‘Cruel’: BBC’s verdict on Monty Python unearthed on troupe’s 50th birthday

PIONEERING comedy troupe Monty Python celebrate their 50th birthday today - and while their legendary status is now assured, a newly unearthed archive of documents showed the shock and even revulsion BBC bosses found at what they termed the “cruel” humour on display. A pair of sketches featured in the final episode of the second series, aired in 1970s, the first, lampooning the National Anthem, and the second, The Undertaker’s Sketch, which featured John Cleese as a man uncertain about the best way to dispose of his mother’s body, came in for criticism. The minutes of a programme review board reveal: “Aubrey Singer, [the head of features group], said that he had found parts of this edition disgusting.

“Controller BBC1 said the programme was continually going over the edge of what was acceptable: this edition had contained two really awful sketches - the death sequence had been in appalling bad taste, while the treatment of the National Anthem had simply not been amusing.”

“Stephen Hearst [the head of arts features] was critical of the fact that the values of the programme were so nihilistic and cruel... Bob Reid [the head of science features] felt the team seemed to wallow in the sadism of their humour.”

The notes suggested the team “had a strange knack of going over the edge unnecessarily”.

However, it was also suggested that the team’s image “demanded that they should be rebels against authority”.

The review notes added: “It might not suit them to be regarded publicly for what they are - a series widely admired and wholeheartedly supported by the Television Service.”

Monty Python consisted of Cleese and Graham Chapman, who met at Cambridge University, Michael Palin, and Terry Jones, who met at Oxford, Eric Idle, who was in the year below Cleese and Chapman at Cambridge, and New Yorker Terry Gilliam, whom Cleese met during a trip to America.

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In total there were 45 episodes of the show, spanning four series, the last of which did not feature Cleese.

In addition, they made five feature films, And Now for Something Completely Different (1971), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Monty Python’s The Life of Brian (1979), Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982) and finally Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life (1983).

They courted enormous controversy with The Life of Brian, which lampooned attitudes towards religion, triggering accusations of blasphemy.

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As a result the film was banned in several countries, and campaigner Mary Whitehouse picketed cinemas which were screening it.

Cleese and Palin famously clashed with journalist Malcolm Muggeridge on BBC2’s Friday Night, Saturday morning, with the journalist telling the audience: "I started off by saying that this is such a tenth-rate film that I don't believe that it would disturb anybody's faith."

Palin responded: "Yes, I know you started with an open mind; I realise that."

Shane Allen the controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning, said: “It’s emboldening to see in these documents that they ruffled feathers internally and were even deemed by some to have a ‘sadistic’ edge.

“However, on a positive note, the BBC Comedy heads were quick to recognise the Pythons’ impact and pushed for a swift return of the show in quite a proactive way.

“The Pythons would continue to break ever more sacred taboos throughout the 70s as they moved from TV to film and end the decade with their finest work, 'The Life Of Brian', which was banned in certain parts of the country, and sparked debates around blasphemy.

“Monty Python is now part of the nation's cultural DNA.

“It encapsulates a recognisably British eccentricity and has spawned popular catchphrases and figures of speech; from inspiring the phrase 'spam e-mail', to featuring in the London 2012 Olympics when the UK presented itself to the world with 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' closing the ceremony.

“Reflecting on these documents we tip our bowler hats and doff our Gumby hankies to the BBC Comedy heads who came before and recognised the sparks of magic in the minds of these six comedy behemoths.”