Row over Life Of Brian drama

Some members of Monty Python are said to be annoyed about the forthcoming BBC comedy-drama about the Life of Brian row.

Holy Flying Circus, due to be screened on BBC Four next Wednesday, revolves around a famous 1979 televised debate between John Cleese and Michael Palin and Christians who believed their film was offensive.

According to today’s Independent, Cleese offered to contribute to the research, but was never consulted. He has since seen the script and was ‘disappointed’, believing it to be ‘full of inaccuracies’ according to an unnamed source.

And Terry Gillam said: ‘I've had no involvement. I just met people yesterday who's seen it and they said it's really funny. Some in the group thought it was a bad idea because it's not us.

But he said the film should go ahead: ‘The thought of Python stopping anyone... One of our members was making phone calls. Just stop it. Just stop it.’

The film, written by Tony Roche, co-writer of In the Loop, makes no pretence of being accurate. It is billed as a ‘fantastical reimagining’ of events surrounding the Pythons’ debate with the Bishop of Southwark and Malcolm Muggeridge.

Shakespearean actor Charles Edwards, who plays Palin, said: ‘In the context of this film, Palin is the group's moral compass but whether or not Michael Palin is or was that in real life I have no idea.

‘It's irrelevant in a way: the thing with this film is it is so removed from reality. It is categorically not a biopic. Other than the debate, which is obviously a fact and the fact of Life Of Brian itself, everything else around that is exaggerated or imagined.’

And even in the film itself, Darren Boyd, who plays Cleese, addresses the issue by telling the audience: ‘I'd just like to point out that this is a fictional representation of me based loosely on my Basil Fawlty persona and in real life I'm really a lovely, lovely fellow.’

Iain Johnstone, who produced the original TV debate, said he was led to believe Holy Flying Circus would be as meticulously researched as the play and film Frost/Nixon. ‘Why bother to put in made-up material?’ he told The Independent. ‘They could've researched it properly and it would've been just as funny.’

The cast for also includes Steve Punt as Eric Idle, Dutch Elm Conservatoire’s Rufus Jones as Terry Jones, Phil Nichol as Terry Gilliam and Tom Fisher as Graham Chapman.

Here is some of the original debate:

Published: 10 Oct 2011