 The Complete and Utter History of Britain
1 9 6 9 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes
Absurdly funny Pythonesque series from London Weekend
Television which took a very light-hearted look at major
historical events and social customs in British history.
Many highly eccentric historical figures were played by Terry
Jones and Michael Palin (who also wrote the series) aided and
abetted by Roddy Maude-Roxby, Wallas Eaton, Melinda May and Colin
Gordon
The idea was to replay history as if television had been around
at the time: interviewing the vital characters in the
dressing-room after the Battle of Hastings; having Samuel Pepys
present a TV chat-show; showing an estate agent trying to sell
Stonehenge to a young couple looking for their first home
("It's got character, charm . . . and a slab in the
middle"); and replaying Caesar's home-movie footage of his
British invasion.
The sketches were well written but the series suffered slightly
from the fact that, in this pre-Monty Python period, Jones
and Palin were not yet able to dictate that they take on all the
lead roles.
As a consequence, a number of other actors joined them to form
a historical repertory company - each person had several parts per
show - and, while they were all capable, these outsiders perhaps
did not fully sympathise with the material in the same way as the
writers.
The series was directed by Maurice Murphy and produced by
Humphrey Barclay. Seven programs were actually written and made
but LWT amalgamated the highlights of the first two episodes into
one, resulting in a six-part series.
Sadly, the shows were wiped after transmission and the only
elements to survive are some filmed inserts that Terry Jones
copied (he tries to archive all his own material).
A better fate awaited Palin and Jones's next TV excursion into
history, Ripping Yarns shown by BBC2 in 1976 and 1979.
Jones then made what he called another 'hectic jog through the
passages of history' in the one-off humorous documentary So
This Is Progress..., screened by BBC2 on 6 December 1991.
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