120-568: Ripping Yarns is a British television adventure comedy anthology series. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame and transmitted on BBC 2 . Following an initial pilot episode in January 1976, it ran for two series — five episodes in September and October 1977 and three episodes in October 1979. Each episode had a different setting and characters, looking at
240-530: A cameo appearance in the episode "Golden Gordon". The series was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1978 for 'Best Film Cameraman' (Peter Hall) and won in 1980 for 'Best Light Entertainment Programme/Series'. The scripts were published in book form, with sepia-tinted stills, as Ripping Yarns (1978; ISBN 0-413-46250-1 ) and More Ripping Yarns (1980; ISBN 0-413-47530-1 ) and later collected in an omnibus volume, The Complete Ripping Yarns (1999; ISBN 0-413-77360-4 ). Across
360-471: A "Norwegian Blue", giving the sketch a surreal air which made it far more memorable. Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face , clipped middle class accent, and intimidating height allowed him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers or government officials, which he then proceeded to undermine. In
480-513: A 4-channel service received via satellite. The channels at launch were Sky Channel , Sky News , Sky Movies and Eurosport . They were initially free to receive, and Sky Movies was the first to move to a subscription early in 1990. Sky News was the UK's first dedicated news channel. The new service was the UK's first consumer satellite TV service, beating rival BSB , with which Sky would later merge to become BSkyB. Sky's satellite service grew to become
600-492: A TV special, To Norway, Home of Giants , produced by Johnny Bergh . Throughout the 1970s, Cleese also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings , and More Bloody Meetings . These were produced by his company Video Arts . Fawlty Towers Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in
720-480: A cameo appearance in the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash , in which he played "James", a computerised chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy ). The vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase, leaving the chauffeur stranded in a remote place on the moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the American sitcom Will & Grace . His character's daughter, Lorraine,
840-536: A close friendship that lasted until Cook's death in 1995. It was as a performer on The Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, upper class patrician figure in the classic "Class" sketch (screened on 7 April 1966), contrasting comically in a line-up with the shorter, middle class Ronnie Barker and the even shorter, working class Ronnie Corbett . The British Film Institute commented, "Its twinning of height and social position, combined with
960-441: A couple of exceptions these have been omitted from reruns. In 2014, the series was repeated on BBC4, commencing with Tomkinson's Schooldays on 3 April. This broadcast included a laugh track. The first episode was preceded by a documentary, Alexander Armstrong 's Real Ripping Yarns , which examined the assumptions and outlook of the original boys' magazines of which Ripping Yarns were a parody. Both Palin and Jones contributed to
1080-463: A deleted scene (without soundtrack) from Murder at Moorstones Manor . All of the episodes, except Tomkinson's Schooldays and Murder at Moorstones Manor , have optional laugh-free soundtracks. The DVD set also includes the only surviving (and rather poor quality) recording of Palin and Jones's comic BBC play Secrets from 1973, as well as a documentary by Michael Palin entitled Comic Roots in which he goes back to visit his home town. Not linked in
1200-632: A different aspect of British culture and parodying pre- World War II literature aimed at schoolboys. In the title, "ripping" is a chiefly British slang colloquialism for "exciting" or "thrilling", with "yarn" used in the sense of a story. In 1975, the BBC commissioned a pilot episode from Palin and Jones, which was envisaged to be a light entertainment comedy piece. The result was Tomkinson's Schooldays (a title loosely inspired by Tom Brown's Schooldays and suggested by BBC director Terry Hughes ). Palin and Jones both wrote and starred in multiple roles. Once
1320-527: A few months. See List of British television series . 100 Greatest British Television Programmes was a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute (BFI), chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened. Although not including any programmes made in 2000 or later, the list is useful as an indication of what were generally regarded as
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#17327940967751440-624: A greater total number of regional news programmes. Ofcom sets a quota for the BBC and ITV on the amount of regional programming required. Advertising on ITV1/STV and Channel 4 is regional. Channel 4 is split into 6 advertising regions, but has no regional programming. BBC Scotland and the Gaelic-language channel BBC Alba target Scotland, and the Welsh-language channel S4C targets Wales. In Northern Ireland, channels originating in
1560-507: A milestone for the university, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the rector was traditionally entitled to appoint an "assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body, resulting in direct access and representation for the student body. Around this time, Cleese worked with comedian Les Dawson on his sketch/stand-up show Sez Les . The differences between
1680-436: A minimal script, created a classic TV moment." The series was so popular that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show , during which time the " Four Yorkshiremen sketch " was written by all four writers/performers (the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch ). Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for
1800-438: A number of writers and performers who went on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor , and also Frank Muir , Barry Cryer , Marty Feldman , Ronnie Barker , Ronnie Corbett , and Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle , Terry Jones , and Michael Palin . While working on The Frost Report ,
1920-496: A prank, by painting footprints to suggest that the statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig had left its plinth and gone to the toilet. Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well academically, passing eight O-Levels and three A-Levels in mathematics, physics and chemistry. In his autobiography So, Anyway , he says that discovering, aged 17, he had not been made a house prefect by his housemaster affected his outlook: "It
2040-583: A production company making entertaining training films as well as The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International . Formerly a staunch supporter of the Liberal Democrats , in 1999, he turned down an offer from the party to nominate him for a life peerage . In 2023, he began presenting a talk show on GB News . Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare , Somerset , England,
