ITV originally broadcast Mr. Bean in the United Kingdom. The first episode aired on ITV on 1 January 1990, beginning the character’s original live-action television run.
ITV is a commercial British television network made up of regional companies and is known for broadcasting major entertainment, drama, sport, and comedy programmes. Mr. Bean’s visual style helped the series travel well beyond its original British audience.
The show is sometimes associated with the BBC because many internationally famous British comedies were broadcast there. Mr. Bean, however, was an ITV production and broadcast. Later international screenings and reruns appeared on many different channels, but those do not change the original British network.