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Comedy Connections: Series 3

Doon Mackichan

John Cleese

Michael Palin

Eric Idle

Terry Gilliam

Carol Cleveland

John Howard Davies

Paul Fox

Toby Stevens

Angus McIntyre

Comedy Connections: Series 3: Episode 1: Monty Python's Flying Circus

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Episode 1

Episode 1: Monty Python's Flying Circus

Series 3

BBC One - Comedy Connections, Series 3, Monty Python's Flying Circus

The inside story of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Series charting the history of some of the best British comedy shows looks at the inside story of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Starting with a group of undergraduates meeting at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the roots of Monty Python's Flying Circus are found in the TV satire boom of the 60s and the influence of The Goons and Spike Milligan. 

Interviews with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Carol Cleveland tell the story of what happened in the Python writing room, why John Cleese left at the end of the third series and exactly how the BBC dealt with the infamous undertaker sketch.

With graphics tracing their careers over 40 years, we hear how the seeds of Python were sown behind the scenes of The Frost Report, and how on the break-up of Python they all tried to do something completely different whilst secretly hoping their erstwhile colleagues wouldn't be too successful.

Narrated by Doon Mackichan, interviewees include John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland, producer John Howard Davis and former controller of BBC1, Sir Paul Fox.

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Episode 1: Monty Python's Flying Circus

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