Terry Jones to make Chaplin documentary

Monty Python legend Terry Jones is making a documentary about Charlie Chaplin.

He will travel to Switzerland in the coming days to interview one of Chaplin's sons for the film, which he is making for TV.

But speaking at the Chortle Comedy Book Festival last night, the comedy star admitted: 'I don't like him [Chaplin]

'I mean I looked at Chaplin's films and I like them, but I don't like him as a man. He was brutal to his family and he went after underage girls.'

Chaplin died in self-imposed exile in Corsier-sur-Vevey, on the shores of Lake Geneva, after run-ins with American authorities linked to the McCarthy communist witch-hunts and a barrage of hostile press. Plans have been announced to turn the house into a museum.

Jones also spoke of lost outtakes from Life Of Brian. He admitted of the footage: 'We've lost it. Life Of Brian was taken over by the Royal Bank Of Scotland and they wiped, or destroyed all the outtakes. Another reason to hate the bankers.'

The rushes were in storage but were lost in a legal dispute over ownership of the film rights. However some of the footage does still exist, including scenes of the kamikaze squad, who only make a brief appearance in the finished cut when they come to Brian on the cross.

Jones was speaking in an event about Forgotten Comedy Heroes, in support of a book written by comedy historian Robert Ross currently being crowdfunded.

• The Chortle Comedy Book Festival continues in Camden, North London, until Friday. Tonight features comedy shows from haughty Frenchman Marcel Lucont, plugging his book What We French Think About You English And Where You Are Going Wrong (Tickets) or a double-bill from Christian comedians Paul Kerensa and Andy Kind. (Tickets)

Published: 11 Nov 2014