classicist building, designed by Leon Battista Alberti around 1450, uses low reliefs by Agostino di Duccio inside and on the external walls. Since the Renaissance plaster has been very widely used for indoor ornamental work such as cornices and ceilings, but in the 16th century it was used for large figures (many also using high relief) at the Chateau of Fontainebleau, which were imitated more crudely elsewhere, for example in the Elizabethan Hardwick Hall.

In later Western art, until a 20th century revival, low relief was used mostly for smaller works or combined with higher relief to convey a sense of distance, or to give depth to the composition, especially for scenes with many figures and a landscape or architectural background, in the same way that lighter colours are used for the same purpose in painting. Thus figures in the foreground are sculpted in high-relief, those in the background in low-relief. Low relief may use any medium or technique of sculpture, stone carving and metal casting being most common. Large architectural compositions all in low relief saw a revival in the 20th century, being popular on buildings in Art Deco and related styles, which borrowed from the ancient low reliefs now available in museums.^[5] Some sculptors, including Eric Gill, have adopted the "squashed" depth of low relief in works that are actually free-standing.

Mid-relief, "half-relief" or mezzo-rilievo is somewhat imprecisely defined, and the term is not often used in English, the works usually being described as low relief instead. The typical traditional definition is that only up to half of the subject projects, and no elements are undercut or fully disengaged from the background field. The depth of the elements shown is normally somewhat distorted. Shallow-relief or rilievo stiacciato, used for the background areas of compositions with the main elements in low-relief, was perfected by the Italian Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It is a very shallow relief, which merges into engraving in places, and can be hard to read in photographs.^[6]

High relief[link]

High relief metope from the Classical Greek Elgin Marbles. Some front limbs are actually detached from the background completely, while the centaur's left rear leg is in low relief.

High relief (or alto rilievo, from Italian) is where in general more than half the mass of the sculpted figure projects from the background, indeed the most prominent elements of the composition, especially heads and limbs, are often completely undercut, detaching them from the field. The parts of the subject that are seen are normally depicted at their full depth, unlike low relief where the elements seen are "squashed" flatter. High-relief thus uses essentially the same style and techniques as free-standing sculpture, and in the case of a single figure gives largely the same view as a person standing directly in front of a free-standing statue would have. All cultures and periods in which large sculptures were created used this technique in monumental sculpture and architecture.

Most of the many grand figure reliefs in Ancient Greek sculpture used a very "high" version of high-relief, with elements often fully free of the background, and parts of figures crossing over each other to indicate depth. The metopes of the Parthenon have largely lost their fully rounded elements, except for heads, showing the advantages of relief in terms of durability. High relief has remained the dominant form for reliefs with figures in Western sculpture, also being common in Indian temple sculpture. Smaller Greek sculptures such as private tombs, and smaller decorative areas such as friezes on large buildings, more often used low relief. Hellenistic and Roman sarcophagus reliefs were largely cut with a drill rather than chisels, enabling and encouraging compositions extremely crowded with figures, which are also seen in the enormous strips of reliefs that wound round Roman triumphal columns. The sarcophagi in particular exerted a huge influence on later Western sculpture. The European Middle Ages tended to use high relief for all purposes in stone, though like Ancient Roman sculpture their reliefs were typically not as high as in Ancient Greece.^[7] Very high relief re-emerged in the Renaissance, and was especially used in wall-mounted funerary art and later on Neo-classical pediments and public monuments.

Sunk relief[link]

A sunk-relief depiction of Pharaoh Akhenaten with his wife Nefertiti and daughters. The main background has not been removed, merely that in the immediate vicinity of the sculpted form. Note how strong shadows are needed to define the image.

Sunk or sunken relief is largely restricted to the art of Ancient Egypt where it is very common, becoming after the Amarna period of Ahkenaten the dominant type used, as opposed to low relief. It had been used earlier, but mainly for large reliefs on external walls, and for hieroglyphs and cartouches. The image is made by cutting the relief sculpture itself into a flat surface. In a simpler form the images are usually mostly linear in nature, like hieroglyphs, but in most cases the figure itself is in low relief, but set within a sunken area shaped round the image, so that the relief never rises beyond the original flat surface. In some cases the figures and other elements are in a very low relief that does not rise to the original surface, but others are modelled more fully, with some areas rising to the original surface. This method minimizes the work removing the background, while allowing normal relief modelling. The technique is most successful with strong sunlight to emphasise the outlines and forms by shadow, as no attempt was made to soften the edge of the sunk area, leaving a face at a right-angle to the surface all around it. Some reliefs, especially funerary monuments with heads or busts from ancient Rome and later Western art, leave a "frame" at the original level around the edge of the relief, or place a head in a hemispherical recess in the block (see Roman example in gallery). Though essentially very similar to Egyptian sunk relief, but with a background space at the lower level around the figure, the term would not normally be used of such works.

Counter-relief[link]

French Gothic diptych, 25 cm (9.8 in) high, with crowded scenes from the Life of Christ, c.1350-1365.

Sunk relief technique is not to be confused with "counter-relief" or intaglio as seen on engraved gem seals — where an image is fully modelled in a "negative" manner. The image goes into the surface, so that when impressed on wax it gives an impression in normal relief.

