The Complete and Utter History Of Britain was the last series any of the Pythons made before we all got together to make Monty Python’s Flying Circus in 1969. It was written by Terry Jones and myself, and we also played many of the parts. It was shot in late 1968. The premise was simple. What if television had been around for the last 2000 years. How would it have covered British history? Hence interviews with Ethelred the Unready ( still in his pyjamas ), William the Conqueror and the victorious Norman army in the showers after the battle of Hastings, and lots of very silly things.

Terry and I were fond of our history ( I have an Oxford degree in it! ) and we later persuaded the rest of the Pythons to look to the past for comedy material in Monty Python And The Holy Grail. The six episodes of Complete and Utter were made for the brand new London Weekend Television channel, and most of the material was subsequently wiped or lost. However, over the years episodes and fragments of episodes have turned up in various countries and have been lovingly re-assembled in this DVD. Terry and I think it’s still quite funny, but we would wouldn’t we.

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