Michael Palin

Michael Palin says he will never stop travelling

The former Monty Python star, 70, said globetrotting keeps him "up to the mark mentally and physically".

Our host sounds understandably delighted as she introduces a gem of a guest: Michael Palin. The great man is mildly thrown by Millican's technique of lobbing risqué one-liners at her interviewees ("Do you think travelling men make better lovers because they're good at finding stuff?") but there are treats for Monty Python fans: Palin sings the Lumberjack Song in German and brandishes a dead parrot at one point - for a moment it's as if the ark of the comedy covenant has been opened a chink. Elsewhere there are good riffs on deleting programmes from your set-top box and In The Night Garden, plus a typically cheeky query to antiques expert Tim Wonnacott: "How often do you polish your tallboy?"

How we made Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Michael Palin and Terry Jones recall the hilarity on the set of their 1983 classic - and reveal what Mr Creosote's vomit was made of.

In David Frost: Hello, Good Evening and Farewell, a tribute to the late presenter and interviewer, we learned that there was far more to the man than a memorable greeting. He was, said Michael Grade, the first real television creation. By which he meant that Frost didn't start in another medium and migrate to television. He went pretty much straight from Cambridge University to television fame. There was no gap year.

He instinctively grasped what made watchable television. He interviewed everyone in the days when everyone could be interviewed: Muhammad Ali, Enoch Powell, Idi Amin, the Beatles and, of course, Richard Nixon. It's hard to believe that anyone else could have landed the exclusive Nixon interview and also fronted Through the Keyhole. It's hard enough to believe that Frost did it. Alas, he never managed to fuse these two achievements into a Through the Keyhole on Nixon - Loyd Grossman: "There's an orful lort of yellow damarsk. A sheik, perhaps, or a master criminawl."

For a time there were rumours that Frost wasn't well liked by some of his contemporaries. Peter Cook once called him the "bubonic plagiarist" for muscling in on his satirical territory. But everyone here was emphatic that Frost was one of nature's nice blokes. Michael Palin, the nicest man in the world, even said he was very nice. And what of the tribute itself, which was presented by Jonathan Ross? In a word, nice.

Ian Hislop, Michael Palin and the 'Wipers Times'

Ahead of a TV comedy series about the satirical Wipers Times, we pay tribute to the bravery of its irreverent editors.

Michael Palin to star in new TV drama by Ian Hislop

Monty Python actor to star in BBC Two show charting how first world war soldiers published a newspaper from Ypres battlefield.

Taking a lead from 2010's Frost On Satire, Sir David takes a look at another endangered comedy format, the sketch show. Charting the last 50 years of wanton skittery, Frost speaks to masters of shows past such as Stephen Fry, Ronnie Corbett and Michael Palin, taking in the highs and lows of the format. No preview tapes were available, so whether we'll be treated to the notoriously barbed "Timmy Williams Coffee Time" sketch from Moty Python's Flying Circus, a barely disguised pop at imperial-phase Frost himself, we have yet to find out.

The best contacts book in entertainment gets dusted off once more as David Frost recruits Michael Palin, Stephen Fry, Michael Grade et al to look at the rise - and perhaps fall - of the sketch show. The question posed at the outset - has the sketch show had its day? - is a pertinent one, although not answered in the 15-minute taster we were able to see.

Still, we can promise plenty of clips, both unfamiliar (some lovely corpsing from the early days of live variety shows) and over-familiar (Andre Preview, The Frost Report's class sketch). With any luck, a very watchable primer to a comedy format that should ideally be as easy to watch as it apparently is hard to master.

Is Michael Palin best at comedy or travel presenting?

As Michael Palin prepares to receive a prestigious Bafta Fellowship tonight, Michael Hogan considers what his strongest suit is.

Michael Palin interview

The actor and presenter on winning a Bafta lifetime achievement award, life after Monty Python and why he's not finished yet.