However many engraved gems were carved in cameo or normal relief.

A few very late Hellenistic monumental carvings in Egypt use full "negative" modelling as though on a gem seal, perhaps as sculptors trained in the Greek tradition attempted to use traditional Egyptian conventions.^[8]

Small objects[link]

Small-scale reliefs have been carved in various materials, notably ivory, wood, and wax. Reliefs are often found in decorative arts such as ceramics and metalwork; these are less often described as "reliefs" than as "in relief". Small bronze reliefs are often in the form of "plaques", which may be set in furniture or framed. Various modelling techniques are used, such repoussé ("pushed-back") in metalwork, where a thin metal plate is hammered from behind, sometimes with a stamp bearing a design, automatically producing a relief. Casting has also been widely used in bronze and other metals. In stone, as well as engraved gems, larger hardstone carvings in semi-precious stones have been highly prestigious since ancient times in many Eurasian cultures. Reliefs in wax were produced at least from the Renaissance.

Carved ivory reliefs have been used since ancient times, and because the material, though expensive, cannot usually be re-used, they have a relatively high survival rate, and for example consular diptychs represent a large proportion of the survivals of portable secular art from Late Antiquity. In the Gothic period the carving of ivory reliefs became a considerable luxury industry in Paris and other centres. As well as small diptychs and triptychs with densely packed religious scenes, usually from the New Testament, secular objects, usually in a lower relief, were also produced. These were often round mirror-cases, combs, handles and other small items, but included a few larger caskets like the Casket with Scenes of Romances (Walters 71264) in Baltimore. Originally there were very often painted in bright colours. Reliefs can be impressed by stamps onto clay, or the clay pressed into a mould bearing the design, as was usual with the mass-produced terra sigillata of Ancient Roman pottery. Decorative reliefs in plaster or stucco may be much larger; this form of architectural decoration is found in many styles of interiors in the post-Renaissance West, and in Islamic architecture.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Sunk relief as low relief within a sunk outline, from the Luxor Temple in Egypt, carved in very hard granite

• 

  low relief within a sunk outline, linear sunk relief in the hieroglyphs, and high relief (right), from Luxor

• 

  "Blocked-out" unfinished low relief of Ahkenaten and Nefertiti; unfinished Greek high-reliefs show the same method of beginning a work.

• 

  Bas-relief in Persepolis - a symbol of Zoroastrian Nowruz - in day of a spring equinox power of eternally fighting bull (personifying the Earth), and a lion (personifying the Sun), are equal

• PersepolistwoPersianSoldiers.jpg

  Two Persian Soldiers in Persepolis

• 

  Rock-face relief at Naqsh-e Rustam of Iranian emperor Shapur I (on horseback) capturing Roman emperor Valerian (kneeing) and Philip the Arab (standing)

• 

  Egyptian figures in "alto relievo"

• 

  Atropos cutting the thread of life. Ancient Greek low relief.

• 

  Roman funerary relief with frame at original level, but not sunk relief

• 

  The Roman Warren Cup, silver repoussé work

• 

  Yaxchilan Lintel 24, a Mayan carving depicting a blood sacrifice

• 

  A bas-relief at Banteay Srei in Cambodia depicts Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, the Abode of Lord Siva.

• 

  Temple at Khajuraho, India

• 

  The 12th century Romanesque portal of Christ in Majesty at Moissac Abbey moves between low and high relief in a single figure.

• 

  Harbaville Triptych, Byzantine ivory

• 

  Side view of high relief: Madonna and Child, marble of c. 1500/1510 by an unknown north Italian sculptor

• 

  The elaborate stucco (plaster) reliefs decorating the Chateau de Fontainebleau were hugely influential. Low-relief decorative frieze above.

• St GuadensShaw Mem.jpg

  Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, 1897, Boston, combining free-standing elements with high and low relief.

• 

  A relatively modern high relief (depicting shipbuilding) in Bishopsgate, London. Note that some elements jut out of the frame of the image.

• Iowa City Press Citizen Bldg.jpg

  Art Deco tiled bas relief, old Press-Citizen Building, Iowa City, Iowa.

• 

  Elizabeth Wyn Wood's Bas-relief at Ryerson University in Toronto

• 

  Bas-Relief Sculptures at Unakoti,Tripura, india

Notable reliefs[link]

Notable examples of monumental reliefs include:

• Ancient Egypt: Most Egyptian temples, e.g. the Temple of Karnak
• Assyria: A famous collection is in the British Museum, Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III
• Ancient Persia: Persepolis, and rock-face reliefs at Naqsh-e Rustam and Naqsh-e Rajab
• Ancient Greece: The Parthenon Marbles, Bassae Frieze, Great Altar of Pergamon, Ludovisi Throne
• Mesopotamia: Ishtar Gate of Babylon
• Ancient Rome: Ara Pacis, Trajan's Column, Column of Marcus Aurelius, triumphal arches, Portonaccio sarcophagus
• Medieval Europe: Many cathedrals and other churches, such as Chartres Cathedral and Bourges Cathedral
• India: Sanchi, base of the Lion Capital of Asoka, the rock-cut Elephanta Caves and Ellora Caves, Khajuraho temples, Mahabalipuram with the Descent of the Ganges, and many South Indian temples,Unakoti group of sculptures(bas relief) at Kailashahar, Unakoti District, Tripura, India
• South-East Asia: Borobodur in Java, Angkor Wat in Cambodia,
• Glyphs, Mayan stelae and other reliefs of the Maya and Aztec civilizations
• United States: Stone Mountain, Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, Boston, Mount Rushmore National Memorial,
• UK: Base panels of Nelson's Column, Frieze of Parnassus

