SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve seen the sequel series to ‘Man vs. Bee’, which was released in 2022! For the past four days, I’ve enjoyed watching ‘Man vs. Baby’, starring Rowan Atkinson as Trevor Bingley. It’s been great to watch this four-episode series, especially at Christmas time. 🙂

Before checking out ‘Man vs. Baby’, my parents and I revisited ‘Man vs. Bee’ on Netflix. It was fascinating to compare the two shows, especially with ‘Man vs. Bee’ having a summery feel to it whilst ‘Man vs. Baby’ is specifically set during the Christmas period. 🙂

The episode lengths are also different in each of the two shows. Whereas ‘Man vs. Bee’ is 9 episodes with each lasting from 10 to 20 minutes, ‘Man vs. Baby’ is 4 episodes with each lasting from 24 to 37 minutes. It’s interesting ‘Man vs. Baby’ had fewer episodes this time.

My parents and I enjoyed ‘Man vs. Baby’ more than its predecessor. Not to say that ‘Man vs. Bee’ isn’t good anymore. Far from it! But with ‘Man vs. Baby’, there’s more to enjoy and take in from the longer episode length. The story and characters are also very compelling.

By the time we got to the third episode, my parents and I found ourselves engaged with Trevor Bingsley’s journey in looking after the titular baby, almost to the point of frustration. 😀 This is especially when the comedy works well in its favour, which I found very satisfying.

In ‘Man vs. Baby’, Rowan Atkinson as Trevor Bingley resides in Hertfordshire and it happens to be his last day as a primary school caretaker. He’s hoping for his ex-wife Jess and his daughter Maddy to join him for Christmas, but they’re about to go to Barbados. 😦

During a school nativity play, Trevor picks up a baby that is assumed to be the baby Jesus, but no-one has claimed the baby once the nativity has finished. Incidentally, we never find out who the baby belonged to by the end of the series, which I find unusual in the storytelling.

Trevor tries to give the baby back to social services, but is also given a new job to be housesitter at a luxurious penthouse belonging to a wealthy family in London. Trevor ends up bringing the baby with him whilst having to do the new job in London at Christmas time.

Whilst ‘Man vs. Bee’ was inspired by a ‘Mr. Bean’ sketch involving a bee, I believe ‘Man vs. Baby’ was inspired by a ‘Mr. Bean’ episode where he had to look after a baby at a funfair. I don’t think that’s been confirmed, but I suspect that’s where the inspiration came from. 😀

I like how Trevor Bingley looks after the baby, whom he names ‘Jesus’, even when he makes mistakes in balancing his job of housesitter at the wealthy penthouse at the same time. It’s also incredible how Trevor handled the Christmas preparations in the fourth episode.

As well as Rowan Atkinson, Claudie Blakley reprises her role of Jess, Trevor’s ex-wife in the series along with Alanah Bloor as Maddy, Trevor’s daughter. A shame India Fowler, who played Maddy in ‘Man vs Bee’, didn’t return in this series, but Alanah Bloor is good. 🙂

It’s nice that Jess and Maddy got to join Trevor for Christmas in the final episode of the series. I found it sad that Jess initially decided that she and Maddy should go to Barbados to see her new boyfriend. It was a relief they got to be with Trevor at the penthouse in the end.

The series also features Nina Sosanya as Diana and Rosie Cavaliero as Pamela, who are at the school in the first episode. Nina Sosanya has been in the ‘Doctor Who’ TV episode ‘Fear Her’ and Rosie Cavaliero has been in ‘Nativity!’, ‘Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger’ and the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘Infamy of the Zaross’.

There’s Sunil Patel as Detective Sergeant Gupta, Susannah Fielding as Petra and Sunetra Sarker as Mrs. Georgia Hakopian. It was nice to see Robert Bathurst as Lionel, as he’s been in ‘Downton Abbey’, the 2019 ‘Dad’s Army’ episodes and the ‘Doctor Who’ TV story ‘Flux’.

The cast also includes Ivana Bašić as Elsa, Susy Kane as Annabel, Ellie White as Amethyst and Angus Imrie as Soren. I’ve seen Angus Imrie in the 2019 film ‘The Kid Who Would Be King’ and I’ve heard him in the ‘Doctor Who’ audio story ‘The Merfolk Murders’.

He also happens to be the son of Benjamin Withrow (who was in 1995’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’) and Celia Imrie (who was in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘The Bells of Saint John’). I’ve only just discovered this when looking up Angus Imrie’s Wikipedia profile page. 😀

There’s Ashley Jensen, who’s also been in ‘Nativity!’ as well as the film ‘Christmas on Mistletoe Farm’, as Janet, the housekeeper that sends instructions to Trevor on what to do when the Schwarzenboch family are to about to return to the penthouse for Christmas.

And there’s Steve Edge as the Met police officer, who’s in the last episode. It’s nice when Trevor had Jess and Maddy, Soren and Amethyst, Lionel, Annabel, Mrs. Hakopian and the Met police officer join him for Christmas dinner at the penthouse, especially after putting so much effort into making the dinner for the Schwarzenboch family that didn’t turn up. 🙂

Apparently, no-one told Trevor, including Petra, her supposed boss, that the Schwarzenboch family had changed their minds about returning home for Christmas after he had set everything up. This is all before Trevor had Jess, Maddy and everyone else joining him.

It was very funny to see that recreation of the Nativity scene with the titular baby in his crib along with Trevor and his guests at the end. This was all before Trevor sees the entire Schwarzenboch family come back home for Christmas after all, which shocks him. 😀

A thing I appreciate about ‘Man vs. Baby’ is that it showcases Trevor’s kindness, even when he makes mistakes. The Christmas setting enhances that, especially as he didn’t inform the police about the couple, Soren and Amethyst, and their attempted burglary.

‘Man vs. Baby’ has been a great Christmas mini-series to check out on Netflix and it’s a very good follow-up to ‘Man vs. Bee’. I’m glad my parents and I saw it over the Christmas period recently and it’s nice that Rowan Atkinson reprised his role as Trevor Bingley in the series.

I don’t know if a third series featuring Trevor Bingley is going to happen or not. It would have to be a very good follow-up to both ‘Man vs. Bee’ and ‘Man vs. Baby’. Maybe they’ll do an Easter mini-series, I don’t know. I’m just glad I’ve seen ‘Man vs. Baby’ on Netflix for Christmas.

Incidentally, in terms of the baby’s identity, I wonder if the bee from ‘Man vs. Bee’ had somehow manifested itself into the baby in ‘Man vs. Baby’. It’s a possibility and I know it sounds pretty ludicrous, but it could explain the baby’s sudden appearance in the series itself. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