Terry 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.

Terry Jones: Python wouldn't do a film about Muslims

The resurgence of religion could prevent a modern-day Life of Brian.

Monty Python's Terry Jones on being a dad at 69

Father of a two-year-old, medieval historian, and now champion of church conservation - Terry Jones talks about the unlikely turns his life has taken since the Monty Python years.

Terry Jones first Unbound author

Former Monty Python star Terry Jones will become the first author to have his project published by the Unbound crowdfunded publishing project.

All-time best Python sketches. Vote early and often.

You may have heard, recently, that the Pythons will lend their voices to the upcoming film, A Liar's Autobiography, an animated 3D movie based on the memoir of the late Python member, Graham Chapman, who died in 1989. Chapman's own voice will be pulled from his original reading of his autobiography of the same name. Interestingly, the movie, set for a 2012 premiere, will be directed by Bill Jones, son of former Python member, Terry Jones.

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus! (Radio 4, 10.30am) is a tale of fan power. Forty years ago Alfred Biolek persuaded the Monty Python team to make two 45-minute specials for German TV. Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Biolek himself tell Henning Wehn (the German comedian who's always on Radio 4 shows) how it happened. From independents All Out.

Terry Jones: Monty Python was 'only occasionally' funny

Terry Jones, one of the key members of Monty Python's Flying Circus, has admitted that he "only occasionally" found the comedy sketches funny.

Audio: Terry Jones reads from his children's book

Monty Python's Terry Jones has written a new volume of his children's stories Animal Tales.

The book includes tales about a dog who can't understand why he is not allowed to be a doctor, a fox who runs a circus of trained chickens and a skunk who falls madly in love with a bear.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live's Phil Williams, he reads out a passage from his book.

Terry Jones: It's... Monty Python's flying opera house

Writing a libretto for a telephone, a remote control and two parking meters was a hoot - until I realised that I actually had to direct the opera, writes ex-Python Terry Jones.

ITV1's Unforgettable strand, in which friends, family and peers pay tribute to great entertainers, celebrates the life of Spike Milligan, the writer, musician, poet, artist and Goon who died in 2002. Milligan, considered a genius and madman in equal measure, had an absurd and subversive humour that fuelled The Goons, the Fifties comedy troupe which made his name and was so influential it's led to him being called the godfather of alternative comedy. In a sense, the show owes a debt to the War: Milligan met fellow Goon Harry Secombe when both were serving with the Royal Artillery in Tunisia. Post-war, they teamed up with Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine to launch the most popular comedy show of the Fifties, remembered fondly for its surreal humour and ludicrous plots.

Away from performing, Milligan was a successful author, too, producing dozens of books for children and adults, most memorably his hilarious series of war memoirs, beginning with Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. His success was tempered by depression and melancholy, however, making Milligan the archetypal sad clown. This intimate tribute features photos from Milligan's personal collection as well as previously unseen home movies, and contributions come from Milligan's children, including the first interview with his daughter Romany, one of two of his children born out of wedlock. Eric Sykes, Paul Merton and Terry Jones also pay tribute.