Smaller-scale reliefs:

• Ivory: Nimrud ivories from much of the Near East, Late Antique Consular diptychs, the Byzantine Harbaville Triptych and Veroli Casket, the Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket, Cloisters Cross.
• Silver: Warren Cup, Gundestrup cauldron, Mildenhall Treasure, Berthouville Treasure, Missorium of Theodosius I, Lomellini Ewer and Basin.
• Gold: Berlin Gold Hat, Bimaran casket, Panagyurishte Treasure
• Glass: Portland Vase, Lycurgus Cup

See also[link]

• Repoussé and chasing
• Relief printing - a different concept.
• Pargetting - English exterior plaster reliefs

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Avery, Charles, in Grove Art Online, "Relief sculpture", accessed April 7, 2011

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Reliefs

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Basso-Relievo.

• Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, "American Relief Sculpture", Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• Melissa Hardiman, "Bas-Relief Pathfinder"

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television programme series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990, with the last television episode, "Goodnight Mr. Bean" broadcast on 31 October 1995.^[2] The final episode, "Hair by Mr. Bean of London", was a video exclusive released on 15 November 1995, but not broadcast in the UK until 2006.

Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson while he was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process.^[3] Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.^[3]

During its five-year run, the series gained large UK audience figures, including 18.74 million for the 1991 episode "The Trouble With Mr. Bean".^[4] The series has been the recipient of a number of international awards, including the Rose d'Or. The show has been sold in 245 territories worldwide, and has inspired an animated cartoon spin-off and two feature films.^[5]

Origins and influences[link]

The character of Mr. Bean was developed while Atkinson was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University. A sketch featuring the character was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 1980s.^[6] A similar character called Robert Box, played by Atkinson, appeared in the one-off 1979 ITV sitcom Canned Laughter, which also featured routines used in the 1997 film Bean.^[7] In 1987, one of Mr. Bean's earliest appearances occurred at the "Just For Laughs" comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When programme co-ordinators were scheduling Atkinson into the festival program, Atkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill rather than the English-speaking program. Having no French dialogue in his act at all, program co-ordinators could not understand why Atkinson wanted to perform on the French bill. As it turned out, Atkinson's act at the festival was a test platform for the Mr. Bean character and Atkinson wanted to see how the silent character's physical comedy would fare on an international stage with a non-English speaking audience.^[8]

The name of the character was not decided until after the first programme had been produced, with a number of other vegetable-influenced names, such as "Mr. Cauliflower", being explored.^[9] Atkinson cited the earlier comedy character Monsieur Hulot, created by French comedian and director Jacques Tati, as an influence on the character.^[10] Stylistically, Mr. Bean is also very similar to early silent films, relying purely upon physical comedy, with Mr. Bean speaking very little dialogue (although like other live-action TV series of the time, it features a laugh track). This has allowed the series to be sold worldwide without any significant changes to dialogue.^[8][11]

Characters and recurring props[link]

Mr. Bean[link]

The title character, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a childish and selfish buffoon who brings various unusual schemes and contrivances to everyday tasks. He lives alone in his small flat in Highbury, and is almost always seen in his trademark 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 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.^[12] In Mr. Bean's Holiday, however, his name is listed on his passport as "Rowan", the actor's first name.^[13]

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 tasks, such as going swimming, using a television set, redecorating 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, his pettiness, and occasional malevolence.

At the beginning of episode two onwards, 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"). These opening sequences were initially in black and white in episodes 2 and 3, and were 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, perhaps suggesting Bean is an alien. At the end of episodes 3 and 6 he is also shown being sucked right back up into the sky in the respective background scenes (black scene in episode 3 and street scene in episode 6). Atkinson himself has acknowledged that Bean "has a slightly alien aspect to him".^[14] In the animated series (episode 38, "Double Trouble") he is taken inside a spacecraft with "aliens" who look exactly like him and even have their own plushy toys. In an obvious homage, the aliens send him back home in a beam of light similar to the opening of the original Mr. Bean series. Whether Mr. Bean himself is an extraterrestrial is not clear. Mr. Bean lives in Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, London, England.^[15]

Teddy[link]

