Monty Python in Aberystwyth

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1

Aberystwyth, Wales, 1979.

From a distant land, came

a story of faith and religion

that would shock

and divide a nation.

A story so shocking,

it would change the destiny of this

small town for nearly three decades.

Until one would rise to power,

follow their destiny,

and change the course of history.

All in the name

of the one, true Messiah.

He's not the Messiah.

He's a very naughty boy.

Ooh, right.

Sorry, what was the name again?

ALL:
Brian!

Yes, Brian, of course, sorry.

So this is the story of how

Monty Python's comedy classic,

The Life Of Brian, the number one

comedy film of all time,

came to be banned in Aberystwyth

for over 30 years.

And how that ban was finally lifted

in the most unusual circumstances.

Erm, cue titles.

Our story begins in Britain

in the early 1970s,

which, looking back,

was a very different place.

There were strikes, economic

hardship, a Cold War,

and let's not mention the haircuts,

the clothes and the side-burns.

In fact, there wasn't much

to smile about,

except a very unusual comedy show.

Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Its brilliant, irreverent,

surreal silliness

left no part of the

establishment un-satirised,

and completely revolutionised

TV comedy.

The series, Monty Python's Flying

Circus, had begun in 1968,

and ran for just over five years,

but made household names

of the Pythons.

Our chief weapon is surprise.

Surprise and fear.

Fear and surprise. Our two

weapons are fear and surprise.

John Cleese, Michael Palin,

Eric Idle,

Graham Chapman, Terry Jones

and Terry Gilliam.

They're unique comedy developed

a huge cult following,

which remains to this day.

It's a comedy that doesn't see

anything as out of bounds.

I know it was something that my

parents didn't like, but I did,

which kind of made it

more rebellious.

It sort of just destroyed

all the sappy comedy,

the kind of more lightweight comedy,

the more jump in the air

and have fun comedy.

And it just put a machine gun

to all of that.

They're first original film was

Monty Python And The Holy Grail,

which was based upon

the Arthurian legend.

# Arthur, King Arthur

That legendary king

Then, in 1977, the team reunited

to make their next project.

Originally titled,

Jesus Christ, Lust For Glory,

it was clear The Life Of Brian

was going to be their most

controversial project to date.

When we started thinking about it,

I can remember thinking,

"I bet you we're going to get

some religious nutcases

"taking pot shots at us."

But then, as we went on, and it

became clear what it was about,

I kind of relaxed a bit,

because I thought,

it obviously wasn't about

questioning belief,

it's about the priesthood really.

Flames lit.

The Life Of Brian, the story of an

ordinary man mistaken as a Messiah,

was intended to lampoon

the religious fervour

of New Testament era Judea.

Shooting took place in Tunisia

in the summer of 1978,

and during production,

the stars seemed unconcerned

about the controversial

subject matter of the film.

We had no idea what it was going

to be like. No idea at all.

We seem to be involved

in making history,

and what we intend to do is put a

sort of modern consciousness on it.

You get sort of

suburban attitudes in AD 33,

and it's about how

they're complaining,

and grumpy and unpleasant.

Cut. That's fine. Enough. Cut.

As philosophers,

we're pretty nth rate.

I mean, we're not very high powered

as philosophers or social critics.

So our only claim

to people's attention

is that we can sometimes

make them laugh.

But within that context,

we have attitudes, I suppose.

It's our revolution.

We can all do it together!

Among the cast,

alongside the Pythons,

was an unknown young Welsh

actress, Sue Jones-Davies,

who was cast in the film,

much to her surprise.

I think somebody had dropped out,

because they felt it

wasn't feminist enough,

because she takes her clothes off.

Let me explain.

Your son is a born leader.

Those people out there

are following him.

I was just a jobbing actress,

and because I had the same agent

as Cleese, I was put forward.

It was chance. Life is just chance.

If I'd been with another agent,

I wouldn't have heard about it.

But I heard about it and I was sent,

and I went on the bus.

I remember going, I can't

remember the bus number,

but I remember reading the script

and I was in fits of laughter.

The conductor said,

"What are you doing?"

And I said, "I'm on my way to

this audition and it's so funny."

And he said, "Good luck."

I got off and went for the audition

and eventually found out

I'd got the part.

More of Sue later.

1979, and as Margaret Thatcher

comes to office in the UK,

The Life Of Brian

opens first in America,

and immediately provokes

complaints and outrage

from a range of religious groups

for its supposedly

blasphemous portrayal

of the life of Jesus Christ.

Actually, the first people

to protest against the film

was the New York Association

of Rabbis.

That was a surprise

because, you know,

rabbis complaining about this film?

I wasn't aware it was going

to be quite that controversial

because you don't see

the whole picture.

You do a scene and you're not seeing

the overall finished product,

so the bits you were doing,

we just thought they were fun.

I suppose I was a bit naive to think

it wasn't going to be controversial.

The Python team were suddenly

embroiled in a controversy

that would make the film

infamous the world over.

Religious leaders across the globe

condemned the film,

urging it to be banned, and cinemas

showing the film to be picketed.

The Monty Python team have taken

horrible advantage of the Bible

in practically every way

you can think of,

culminating in the

crucifixion scene,

which they transform

into a song and dance act.

You can see why people are angry.

Always look on

the bright side of life

I think they thought,

here's a comedy film,

Monty Python and Jesus is bound

to be an incendiary combination.

It must be blasphemous.

They're mocking everything

we know about.

This was from people who hadn't

really seen the film.

I think we'd been a bit smarter

thanthey thought.

At the height of the controversy,

two of the Pythons appeared

on a late night BBC 1 chat show

to defend the film.

With us tonight, another

one third of Monty Python,

John Cleese and Michael Palin.

They provided one of the most

memorable TV debates of all time.

That was when I went on with John

and talked to Bishop Mervyn

Stockwood and Malcolm Muggeridge.

We actually explored the idea of

doing a comedy film about Jesus,

with all the jokes about someone

trying to book a table for 12

at the Last Supper.

"Saturday night,

I'll do you three fours."

"Come in tomorrow "No, it has to

be tonight." And all those jokes.

But the more that we read about

Jesus

and the background to his life,

it was quite obvious there was very

little to ridicule in Jesus's life.

And therefore,

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