Tee Off, Mr. Bean
| "Tee Off, Mr. Bean" | |
|---|---|
| Mr. Bean episode | |
| Episode no. | Episode 12 |
| Directed by | John Birkin |
| Written by |
Robin Driscoll Rowan Atkinson |
| Produced by | Sue Vertue |
| Original air date | 20 September 1995 |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Guest actors | |
|
Marilyn Finlay | |
"Tee Off, Mr. Bean" is the twelfth episode of the television series Mr. Bean that first aired on ITV on 20 September 1995. It was produced by Tiger Aspect Productions.
Plot
Act 1
Bean goes to the launderette where he suffers a series of mishaps. First, he realises the price of washing has increased from ₤2 to ₤3, so he is forced to pull out a spare coin from a specially designed envelope in his trousers. A man (Grant Masters) arrives and pushes Bean away into the next washing machine. Bean then proceeds to place his laundry (which consists of some shirts, an inflatable toy, a lampshade, Teddy, a welcome mat, oversized fuzzy dice and a few pairs of underpants) into the washing machine.
However, Bean then realises he is wearing underwear he wanted to wash, so he stands behind a partition to change out of them, accidentally getting his trousers mixed up with a lady's skirt. As Bean walks past the man, this escalates the taunting he receives from the bully. Bean then finds that another pair of underwear has accidentally not been put into the machine, but by this time the machine has already been started, so he simply tries to put them on, but the bully interferes by stepping on them for his amusement.
So Bean decides to take his revenge on the man by switching the man's liquid detergent with a cup of black coffee from the vending machine. This finally works, as the man does not realise he is pouring the coffee into the machine instead of his detergent. Bean appears to drink the detergent so that the man will not suspect him for switching the cup. Later, the man blames the launderette shop owner as his martial arts gear emerges severely stained from the wash.
After retrieving his mutated washing (including a shrunken Teddy) from the clothes dryer, Bean needs to retrieve his trousers from the lady's washing. He resorts to climbing into a dryer to find them, just as the lady returns and closes it (and starts it), with Bean still inside, and it then starts spinning.
Act 2
Bean plays a game of Krazy Golf. He scores a hole-in-one on the first hole, then, on the second hole, he hits the ball onto open grass. The owner forces him to obey a rule of having to get the ball back to the course without touching it. He then hits the ball out of the golfing grounds and this takes Bean on a very elaborate journey, as the ball ends up on a bus, inside a lady's shopping bag, on a boy's ice cream, up the exhaust pipe of a car (which destroys the engine), down a drain, on a rubbish cart and, finally, onto the village green.
Bean attempts to hitchhike back to the golf course, the first car that approaches is the blue Reliant which suffered several mishaps thanks to Bean's driving through the run of the series. Bean is seemingly disgusted to see it and when the (unseen) driver pulls over and opens the passenger door, Bean pretends he's not seen him and the Reliant drives off. Another car pulls up, and Bean cuts out the patch of turf the golf ball landed on in order to allow him to return to the course without technically touching it.
As the sun sets and credits roll, Bean makes it back the course just as it is closing for the day and finally taps the ball into the hole, before leaving with a final score of 3,427 strokes.
Production
The Vauxhall Omega car that stops to give Bean a lift has music playing on the car stereo, the music is the (already established) theme tune to The Vicar of Dibley, another Richard Curtis comedy. The music was also composed by Howard Goodall. A new version of the theme is used in the opening titles, performed by the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
Filming locations
The Miniature Golf course is close to Boulters Lock in Maidenhead – just south of the junction between Ray Mead Road and Derek Road. The Village Green is in Littlewick Green near Maidenhead - also seen in the episode where Teddy enters the Pet Show. The shops where Mr Bean attempts to putt his ball out of a lady's shopping bag is on Shifford Crescent, Maidenhead.
Despite the Village Green and the lady's shopping bag incident taking place in Maidenhead, Bean is seen boarding a South London 405 bus when his golf ball bounces into it. This bus route travels from Redhill to West Croydon Bus Station and is many miles away from Maidenhead, though the filming location for this scene is on Ray Mead Road, Maidenhead.
Censors
Bean drinking the detergent and getting in the drier are usually edited out of reruns on Nickelodeon (UK and Ireland), and the part in Act 2, the golf ball in the car's exhaust pipe that causes it to explode was also cut.
Legacy
Act 1 inspired the short "Spring Clean" from Mr. Bean, The Animated Series, while its conclusion where Mr. Bean went inside the washing machine is also seen on "Goldfish".