You're All Individuals. I'm Not.

The BBC has announced the latest in its line of BBC4 dramatisations of the history of comedy, only this time they've bounded in to the colour era, with a drama based on the public reaction to Life of Brian.

Holy Monty Python will air in Autumn and show the reaction of various groups including the church, famously Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark's appearance with Cleese and Palin, where Muggeridge stated it was "Such a tenth-rate film that it couldn't possibly destroy anyone's genuine faith".

All well and good, but most of these people are still alive and don't we already know what happens here form interviews and documentaries?  The interest in the previous films BBC4 have done was in picking stories we didn't really know: behind the scenes of Steptoe and Son, Corbett and Brambell hated each other; Hattie Jacques was unfaithful and near broke John le Mesurier's heart and so on.


Also, I'm not convinced this is the most interesting period in the life of the Pythons.  They'd all but finished being a comedy collective.  Cleese had just finished the second series of Fawlty Towers, Gilliam's directing career was taking off with Jabberwocky (and Time Bandits in planning), Idle had done RWT and the Rutles, Jones and Palin had completed a second helping of Ripping Yarns and even Chapman was planning Yellowbeard.


More interesting, in terms of episodes about which most people know little, would have been how they got together, tracking their work with Frost, the Two Ronnies, the Goodies, Marty Feldman and David Jason (who very nearly was a member of MPFC).  Even how they dealt with Cleese's decision not to appear in series 4 would have made interesting viewing.  I'm not sure I won't just sit there and go, yeah, don't we all know that?


It also raises the question: if Python is now subject to comedy dramas, what next?  The story of The Rubber Chicken Song and Spitting Image? Will My Family survive Kris Marshall's decision to leave, halving the number of actually funny people on the show? That tricky 7th series of Two Pints, when a shark jumped the Fonz?