TV

Mr Bean fans stunned that show only had a handful of episodes

Mr Bean fans stunned that show only had a handful of episodes
Rowan Atkinson accuses Friends of stealing Mr Bean joke
ITV

Mr. Bean is considered one of Britain's TV icons - however, fans are just realising that he didn't have that much screen time at all.

The quirky character played by Rowan Atkinson got up to some random but humorous adventures in the TV show that ran for six years (1990-1995).

But it turns out there were just 15 episodes altogether in this period of time, meaning there are just six and a half hours worth of watch so you could easily binge-watch the entire show within a day (Though there are also two Mr. Bean films - Bean (1997) and Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)).

This has been the topic of discussion on the Reddit forum "Things I Learned Today," where one user recently wrote: "TIL that the British sitcom Mr. Bean only consists of 15 episodes over a span of 6 years."

British comedy icon Mr. Bean heads to Buckingham Palace to celebrate 25 years, the release of Mr. Bean 25th Anniversary DVD Boxset, and new animated episodes on Boomerang at The Mall on September 4, 2015 in London, EnglandPhoto by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Universal Pictures Home Entertainment

It prompted over a thousand comments from people who gave their thoughts on why viewers didn't realise how short the show was and how they felt about learning this fact.

One person said: "The reason we think it has dozens of episodes is that each episode had 3 different stories in it, so it was like getting three episodes for every episode."

"British TV either gives you 6 episodes a decade, or it airs daily and has thousands of episodes, and there's zero in between," another person wrote.

"Don't fall in love with anything that isn't a soap opera or a panel show, because you're going to have your heart broken quickly."

Someone else added: "Wait, those episodes I watched were all that existed? I always thought it was just one slice of the show that my family happened to have a box set of."

"Quality over quantity! They were not banging out episodes for money. They took their time and made them great," a fourth person commented.

Another British show that has a small number of episodes includes the sitcom 'Fawlty Towers' which is also seen as a classic that aired between 1975 and 1979 and was only on for two seasons - with just 12 episodes in total.

While UK version of The Office also had just two seasons between 2001-2003, with only 14 episodes altogether, which is a small number compared to the US version that went on for nine seasons (2005-2013) with a whopping 201 episodes.

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