Michael Palin to talk about the rediscovered Complete and Utter History of Britain

Michael Palin is to talk about a long-lost precursor to Monty Python that was finally unearthed last year 

He wrote and starred in six episodes of The Complete and Utter History of Britain with Terry Jones, which aired on London Weekend Television in January and February 1969.

Much of the footage was long thought lost, but an internal catalogue audit of the ITV archves found that the episodes were intact but had all been logged as Episode 2.  The films were cleaned and restored from the 16mm telerecordings by R3:Store Studios.

The British Film Institute says: ‘They all needed a considerable amount of manual work due to damage and film and tape faults throughout due to the nature of telerecording. 

‘The films were scanned, graded, images stabilised and flicker removed as well as repairs/removal of scratches and dirt and present them to new audiences in pristine condition for the first time since they were originally broadcast.’

The full series is now available to watch on BritBox UK via ITVX Premium. 

And on Saturday Palin will introduce episode 6, titled James the McFirst to Oliver Cromwell, at the BFI on London’s South Bank. He will discuss his memories of making the series, its significance and what he thinks now of the rediscovery over 50 years later.

Palin has previously said: ‘It was rather bad. It looked like Stonehenge was made of polystyrene. And things like the wrong sound effects can really ruin a sketch.'

But he added: ‘There are some quite good ideas in there. I can see all sorts of Python in it. It’s funnier than I remember. Parts of it are silly and schoolboyish, but also rather satisfying.’

However, the failure did help the formation of Monty Python later that same year. 

Palin recalled. ‘John Cleese called me when it went out and said, "I’ve just seen this series of yours. You won’t be making any more of those, will you? So why don’t we do something together." He always was a mean bastard.’

Dick Fiddy, the BFI’s archive TV programmer and founder of the Missing Believed Wiped initiative says: ‘The Complete and Utter History of Britain is a key title in the story of British television comedy and one of the most important links in the chain that leads from The Goon Show to Monty Python. 

‘The rediscovery of the entire series as broadcast is a significant (not to mention hilarious) find that has delighted an army of fans!’

The BFI hosts two Missing Believed Wiped sessions on Saturday, the second featuring Basil Brush. Tickets are available here.

Published: 1 Dec 2024