Production company's story to be told in new documentary

A new feature-length documentary is to look at the history of HandMade Films, the production company George Harrison set up to help finance Monty Python’s Life Of Brian.

The Beatle stepped in after the original financiers of Brian, EMI Films, pulled out  less than a week before filming, mortgaging his house so his comedian friends could make the movie. Eric Idle once called it ‘the most anybody's ever paid for a cinema ticket in history’ – but the gamble paid off..

The company also backed The Long Good Friday, Time Bandits, Mona Lisa and Withnail and I. However the company hit financial problems in the 1990s and was sold to Canadian company Paragon Entertainment, which used the label to release films including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

The story will be told in An Accidental Studio, which airs on  May 4 on AMC UK – a channel available only to BT subscribers, before international broadcast later in the year.

It will feature new and unseen archive interviews with  Harrison, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant and Neil Jordan.

Executive producer  Harold Gronenthal from AMC said: ‘HandMade Films created some of Britain’s most iconic films and gave a global platform to artists who continue to have a strong impact on popular culture today. We’re excited… to showcase the important legacy of HandMade Films with AMC’s audiences internationally.’

Published: 7 Mar 2019