Graham Chapman, one of the original founding members of the comedy troupe, Monty Python, passed away 35 years ago, Friday on October 4, 1989 at age 48. Thankfully, the comedy world was all the greater as Chapman ultimately turned down a career as a doctor to be a comedian.
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For long-time readers of Tellyspotting, many have come to know that I’m not the biggest fan of remakes, reboots or sequels. While there are certainly cases that directly counter my feelings (All Creatures Great and Small, Poldark, Upstairs Downstairs), the streets are littered with failed American remakes of highly successful British comedies and there are […]
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Monty Python stars Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam recently appeared in the town of Colwyn Bay to raise funds for a statue of late member and “great friend” Terry Jones…the Welsh one in Monty Python. Palin and Gilliam are taking part in the ‘A Python on the prom’ campaign to raise £120,000 for a statue of Jones.
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As co-writer and co-director of BBC’s The Office, Stephen Merchant is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais. The British writer, director, radio presenter, stand-up comedian and actor added a London West-End appearance a couple of years ago to his CV with his first play, The Mentalists by Richard Bean, alongside Steffan Rhodri at the Wyndham Theatre. Known for his brilliant command of […]
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As if I needed yet another reason to pack my bags and work remote from a flat on the banks of the Thames, Notting Hill, South Kensington or any point in-between, here comes the news that Sybil Fawlty has assumed control of all the beautiful people that had previously run Hotel Babylon. In this 2007 […]
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Harold Snoad, long-time sitcom producer and director for the BBC passed away 2 June at the age of 88. Best known for Keeping Up Appearances, it was Snoad who cast Dame Patricia Routledge in the lead role, explaining: “I wanted the character of Hyacinth to be a sort of stately galleon. I didn’t want somebody lightweight, […]
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Today, William Shakespeare would have been a mere 460 years old. While his true birthdate remains a mystery (he was baptized on April 26, 1564), it is generally celebrated on April 23, the same day England’s patron saint is celebrated with a laundry list of ‘happenings’, St. George’s Day. It was a mere 408 years ago […]
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Four thought to be lost episodes of The Complete and Utter History of the British Isles, created in 1969 by soon-to-be Pythoners Michael Palin and Terry Jones, have been found by the ITV Archive team as part of a huge project to fully identify every archive asset ITV holds, “The series had been sitting in the ITV vaults […]
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One simply cannot let Easter pass without paying tribute to the genius that is Monty Python & the Holy Grail. There are literally thousands of lines and/or scenes that millions of fans worldwide can quote or reference, and there are few that don’t gravitate to a seemingly innocent looking rabbit that surprises a group of tourists who seek […]
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Once again,Red Nose Day has distinguished itself as the single most brilliant example known to man and/or woman of how an entire country demonstrates the ability to create brilliant content and rally around a charitable cause. To label Red Nose Day in the UK as a cultural phenomenon is doing it an injustice. It’s an institution. The entire […]
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