The BBC have commissioned a comedy drama based around the controversy caused by the release of Monty Python's 1979 film, Life Of Brian.

Holy Flying Circus, a 90 minute one-off comedy drama, will be broadcast in the autumn on BBC Four. It has been written by Tony Roche, whose other credits include Miranda, The Thick Of It and the forthcoming Channel 4 univeristy-based comedy drama Fresh Meat.

Link

Really? I might look out for a copy, it could be a collectors piece!

Well, we're back to the old discussion about biopics in general, and there it seems broadcasters believe a scandalistic approach would pay off in terms of viewing figures, and I'm afraid they're right, from their own point of view.

I guess they would consider a case like the Steptoes just a hitch, where both evident "factual inaccuracies", to put it mildly, and a belligerent complaining party put them with their backs against the wall.

Not enough to change their attitude, you might remember how displeased I was with the recent Hattie Jacques thing, but there you couldn't complain about facts, just the way they were related, the angle of the whole thing, maybe that's the only lesson they've learned from the Steptoes affair, check your facts and keep on slagging...

Well, as usual, we'll have to wait and see for ourselves...

Well, the casting was amazing, I didn't know any of the actors involved before, but they were all almost too good to be true, especially Charles Edwards as Michael Palin and Darren Boyd as John Cleese, although he really played Basil Fawlty there...

However, I'm still a bit puzzled about having liked this very much or not too much... I certainly didn't expect this particular angle, and it's a bit too obvious, perhaps, stating that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition, but I just can't help it...

Besides, as Stephen Fry recently taught us, that's historically inaccurate

Oh, and Stephen's own cameo appearance as God was rather nice, too, when he says to Jesus: "You turned the beer into water again, didn't you? I wish you'd grow up..."

Perhaps the writers tried a bit too hard to insert surreal Pythonesque bits into the narration, I'm still wondering about Michael Palin being married to Terry Jones in drag, for instance, and all the dream and fantasy sequences, but that was a honest attempt to make this something different than a "plain" docu-drama, which would have turned out rather dull, I think...

All in all, I liked it... I think...

I thought it was alright based on the fact it told us it was completely made up and shouldnt be believed.  They made this clear through the dialogue and therefore its fine.  I noticed the John Clesse actor wasnt playing John Cleese, but then they explained it, so its fine.  Its alright to lie about people if you tell us you're lying about people.

Did anyone see the tim rice thing after?  WTF was he doing with his own show?  Their portrayal of him as an idiot was quite correct. 

Its a shame that these writers are so untalented that they cant come up with something that isnt an easy audience, but let us be easy on them, they clearly mean to be writers.