Show Notes
Monty Python’s Flying Circus made its TV debut, in a Sunday night graveyard slot on BBC 1, on 5th October, 1969.
Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones - plucked from ITV kids show Do Not Adjust Your Set - were matched by BBC producers with the acerbic John Cleese and Graham Chapman from At Last The 1948 Show, and, surprisingly, American animator Terry Gilliam. The result was an unprecedentedly anarchic and volatile smorgasbord of innovative TV sketches.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discover the turbulent relationship between the comedians and BBC bosses; reveal the location of the first official Python plaque; and consider how the troupe conquered America alongside that other distinctly British export, Benny Hill…
Further Reading:
• ‘Pythons anniversary: BBC bosses were not amused, memos reveal’ (The Times, 2019): https://www.thetimes.com/article/448ad6f6-e6f0-11e9-bc3e-661ff0438ed9
• ‘Monty Python’s greatest sketches’ (The Times, 2014): https://www.thetimes.com/article/0712ae77-7176-4b4d-9187-b2bad4018721
• ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus: Whither Canada’ (BBC, 1969): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COVycMEj1Pc
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart.
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026.
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