Teddy is Mr. Bean's teddy bear and perhaps Mr. Bean's best friend. The bear is a dark brown, knitted oddity with button eyes and sausage-shaped limbs, invariably ending up broken in half or in various other states of destruction and disfiguration. Although Teddy is inanimate, Mr. Bean often pretends it is alive. For example, when Mr. Bean hypnotises Teddy, he snaps his fingers and the bear's head falls backwards as if it has fallen asleep instantly (Bean used his finger to prop Teddy's head up). Mr. Bean behaves as if the bear is real, buying it a Christmas present or trying not to wake it in the mornings. The bear is often privy to Mr. Bean's various schemes and doubles as a dish cloth or paint brush in an emergency; it has been decapitated ("Mr. Bean in Room 426"), used Teddy as his paint brush ("Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean") and shrunk in the wash ("Tee Off, Mr. Bean"). Teddy is also Mr. Bean's "pet" in "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" and is used to win a pet show. The Teddy that was used in filming sits in the windshield of the replica of Mr. Bean's mini that is on display at the National Motor Museum. Over the years, Teddy has undergone several changes. When it debuted on "The Trouble with Mr. Bean", it had a smaller head. Two episodes later, its head reached its current size, but its "eye" wasn't present until Bean placed gold thumb tacks on its face. The "eyes" have since been replaced with two small white buttons sewn over Teddy's face, giving it a distinct image.

Mr. Bean's car[link]

Rowan Atkinson demonstrating a famous scene from the Mr. Bean episode "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" on a Mini at Goodwood Circuit in 2009

Mr. Bean's car, a British Leyland Mini 1000, developed a character of sorts over the series and was central to several antics, such as Mr. Bean getting dressed in it, driving while sitting in an armchair strapped to the roof or attempting to avoid a parking garage toll by driving out through the entrance.

At first, an orange 1969 BMC Mini MK II (registration RNT 996H) was Mr. Bean's vehicle, but this was destroyed in an off-screen crash at the end of the first episode. From then on, the car was a 1976 model (registration SLW 287R), applejack green in colour^[16] with a matte black bonnet. It made its first appearance in "The Curse of Mr. Bean".

The Mini also had a number of innovative security measures, for example Bean uses a bolt-latch and padlock, rather than the lock fitted to the car, and removes the steering wheel instead of the key. These formed a running joke in several episodes, at one point deterring a car thief. The car, confused with another demonstration car of exactly the same model and colours (but no padlock) (registration ACW 497V), was crushed by a tank in "Back to School, Mr. Bean", but returned in later episodes, perhaps having actually been the identical demonstration car from that point on.

Mr. Bean has a long-running feud with the unseen driver of a light blue Reliant Regal Supervan III (registration GRA 26K), which will usually get turned over, crashed out of its parking space and so forth. This conflict originated in the first episode, when the Reliant's driver held the Mini up on the way to a mathematics exam, and subsequently became a running joke throughout the series.

Both the Mini and the Reliant re-appeared as characters in the animated Mr. Bean cartoons, and in the film Mr. Bean's Holiday, yet another Mini, registration YGL 572T, appears. Also seen is a left hand drive version of his Mini, owned by the character Sabine which has a French registration.(registration 207 UHO 75). For the 1997 feature film a sequence involving the Mini driving through Harrod's Department Store was shot, but this was not included in the final cut.^[17][18] In the animated series, his Mini's registration plate number is STE 952R.

After filming ended, the original Mini used in filming was sold to Kariker Kars to be hired for various events. It was then temporarily displayed as a major attraction at the Rover Group's museum. In 1997, it was purchased by the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum and is now on display at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu.^[19]

Irma Gobb[link]

Mr. Bean's "girlfriend", Irma Gobb, played by Matilda Ziegler, appeared in a number of episodes. She is treated relatively inconsiderately by Bean, who appears to regard her more as a friend and companion than a love interest. However, he does become jealous when she dances with another man at a disco in "Mr. Bean Goes to Town", and she certainly expects him to propose to her on Christmas Day in "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", with his failure to do so resulting in her leaving him for good (she does not appear in any subsequent episodes). The character later appeared in the animated series. The spin-off book Mr. Bean's Diary (1993) states that Mr. Bean met Irma Gobb at a local library.^[20]

Prior to the episode Merry Christmas Mr. Bean, Irma's name is not revealed. In "The Curse of Mr. Bean" and "Mr. Bean Goes to Town," the character is credited as "the girlfriend."

Other characters[link]

Although Mr. Bean is the only significant human character in the programme, others appear, usually as foils for his various antics. Other than his girlfriend, Mr. Bean's only friends appear to be Hubert and Rupert, who appear as Bean's New Year's party guests in the episode "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean" (although they altered his living room clock and fled to the party in the flat opposite, gaining real friends in the process) and Robin Driscoll appears in many episodes as various characters. However, several notable British actors and comedians appear alongside Atkinson in sketches as various one-off supporting characters, including Richard Briers, Angus Deayton, Nick Hancock, Paul Bown, Caroline Quentin, Danny La Rue, Roger Lloyd Pack, David Schneider and Richard Wilson.^[21]

Production and broadcast[link]

The programme was produced by Tiger Television (later Tiger Aspect Productions) for Thames Television from 1990 to 1992 and for Central Independent Television from 1993 to 1995. Rather than being shown as a series, each episode of Mr. Bean was produced individually, and broadcast at intermittent intervals on the ITV network in the United Kingdom across six years, often around New Year. The episode "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" has not been broadcast on ITV, but was instead reserved for video release. After its original run it has been shown repeatedly on PBS and satellite channels such as Telemundo in the United States, CBC in Canada, TV1 in Australia, TVB in Hong Kong, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and ITV3 in the UK, Disney Channel Asia in Southeast Asia, TV3 in Malaysia, MediaCorp TV Channel 5 in Singapore and RCTI in Indonesia.^[22] Digital channel ITV3 began rebroadcasting the series on 5 January 2010, and again on 24 May 2010. In Pakistan it has been aired on a number of channels such as Cartoon Network, Starlite TV, Raavi and on Syndicated Networks as well.

