By Miki de Goodaboom

I was once a big fan of Mr Bean, one of the rare TV comic figures who did manage to make me laugh. There are not so many!

These days, I did not know Teddy Bears, I had not met my Truffle McFurry yet, and had had none as a child. I certainly did not get it with the Teddy Bear love, and to my deep shame today, I even ignored them. Which is why I did not even know that Mr Bean’s best friend was his Teddy Bear “Teddy”!

Here is what I found about him on the “Mr Bean Wiki”:

“…Teddy (born in August 15) is Mr. Bean‘s teddy bear, generally regarded as 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 occasionally 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). Certainly, 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 good dish cloth or paint brush in an emergency; it has been decapitated (“Mr. Bean in Room 426”) and shrunk in the wash (“Tee Off, Mr. Bean”). In the animated series, he has a girlfriend. It is actually Irma Gobb’s teddy (Lottie), which doesn’t appear in the original series.

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…”

Well, I  guess I will have to look at Mr Bean again. I do need to see him with teddy. In the meanwhile I have painted them together… based on toys, which were given to me last year…