Python's family hand material to the BFI

Terry Jones’s archive has been donated to the British Film Institute for perseveration.

The collection of film includes Terry’s personal 16mm copies of the Monty Python feature films, a 35mm print of his film adaptation of The Wind in the Willows from 1996  and early sketches from series including The Late Show, which ran in 1966 and 1967.

Jones’s family made the donation to the BFI National Archive  as plans move forward for a statue to the late comedian in Colwyn Bay.

News of the BFI tie-up was revealed yesterday during a celebratory event at BFI Southbank featuring contributions from Sir Michael Palin, John Cleese, Carol Cleveland, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Terry’s daughter Sally Jones and comedy historian and close friend Robert Ross.

The writer’s new biography Seriously Silly: The Life of Terry Jones was launched at the event and is published on  November. 6.

Sally Jones said: ‘Dad was a longtime supporter of the BFI. I remember being brought along to screenings of classic films from an early age.  Dad had a huge place in his heart for the work of the BFI so the BFI National Archive was the obvious choice to preserve and safeguard his film collection.’

Lisa Kerrigan, a senior curator at the BFI, added: ‘We are delighted to receive this collection of personal prints and film materials from the Terry Jones archive. 

‘Like many film-makers Terry kept prints and film copies of his work and we are grateful to the Jones family for entrusting the preservation of these to the BFI National Archive. They are a testament to all of his many, many talents and will join programmes such as Do Not Adjust Your Set and Monty Python's Flying Circus that are already preserved as part of the national television archive, as well as the personal film collection of fellow Python Terry Gilliam.’

Published: 2 Nov 2025