The episode, written by Ben Elton, Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson, also featured special guest Richard Briers alongside Paul Bown, Rudolph Walker (who would later co-star with Atkinson in Ben Elton's The Thin Blue Line) and a cameo appearance by theme music composer Howard Goodall.
Although this plan works, Bean then sees the man grabbing his white cane and leaving, revealing that he was blind all along.
Heading inside, he arrives as the opening hymn, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save", has finished and takes a seat next to Mr. Sprout (Richard Briers).
As the vicar (voiced by Rowan Atkinson off-screen) gives his sermon, Bean sneezes loudly and finds himself needing to wipe his nose, effectively using the lining of one of his coat pockets to do so as he does not have a tissue or handkerchief.
However, the watchful eye of Mr. Sprout causes Bean to conceal this a few times, accidentally making him drop it inside his shirt just as the second hymn, "All Creatures of Our God and King", is about to be sung.
Coming out unscathed, Bean promptly runs off down the road, shortly after a wheel from his Mini bounces from the accident and rolls against the pavement.
The company's head of light entertainment, John Howard Davies, personally oversaw the first three episodes of the series as its producer and director.
As the episode was merely a pilot, it was simply called "Mr. Bean" and did not feature opening titles, nor the choral theme tune.
The pilot won the 1990 Golden Rose award,[4][5] with the church sketch later performed live by both Rowan Atkinson and Angus Deayton as part of a comedy tour in 1991.