The record-selling UK videos were withdrawn shortly before the release of Bean, and DVDs were released on an annual basis as of 2004.

Episode guide[link]

Music[link]

Mr. Bean features a choral theme tune written by Howard Goodall and performed by the Choir of Southwark Cathedral (later Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford). The words sung during the title sequences are in Latin:

• Ecce homo qui est faba – "Behold the man who is a bean" (sung at beginning)
• Finis partis primae – "End of part one" (sung before the advertisement break)
• Pars secunda – "Part two" (sung after the advertisement break)
• Vale homo qui est faba – "Farewell, man who is a bean" (sung at end)

The theme was later released on Goodall's album Choral Works. Goodall also wrote an accompanying music track for many episodes. The first episode of Mr. Bean did not feature the choral theme tune, but instead an up-beat instrumental piece, also composed by Howard Goodall, which was more an incidental tune than a theme. It was used while Bean drove between locations intimidating the blue Reliant, and as such, was sometimes heard in later episodes whenever Bean's nemesis is seen.

In the episode "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" Howard Goodall's choral theme tune for another Richard Curtis comedy, The Vicar of Dibley, is heard playing on a car stereo. In Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean., while playing with Queen's Royal Guards figurines and the nativity set, he hums "The British Grenadiers", which was quoted in the theme to Blackadder Goes Forth.^[23]

Mr. Bean appears in a music video made for the 1991 Comic Relief fund raising single by Hale and Pace called The Stonk.^[24] Mr. Bean also appeared in the music video for Boyzone's single Picture Of You in 1997.^[25] The song featured on the soundtrack to the first Bean movie.

Mr Bean also made a Comic Relief record in 1992. This was (I Want To Be) Elected and was credited to "Mr Bean and Smear Campaign featuring Bruce Dickinson". This was a cover of an Alice Cooper song and reached number 9 in the UK singles chart.^[26]

Awards[link]

The first episode won the Golden Rose, as well as two other major prizes at the 1991 Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival in Montreux.^[27] In the UK, the episode "The Curse of Mr. Bean" was nominated for a number of BAFTA awards; "Best Light Entertainment Programme" in 1991, "Best Comedy" (Programme or Series) in 1991, and Atkinson was nominated three times for "Best Light Entertainment Performance" in 1991 and 1994.^[28]

Spin-offs[link]

The animated series[link]

Bean was revived in a 2002–2004 animated cartoon series, again featuring little dialogue, with most being either little soundbites or mumbling. The series, which consist of 26 episodes (with 2 segments each), expanded the number of additional characters, featuring Bean's unpleasant landlady, Mrs. Wicket, and her evil one-eyed cat, Scrapper. Atkinson provided the voice for Bean, and all of the animated Bean actions are taken from Atkinson himself. Other characters' voices are provided by Jon Glover, Rupert Degas, Gary Martin and Lorelei King.^[29] A video game based on the Animated series was released on 14 December 2007 and was a third person platformer. The games were released on PAL only for PS2, Nintendo DS, and Wii (called Mr. Bean's Wacky World).

Film adaptations[link]

Two films featuring Bean have been released. The first, Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie was directed by Mel Smith and released in 1997. This broke from the programme's tradition by using a subplot with more developed characters – instead of being the sole centre of attention, Bean here interacted with a suburban Californian family he stayed with while overseeing the transfer of Whistler's Mother to a Los Angeles art gallery. The film grossed over US$250 million globally ($45 million in the USA)^[30] on a budget estimated at $22 million.^[31]

News broke out in March 2005 that a second Bean film, Mr. Bean's Holiday was in development, with Atkinson returning in the title role. The film had been through several changes of name during its development, including Bean 2 and French Bean.^[32] Filming began on 15 May 2006 and began post-production in October 2006. It was released in the UK on 30 March 2007. On 17 July 2007, the North American premiere was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the Just For Laughs festival; the launching pad for the Mr. Bean character 20 years earlier.^[8] The film was then released nationwide in North America on 24 August 2007. The film follows Bean on an eventful journey across France for a holiday in the French Riviera, which after a number of misfortunes culminates in an unscheduled screening of his video diary at the Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Steve Bendelack and, according to Atkinson, is the last appearance of Bean.^[33] It grossed nearly US$230 million globally ($33 million in the USA).^[34]

Books[link]

Two books were released related to the original series: Mr. Bean's Diary in 1991 and Mr. Bean's Pocket Diary in 1994. The two books have identical content and differ only in the format in which they are printed. The content of both is a template diary with handwritten content scrawled in by Mr. Bean. They provide some additional information on the setting: for example, they establish that Mr. Bean lives in Highbury and rents his flat from a landlady named Mrs. Wicket. They confirm the name of Mr. Bean's girlfriend as "Irma Gobb", and also give the name of the other man she actually dances with in Mr. Bean Goes to Town (Giles Gummer). An additional book called Mr. Bean's Diary was released in 2002 to accompany the animated series; this book was also graded as a children's reader.

