That time when Mr. Bean was mobbed in a Canadian shopping mall

On March 1, 1996, British actor Rowan Atkinson appeared as Mr. Bean at the Eaton Centre in Toronto to autograph copies of his newly released VHS tapes.

The result was a celebrity mobbing — the likes of which the city had never seen before and hasn’t since.

Created for British Television, Mr. Bean first aired on CBC in 1990 and quickly became a worldwide phenomenon. A total of 15 episodes were produced between 1990 and 1995, and later, two feature films – Bean and Mr. Bean’s Holiday – and an animated series were created.

The endearing but awkward character of Mr. Bean had actually been test-piloted in Canada at the 1987 Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

Atkinson insisted he performs on the French-speaking stage instead of the English-speaking stage, confusing the organizers, who assumed his act would be in English.

Atkinson had wanted to see how a non-English speaking audience would receive his brand of wordless physical comedy. A huge part of Mr. Bean’s success was thanks to the lack of dialogue, making it accessible anywhere in the world.

When Eaton announced an event in early 1996 to celebrate the new release of Mr. Bean on VHS, few knew how it would be received. A similar event at Eaton’s in January featuring international lover-boy Fabio had attracted a few hundred bored homemakers.

Although Mr. Bean’s appearance was slated to start at 12:30 pm, fanatics had begun lining up at 8 am.

By 10 am, the line was so long that security began to inform patrons that at the end, there was no way they would get to the front of the line, even though the event was scheduled for 1 hour.

By noon, an estimated 3,000+ crowd was ready to meet and greet the most famous Brit since the Beatles.

When Mr. Bean emerged with a detail of private security and Toronto Police, the whole mall heaved.

When it quickly became apparent that only a tiny fraction of people would get the opportunity to even see, never mind meet, Mr. Bean, many in the crowd began to push.

The whole scene became rather frightening as people began getting crushed.

Rowan Atkinson immediately leapt up on the signing desk and, in his loudest and sternest Mr. Bean voice, asked that people please stop pushing.

It was a brilliant bit of showmanship that at least guaranteed everyone present saw Mr. Bean doing a Mr. Bean-ish thing in the flesh.

After a trademark wonky Mr. Bean movement, Atkinson was promptly whisked away by security after being on the floor for only 20 or so minutes.

Disappointed fans dispersed, and thankfully, there was no trouble.

The media ran with the story (typical headline: HOGTOWN’S BEANTOWN!), making headlines worldwide.

The notoriously shy Rowan Atkinson often states it was the scariest moment of his life, and no Mr. Bean documentary is complete without clips of the Eaton Centre incident.

What makes the story so remarkable is that it took place in the era before social media and smartphones. Anyone who visited the Eaton Centre with the dream of meeting Mr. Bean had read about it in a newspaper or heard about it on the radio.

In 2020, it was reported that several hundred teens at the Eaton Centre sparked a near riot while awaiting several Canadian TikTok stars.

For anyone who remembers the events that took place at the Eaton Centre on March 1, 1996, this TikTok “riot” was small fry compared to the great Mr. Bean mob.

Such was the gargantuan star power and universal popularity in Toronto of the bumbling Mr. Bean.

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