Holy Flying Circus - BBC4 Comedy Drama - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)
Genre
Broadcast
Channel
Episodes
1
Stars
Darren Boyd, Charles Edwards, Steve Punt, Rufus Jones, Tom Fisher, Phil Nichol, Stephen Fry, Simon Greenall and more
Writer
Director
Producers
Kate Norrish, Polly Leys, Matthew Read and Jamie Laurenson
Companies
In 1979, the film Monty Python's Life Of Brian caused outrage around the world. The film depicted the life of Brian Cohen, a first-century Judean who is mistaken for the Messiah after joining an anti-Roman group.
Nuns with banners picketed cinemas, councils banned the film without even seeing it and the religious group Festival of Light organised a concerted campaign against the film, trying to get it banned.
Against this backdrop Michael Palin and John Cleese found themselves facing prominent society figures Malcolm Muggeridge and the Bishop of Southwark, Mervyn Stockwood, in a television debate in front of a live studio audience to defend their film against charges of blasphemy: but who won?
Written by Tony Roche (In The Loop, The Thick Of It) Holy Flying Circus is a fantastical re-imagining of the controversy surrounding the release of Life Of Brian. Witty and humorous in tone, the comedy drama incorporates surreal cutaways including puppetry and animation in telling its narrative.
Additional details
Production
Studio
Picture
Colour
Broadcast details
First broadcast
Wednesday 19th October 2011 at 9pm on BBC Four
Episode length
90 minutes
Most recent repeats
- Wednesday 20th April 2016 at 11:40pm on Gold
- Saturday 20th February 2016 at 1:40am on Gold
- Friday 8th January 2016 at 1:00am on Gold