Video and DVD releases[link]

The series was available on a number of Thames Television VHS compilations. In the United Kingdom (Region 2), episodes of Mr. Bean were released on a yearly basis by Universal Pictures UK from 2004. The complete collection is now available, including the two feature films and other extras. In the United States (Region 1), the complete series has been available since 2003 on A&E Home Video as "The Whole Bean".

In August 2009 an official YouTube channel was launched featuring content from the live action and animated series.^[35]

DVD format[link]

Volumes

Best of Mr. Bean

VHS format[link]

Popular culture[link]

The sale of Mr Bean worldwide has enabled his character to secure a place in the popular culture of several countries. Notably, a number of public figures have been compared to the character, usually as an insult. Tony Blair, then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom was identified by Homer Simpson as "Mr. Bean" when his cartoon form greeted the Simpsons to the United Kingdom in an episode of the eponymous programme, allegedly demonstrating the stereotypical view of the British by Americans.^[36]

Arthur Batchelor, one of the Royal Navy captives held by Iran during the 2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel, has stated that some of his captors had mocked him calling him "Mr. Bean".^[37] NRL Referee Sean Hampstead is regularly nicknamed "Mr. Bean" in nationally broadcast commentary by Australian television/radio personality Ray Warren as a result of his similar appearance. In 2007, Vincent Cable, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, described the recent decline in Prime Minister Gordon Brown's fortunes as his "remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from Stalin to Mr. Bean".^[38] The Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is often mocked in his own country for his facial resemblance to Mr. Bean, and a computer hacker broke into Spain's official website for its presidency of the European Union, inserting the character on the front page of the website. Satirists have also compared Zapatero to Mr. Bean when discussing government policies that are deemed to have been unsuccessful.^[39]

Several of the visual jokes in the series have been used as experiments on the Discovery Channel's MythBusters series. In episode 52 – "Mind Control", the idea of painting a room with a stick of explosives (Firework, or other) placed in a paint can, as in the episode "Do-It-Yourself, Mr. Bean", was tested and deemed impossible, as adequate coverage was not achieved.^[40]

An image of Mr. Bean has also been used as an internet meme usually accompanied by the statement, "if you know what I mean."^{[citation needed]}

Though Rowan Atkinson is not typecast to characters like Mr. Bean, he has played similar characters in other works, such as Enrico in the 2001 film Rat Race.

In Tetsuo Hara and Buronson's manga Souten no Ken, a parody of Mr. Bean can be found in a minor character appearing in chapter 45, contained in vol. 5. In it, a barman identical to Mr. Bean tends the main character Kenshiro Kasumi, for comic relief.^[41]

In the videogame Resident Evil 2, during the opening sequence in the streets of Raccoon City, Mr. Bean's British Leyland Mini 1000 can be seen parked against a barricade.

See also[link]

• List of films based on British sitcoms
• Uncle Max
• Jacques Tati
• Ernest P. Worrell

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Mr. Bean website
• Mr. Bean at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Bean at TV.com
• Mr. Bean: The Animated Series at the Internet Movie Database
• Bean: The Ultimate Disaster Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Mr. Bean's Holiday at the Internet Movie Database
• Filming locations from Mr Bean

v t e Richard Curtis Screenplays The Tall Guy (1989) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Love Actually (2003) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) The Boat That Rocked (2009) War Horse (2011) Director Love Actually (2003) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Producer Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Sixty Six (2006) Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Television Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982) The Black Adder (1983) Spitting Image (1984–1985) Blackadder II (1986) Blackadder the Third (1987) Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) Mr. Bean (1990–1995) Bernard and the Genie (1991) The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007) Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) The Girl in the Café (2005) Casualty (2007) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) Doctor Who: "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010) Other works Comic Relief The Atkinson People (1979) Dead on Time (1983) No Pressure (2010)

Francis Martin Patrick "Frankie" Boyle^[1] (born 16 August 1972) is a Scottish^[2] comedian and writer, well known for his pessimistic, often controversial sense of humour. He was a permanent panellist on Mock the Week for seven series and has made guest appearances on several popular panel shows including Have I Got News for You, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie to You?, You Have Been Watching, Never Mind the Buzzcocks (as guest host and team captain when Phill Jupitus was unavailable for recording) and Argumental, as well as writing for Jimmy Carr's show Distraction and Sean Lock's TV Heaven, Telly Hell.

