Rufus Jones

These days it would be blasphemy to suggest that Monty Python's Life of Brian isn't one of the funniest films ever made. But it was a very different story back in 1979 when the Pythons found themselves practically crucified and accused of making fun of Jesus Christ.

Here, Tony Roche's ridiculously funny film pulls off an ingenious balancing trick with its accurate and affectionate pastiche of Pythonesque humour, while looking back at the furore Life of Brian created.

But as well as getting in lots of jokes at the expense of the BBC (the scene starring Alex MacQueen as the BBC's Head Of Rude Words is priceless), it also sends up the comedians themselves.

For instance, Michael Palin (played by Charles Edwards) is described as the nicest man in the world, but what's even more pleasing for Python fans is that his wife really is just Terry Jones in a dress.

Rufus Jones who plays Terry is brilliant, but all the casting is a delight. Steve Punt finally gets to capitalise on his resemblance to Eric Idle, while Darren Boyd, despite cheap-looking hair, is absolutely bang on as John Cleese. Or is it Basil Fawlty?

It all leads up to the now infamous live TV debate on the BBC talk show Friday Night, Saturday Morning, on which Cleese and Palin defended Life of Brian against the Bishop of Southwark and satirist Malcolm Muggeridge. This part of the film needed no script - it's an edited version of the actual debate, which has been partially seen before in other documentaries.

It's being shown again in full for the first time in more than 30 years straight after this at 10.30pm.

Rufus Jones: Making a drama of Monty Python

Hello. My name's Rufus Jones. I play Terry Jones in BBC Four's Holy Flying Circus. I also play Terry Jones playing Michael Palin's wife, because it's that kind of show, and I'm that kind of guy.

Interview: Rufus Jones

Emma McAlpine chats to Rufus Jones, one half of the two-man character act No Son of Mine.

Puppets, it would seem, can get away with pretty much anything. Under normal circumstances all comic references to Anne Frank are subject to a blanket prohibition, but Mongrels extracted guilty laughs by suggesting that it was an overzealous game of Yahtzee, not Dutch collaborators, that gave away her whereabouts to the Nazis.

Mongrels features a menagerie of endearing fluffy animals, with occasional support from a passing live actor, the star of which is a sensitive, confrontation-phobic, urbane urban fox called Nelson. Other characters include a snooty Afghan Hound bitch, a kleptomaniac pigeon, a latino cat and several rats. Episode one opened with a houseful of cats dining on the rotting corpse of their elderly owner, moved swiftly on to embrace the twin themes of defecation and castration, paused briefly for a musical number extolling the virtues of prejudice, before climaxing in a Saw style torture scene involving the use of microwave ovens.

Somewhere in the frantic mix sweet natured Nelson found time to embark upon a doomed romance with a chicken, prompting several oddly touching moments, before the show, and the fox, reverted to their true 'red in tooth and claw' natures.

Mongrels sets out to be offensive, but does so with an irresistible combination of wit, imagination and gleeful enthusiasm. I laughed out loud several times, I sniggered childishly throughout and on at least one occasion I felt sick, which counts as a ringing endorsement.

To borrow a gruesome Americanism, the show features the "vocal talents" of Lucy Montgomery, Dan Tetsell, Rufus Jones and Katy Brand, all of whom sounded as though they were having more fun than is decent.

New comedy about a group of urban animal puppets voiced by Katy Brand, Lucy Montgomery, Dan Tetsell and Rufus Jones. It calls to mind Top Cat and Basil Brush but with added adult content. Tonight, a fox goes on an internet date with a chicken and they encounter a familiar problem on a boating lake. Meanwhile, our feline hero goes in search of a new owner when his elderly one drops dead and gets partially eaten by her other cats. The bad taste stuff is nicely judged and the jokes are good - it might just have furry little legs.

MovieMash is a nifty spoof movie review show using cut-ups of interviews with Hollywood stars. It's written by Dan Renton Skinner and Rufus Jones. You may also know Skinner as Shooting Stars' Angelos Epithemiou. Although some of the cut-ups fall a bit flat, the sketches are properly funny.