Monty Python

[Brian D not logged in]

I think this may have been covered before, but why did all the Monty Python episodes survive?

[KevMulrennan]

As far as I can remember there was a copyright dispute between the Pythons and the BBC. The pythons has copies of their shows and hence they survived.

The only bit that was lost was the infamous funeral sketch, but this was recovered, in a slightly fuzzy form, from a foreign tape.

[dubs]

As I understood it Python (Monty) Pictures took control of the episodes after 1976 when the ABC (US) hacked about repeats of MPFC were shown to ensure the eps were shown as originally intended.

I don't think the Pythons had any control over the BBC tapes or their integrity till after this.

[Peter B]

I heard that the delay in the VHS release of the Series 1 MPFCs was due to the fact that only B&W masters of some of the episodes were thought to exist. I could never understand this, as presumably the Pythons would have received their copies shortly after the ABC court case took place in 1980, and yet the reviled 7 Network in Australia had screened all the episodes in colour (and, owing to huge public outcry and nothing to do with the court case which hadn't happened at that stage) COMPLETE, albeit with ad breaks, in late 1979. I thought it unlikely that BBC Enterprises would junk their syndication copies during that period.

Pete

[Andy Henderson]

all rather faded memories, but I remember reading (don't know where! - possibly newspaper) that the first series was thought to exist only partially in b/w (in the late 70s). This sounds rather silly as duplicate copies existed of some of these!!! The Python ownership sounds a bit of a shaggy dog story, even one of those tail with legs jobs. I can't see what the pythons would do with a 2" tape, let alone exploit it. Perhaps they had the b/w tape dupes and told some nosey journalist that they had the only copies....how rumours start! Anyhow.....look at Dad's Army. In 1982, the BBC were struggling to repeat some of these which HAD been junked or were only on 16mm b/w. Thankfully, things are better now!!!

[David Savage]

"all rather faded memories, but I remember reading (don't know where! - possibly newspaper) that the first series was thought to exist only partially in b/w (in the late 70s)."

This was never so - BBC2 showed 7 episodes from it between 77 and 79, and they were being regularly broadcast in America on the PBS stations from the mid-70s.


The Python ownership sounds a bit of a shaggy dog story, even one of those tail with legs jobs. >>

No, it's true. They took ABC who'd broadcast a heavily censored compilation of their fourth series shows to court in the US to try to stop them broadcasting a second compilation. They ended up with full rights to all 45 episodes.

[Laurence Piper]

Yes, it's all in the book "Monty Python: The Case Against". There was a ruling that The Pythons would be given copies of the master tapes of all 45 episodes. I believe they have the rights to exploit outside of the UK. Someone will be able to fill in the details or correct me here.

[David Savage]

"Yes, it's all in the book "Monty Python: The Case Against".


A wonderful book, long out of print - the only such info ever available on the Pythons back then. I bought this as a kid and lapped it up.

The mid-90s Paramount video releases are also copyright Python so I'm not sure if it's *just* outside the UK that they own the rights to the shows as originally broadcast.

[Laurence Piper]

The book is also fascinating in that it illustrates how how the balance of power in the BBC shifted in the '70s and programming became steadily less radical and creator-driven. How this process actually began is something that is not often talked about although it had a direct effect on the quality and content of all programmes that were seen from then on right up to this day.

[Steve Burstein]

In "Monty Python Speaks" it says that the BBC were just about to wipe series 1 when It got sold in the US. So the US sale is probably the main reason none of the shows got wiped.

[Brian fretwell]

I think the rumour that series one was part B&W started when the film "And Now for Something Completely Different" was made in colour. Poeple thought it was so the sketches could be seen that way. Of course when series one was transmitted lots of people only had B&W TV sets.

[Laurence Piper]

Also, series 1 began in October '69. About six weeks before the start of colour on BBC-1 (although some shows were transmitted unofficially prior to that date on the 625 line version of the channel for a couple of months - no idea if this included Python though).