Early life[link]

Boyle was born and brought up in Glasgow. After leaving school he attended Aston University for a year before leaving and starting a BA in English at the University of Sussex. Whilst doing a teacher-training course in Edinburgh at the age of 23, he began doing stand-up routines.^[3] He got his big break after performing at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh, a venue that has also helped launch the careers of Stewart Lee, Johnny Vegas, Dara Ó Briain and Michael McIntyre.^[4]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Boyle was a regular on the BBC panel show Mock The Week until October 2009, a show in which the panel comment humorously on various news stories from the British media. He has been referred to as the 'dark heart of Mock the Week' by host Dara Ó Briain.^[5] He is known for his morbid sense of humour, which plays on negative images of society (particularly his country of birth, Scotland), celebrities and politicians.

On 2 October 2009 he announced he was leaving the show to concentrate on other projects. It was announced to the public via Facebook on the Mock the Week fan page.^[6][7][8] Boyle has since criticised both the show's production team and the BBC Trust. He claims that the show did not cover enough major news stories and was too restrictive on his risqué comedy act, as the producers and the BBC Trust were afraid of "frightening the horses".^[9]

He returned to Mock The Week for his final appearance on the 2009 Christmas Special which aired on 22 December 2009 as a series of best bits and festive clips. On 9 December 2009 he appeared as the guest host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.^[10]

[edit] Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights

In October 2009 Boyle piloted a sketch and stand-up show for Channel 4, entitled Deal With This, Retards to be produced by RDF Scotland subsidiary the Comedy Unit.^[11] Boyle mentioned on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross that the original title of the show had been dropped, due to its potentially offensive nature. The programme was renamed Tramadol Nights and aired from the end of November 2010.^[12] An official page launched via Channel 4's official website, which confirmed that the show's full name is Frankie Boyle's Tramadol Nights and the series was made up of six episodes.^[13] Boyle has caused controversy with his on-air comments about Katie Price and her disabled son, Harvey.

Books[link]

On October 1, 2009, Boyle's first autobiographical book, titled My Shit Life So Far, was released,^[14] published by HarperCollins.^[15]

His second book, Work! Consume! Die!, was released in October 2011.

Journalism[link]

It was reported on 24 October 2008 that Boyle was to begin a weekly column in the Daily Record, a Scottish tabloid newspaper.^[16] On 26 June 2009, he reported via his MySpace profile that he had quit his newspaper column as "they refused to print any Michael Jackson jokes." This message was followed by the article he wanted to be printed, which contained dozens of Michael Jackson-based jokes referring to the singer's health, childhood and paedophilia charges.^[17] Frankie Boyle now writes articles in The Sun, satirising the weekly news as he did previously on Mock The Week.

Live shows[link]

In October 2007 Boyle embarked on a long stand-up tour of Britain, playing over 100 dates and enjoying a sold-out run that was extended through until December 2008. Boyle plans to quit stand-up before he turns 40, and has stated that he has written his final tour and plans to do more TV work after this.^[18] Boyle performed the tour, entitled I Would Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face between March and December 2010.^[19]

On 21 November 2011, at a Meet the Comedians session in the Apple Store, Regent Street with Jimmy Carr,^[20] Boyle announced he was doing another tour entitled The Last Days of Sodom despite intending I Will Happily Punch Every One Of You In The Face to be his final one. He mentioned the tour will not be as long as its predecessor. His website has stated it will run from July to December 2012 with more dates to be added.^[21] Tickets went on sale in December 2011.^[22]

DVD releases[link]

On 10 November 2008 Boyle's first DVD was released,^[5] featuring a sell-out stand-up performance given at London's Hackney Empire and some additional material, including a documentary about the tour, entitled Fuck You Scotland, and some sketches from the BBC3 comedy Rush hour.^[23] The DVD was described by WhatDVD.net as "certainly not one to watch with your grandparents – not unless they are pretty open-minded!"^[24]

He has also featured in three DVD compilations of material from Mock The Week. The compilations, entitled Too Hot For TV include material deemed too offensive for broadcast on TV and uncut versions of several full episodes.

Boyle's second live DVD entitled Frankie Boyle Live 2: If I Could Reach Out Through Your TV And Strangle You I Would was released on 15 November 2010.^[25]

Podcast[link]

In 16 July 2009 Boyle's first, and only, podcast was released.^[26] Entitled Mock the Week Musings, the podcast is a recording of Boyle testing the material he has written for Mock the Week to a London audience. Boyle comments on his material throughout and often informs the audience that certain jokes are not going into the show due to their reaction (or lack thereof), and the podcast carries an explicit content warning. The recording includes some audience interaction, with Boyle offering to test some of his new "put-downs" on the crowd.^[27]

Comic book[link]

This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2011)

In September 2010, Boyle began publishing his comic strip Rex Royd in the launch issue of CLiNT magazine, co-written with comedian Jim Muir and with artwork by Michael Dowling. The story follows a Lex Luthor-style newspaper magnate with a super-villain alter-ego. Initially, the strip ran for first four issues of CLiNT. The strip resumed again in November 2011.

Other appearances[link]

Boyle appeared as himself in the video game Grand Theft Auto: The Lost and Damned, in a stand-up routine at Liberty City's Split Sides Comedy Club.

Boyle appeared on Real Radio Wales weekly comedy show 'Comedy Nighthorse' on 19 October 2011.

