Monty Python At 50 - The Complete And Utter History Of Britain

While the aforementioned Do Not Adjust Your Set is often cited as one of the main steps towards Python as it features Eric Idle and (at the end ) Terry Gilliam, I feel like this one is closer to Flying Circus content-wise and in tone.

The Complete And Utter History Of Britain (1x 6 episode series, 1969)
Starring and written by:- Michael Palin and Terry Jones
Episodes shown:- Series 1 Episode 1

Like the other two shows, this is a show that suffered at the hands of wiping policies of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Only the first two episodes exist as complete episodes while the film inserts for the remaining episodes also exist and were put together with new linking material from Palin and Jones (by Bill Jones, son of Terry). The first episode (shown at the screening) is, in fact, not the original first episode. Episodes 1 and 2 were vut together into a new version of ep 1 - by luck, the original director kept (low quality) copies of these first two episodes so they can be seen for comparison.

On to the first ep itself, this feels more like a lead-in to Python. Palin and Jones pull out some voices and characterisations that are familiar from Flying Circus sketches and the whole “presenting history as if it were being filmed today” with the whole anachronistic use of slang and terms not available back then feels very Pythonesque. Palin’s stone age estate agent selling Stonehenge definitely seems like he would be at home in a sketch with the others as does the overly bureaucratic jobsworth knight refusing to rescue a damsel in distress without the proper paperwork filled in.

Sir Not-Appearing-This-Event*
There are a couple of other shows that linked in too but have not been featured. Twice A Fortnight featured Jones and Palin as well as Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie (later to go on to fame as The Goodies with 1948 Show star Tim Brooke-Taylor while Broaden Your Mind starred Garden and Brooke-Taylor with Oddie joining alongside Jones and Palin as guest stars. Sadly, barring a couple of film sketches, Broaden Your Mind has completely disappeared from the archives. That does definitely put a crimp on trying to show it as part of an anniversary celebration...



*Yes, that is a Holy Grail reference which comes later but if you’re expecting logic and continuity, you’re probably reading the wrong series of posts...