The character of Mr. Bean was developed while Rowan Atkinson was studying for his master’s degree in electrical engineering at The Queen’s College of Exford. A sketch featuring Bean was shown at the Edinburgh in the early 1980s. A similar character called Robert Box, also played by Atkinson, appeared in the one-off 1979 ITV sitcom Canned laughter which also featured routines used in the motion picture  in 1997.One of Bean’s earliest appearances occurred at the “Just for Laugh” comedy festival in Canada, in 1987. When programme coordinators were scheduling him into the festival programme, Atkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill rather than the English-speaking programme.