Controversy[link]

Rebecca Adlington[link]

Boyle managed to attract criticism in August 2008 when complaints were received after comments he made about British swimmer Rebecca Adlington on Mock the Week. The BBC ruled that the jokes were indeed "humiliating" and "risked offending the audience", whilst also calling Boyle "a brilliant member of the team".^[28] Despite this, Adlington's agent said that simply admitting mistakes was not enough, saying: "By giving Frankie Boyle a rebuke they fail to discourage others from doing the same."^[29] Adlington later went on to say she was hypocritical in making this complaint.^[30]

The Queen[link]

In October 2008, during The Russell Brand Show prank telephone calls row, Boyle found himself in the midst of a scandal when the BBC broadcast a Mock the Week repeat in which he made a joke about the Queen, saying that she was 'so old that (her) pussy is haunted'.^[31] This caused many to complain about the state that the BBC had come to with Conservative MP David Davies calling the joke a "disgracefully foul comment".^[32] Boyle was eventually cleared of any misconduct by the BBC Trust, although they called the comment "sexist and ageist".^[33] Despite the media backlash, fellow comic Dara Ó Briain spoke out against the reaction saying: "not every TV show is for everyone".^[34]

Down syndrome[link]

Boyle's 2010 tour attracted negative media attention over a routine about Down syndrome, after he received a complaint from audience member Sharon Smith, whose daughter suffers from the genetic condition.^[35] Her feelings about the routine were made public after she posted details of the event on her personal blog.^[36] Boyle's response to the incident on stage was to laugh and try and steer the topic back onto comedy, saying "Oh, well, it's all true isn't it?",^[37] later adding "This is my last tour. I don't give a fuck what people think."^[38][39] Mencap spokesman Ismail Kaji said that the comments were "no different to bullying".^[37]

Palestine and Israel[link]

In April 2010, the BBC Trust's Editorial Standards Committee apologised for a joke made by Boyle on Radio 4 panel show Political Animal in which he likened the situation in Palestine to a cake "being punched to pieces by a very angry Jew". Boyle also made another joke where he said that he had "been studying Israeli Army Martial Arts. I now know 16 ways to kick a Palestinian woman in the back".^[40] In response, Boyle published a letter in which he criticised the Trust's "cowardly rebuke of my jokes about Palestine", before re-printing the jokes in question. He then criticised the BBC for not broadcasting a humanitarian appeal during the 2008-09 Gaza War, saying that it was "tragic for such a great institution but it is now cravenly afraid of giving offence and vulnerable to any kind of well drilled lobbying." Boyle then said that the situation in Palestine "seems to be, in essence, apartheid", concluding that he had reached this position after watching a documentary about life in Palestine that had made him cry.^[41]

Harvey Price[link]

In December 2010, both Katie Price and Peter Andre were said to have been left "absolutely disgusted and sickened" by a joke made about Price's heavily disabled son, Harvey, that was made on Frankie Boyle’s Tramadol Nights. On the show, Boyle said: "Jordan and Peter Andre are still fighting each other over custody of Harvey - eventually one of them will lose and have to keep him." Then he added "I have a theory about the reason Jordan married a cage fighter - she needed a man strong enough to stop Harvey from fucking her."^[42]

In a response, Katie Price's representative said "Harvey Price is a little miracle. Every day he overcomes so many difficulties and has so many battles to win due to his medical problems. I love him and am deeply proud to be his mother. If Mr Boyle had a tenth of his courage and decency, he would know that to suggest, let alone think funny, that Harvey may sexually attack me is vile and deeply unfair. Mr Boyle clearly has serious issues and those that give him a TV platform to say such disgusting things need to look at themselves very honestly."

Peter Andre's representative also responded to the comments made by Boyle and said "We're all disgusted by these comments. Peter is angry and very upset at Harvey being mocked in this way. Children, especially a disabled youngster, should be off-limits."

Both confirmed that they had sought legal action and wrote a complaint to Channel 4 regarding Boyle's jokes with Price saying: "To bully this unbelievably brave child is despicable; to broadcast it is to show a complete and utter lack of judgement. I have asked my lawyers to write to Channel 4."^[42] Ofcom confirmed that Price issued a complaint and accordingly launched an investigation into the programme.^[43] In April 2011 Ofcom ruled Channel 4 had breached broadcasting rules by transmitting the material in question but did not require the network to broadcast an apology saying that it was "erroneous decision on a matter of editorial judgment on the broadcaster's part". Price criticised the decision not to require a broadcast apology.^[44]

Personal life[link]

Boyle lives in Glasgow with his partner, Shereen Taylor,^[45] and has two children: a daughter (born 2004) and a son (born October 2007). He has admitted that his career had caused him to neglect his family.^[46] He is a recovering alcoholic, having started drinking at the age of 15 and stopping at 26, and former drug user, who is now teetotal.^[47][48]

He is a follower of Noam Chomsky and says that he has had a great influence on his political beliefs, claiming to be even more left-wing than Chomsky.^[49]

He stated in his autobiography that he supported Celtic Football Club as a child.^{[citation needed]}

TV appearances[link]

Live Tour Shows[link]

Stand-Up DVDs[link]

References[link]