Tirade as he collects award

John Cleese has launched another attack on the state of British TV.

The 62-year-old former Python moaned about the state of the medium after he picked up the Sir Peter Ustinov/Comedy Network Award at the Banff TV festival.

He praised some US shows, such as The Sopranos and Frasier, but railed against the trend towards reality TV.

At a press conference in the Canadian Rockies town, he said: "This is not the golden era of British television ... It's terribly disappointing because it used to be the least bad television in the world.

"I do not know how you preserve good standards. I think it is dead and buried in England.

"I know four or five programme makers in England who will not bother to work in English television because the standards have dropped so much and they do not want to produce what they think is crap.

"The problem now is executives are under so much more pressure, they want to vet the idea. The truth is the idea is absolutely secondary to the quality of the people who are going to deliver it. The only way back to real quality is to trust in the people who can deliver the programs."

And of reality TV shows like Big Brother, he said: "It's awful to watch when people are being humiliated. Call me old-fashioned, but we are getting back to the arena, aren't we?"

Cleese has had bad experience with recent TV projects in the US. He appeared in the sitcom Wednesday 9:30 (8:30) Central, which was axed after just two weeks, and a comedy project he tried to pitch failed to make it to air.

The comic also said that he preferred not to make comedy shows nowadays, instead choosing documentaries such as The Human Face.

"The trouble with comedy is that you don't really learn anything doing it," he said "If I had another existence and God said, 'No, you can't be a comic,' that would not be a problem at all. I could imagine, for instance, being a biologist."

Cleese also revealed that he is about to start work on Shrek 2, providing the voice for Cameron Diaz's father. "It's much like radio," he said. "I started out in radio. It's my favourite medium."

Cleese blasts Beeb
Cleese honoured

Published: 11 Jun 2002