Monty Python at 50: A celebration of something completely different

The British Film Institute is marking this comedic landmark with a series of treats, from feature films to documentaries and home movies. But the best bits, as William Cook discovers, are the shows that came before. So where did it all begin?

Gilliam’s animation filled the gaps between sketches (BFI)

On Sunday 5 October 1969 at 11pm (after most respectable people had gone to bed) the BBC broadcast the first episode of a show that changed the course of British comedy. Monty Python’s Flying Circus was unlike anything we’d seen before, and now, 50 years later, the British Film Institute is marking this comedic landmark with a spectacular birthday party.

Throughout this month the BFI is screening all sorts of Python treats, from TV shows to feature films, from documentaries to home movies, but the most intriguing elements are the shows that came before. Although Monty Python was revolutionary, it didn’t happen in isolation. It grew out of numerous strands in postwar British comedy, and it’s these strands which make Monty Python at 50 more than just a rerun of greatest hits.

So where did Monty Python’s Flying Circus begin? Probably the biggest influence on Monty Python was The Goon Show, that absurdist radio series written by Spike Milligan, and performed by Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and (briefly) Michael Bentine. The Goon Show and Milligan’s TV series, Q5, both feature in John Cleese and Michael Palin’s Pick of Python Influences, a key part of this season.