2160-409: A regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to Britain and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto Cleese" (according to Jem Roberts, this may have been due to the embarrassment of his actual middle name, "Marwood"). Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report . The writing staff chosen for the programme consisted of
2280-668: A scene in Life of Brian , in which he corrects Brian's badly written Latin graffiti ). He then took up a place he had won at Downing College , Cambridge, to read law. He also joined the Cambridge Footlights . He recalled that he went to the Cambridge Guildhall , where each university society had a stall, and went up to the Footlights stall, where he was asked if he could sing or dance. He replied "no" as he
2400-584: A scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report . In the late 1960s, he cofounded Monty Python , the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus . Along with his Python costars Terry Gilliam , Eric Idle , Terry Jones , Michael Palin , and Graham Chapman , Cleese starred in Monty Python films, which include Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Life of Brian (1979), and The Meaning of Life (1983). In
2520-687: A small dramatic role as a sheriff in the American Western Silverado , which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline , with whom he starred in A Fish Called Wanda three years later. In 1986, he starred in the British comedy film Clockwise as an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting into trouble during a journey to speak at the Headmasters' Conference . Written by Michael Frayn ,
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#17327940967752640-427: A subscription platform through which Sky offer their own channels, pay-per-view services and channels from other broadcasters. Sky's digital platform launched in 1998, with the original analogue service closing in 2001. Sky was acquired by Comcast in 2018. Since 2012, Sky operate Now , an Internet TV streaming service offering subscriptions without a fixed-term contract. Sky's channel portfolio has grown greatly since
2760-417: A traditional cable TV connection. The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board publish quarterly statistics of the number of UK households per broadcast TV platform. Aggregating the statistics for Q1 2020 show that 56% subscribe to one or more broadcast TV services, vs 44% who receive free TV. The primary digital terrestrial TV service, Freeview , launched in 2002 and is free-of-charge to view. It replaced
2880-509: A year, at a cost of £2.6 billion. Since 24 October 2012, all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom have been in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP. As of 2003, 53.2% of households watch through terrestrial, 31.3% through satellite, and 15.6% through cable. The Royal Television Society (RTS)
3000-422: Is a British-based educational charity for the discussion and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. Free-to-air , free-to-view and subscription providers operate, with differences in the number of channels, capabilities such as the programme guide (EPG), video on demand (VOD), high-definition (HD), interactive television via
3120-508: Is a state-owned national broadcaster which is funded by its commercial activities (including advertising). Channel 4 has expanded greatly after gaining greater independence from the IBA , especially in the multi-channel digital world launching E4 , Film4 , More4 , 4Music , 4seven and various timeshift services . Since 2005, it has been a member of the Freeview consortium, and operates one of
3240-406: Is a subscription service operated by Sky Ltd , owned by Comcast , which launched in 1998 as SkyDigital. Compared to the previous analogue service which had launched in 1989, it provided more channels, widescreen, interactive TV and a near video-on-demand service using staggered start times for pay-per-view content. Innovations since have included high definition, 3D TV, a digital video recorder ,
3360-474: Is his favourite Python to work with)—the comic contrast between the towering Cleese's crazed aggression and the shorter Palin's shuffling inoffensiveness is a common feature in the series. Occasionally, the typical Cleese–Palin dynamic is reversed, as in " Fish Licence ", wherein Palin plays the bureaucrat with whom Cleese is trying to work. Though Flying Circus lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese
3480-429: Is predominately operated by Arqiva . The TV channels are transmitted in bundles, called multiplexes , and the available channels are dependent on how many multiplexes are transmitted in each area. The six national multiplexes are available to 90% of households from 92 transmitters; and three multiplexes are available to 9% of households from 1,067 transmitters. In Northern Ireland, a multiplex carrying channels from
3600-477: Is summed up in one balletic extension of his slender leg." Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches wherein two characters conducted highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such as in the "cheese shop", the "dead parrot" sketch and " Argument Clinic ", where Cleese plays a stone-faced bureaucrat employed to sit behind a desk and engage people in pointless, trivial bickering. All of these roles were opposite Palin (who Cleese often claims
3720-400: Is the " Dead Parrot sketch ", envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-Python special How to Irritate People ). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically
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3840-419: Is the name Ofcom uses. ITV plc or its predecessor companies created additional free or subscription channels, of which the oldest still running is ITV2 , having launched in 1998. Several older channels have since stopped broadcasting; the oldest of these is Super Channel which was launched by a consortium of ITV regional companies in 1987, was sold and eventually closed in 1998. Launched in 1982, Channel 4
3960-426: Is the world's oldest and largest broadcaster, and is the country's principal public service broadcaster of radio and television. BBC Television is funded primarily by a television licence and from sales of its programming to overseas markets. It does not carry advertising . The licence fee is levied on all households that watch or record TV as it is broadcast and the fee is determined by periodic negotiation between
4080-699: The 100 Greatest TV Characters . Cleese costarred with Kevin Kline , Jamie Lee Curtis , and Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote. For A Fish Called Wanda , he received Academy Award , BAFTA Award , and Golden Globe Award nominations. He has also starred in Time Bandits (1981), Clockwise (1986), and Rat Race (2001) and acted in Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), two James Bond films (as R and Q ), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly Headless Nick ), and
4200-650: The Democratic Republic of the Congo . TV via the Internet can be streamed or downloaded, and consist of amateur or professionally produced content. In the UK, most broadcasters provide catch-up TV services which allow viewing of TV for a window after it was broadcast. Online video can be viewed via mobile devices, computers, TVs equipped with a built in Internet connection, or TVs connected to an external set-top-box, streaming stick or games console. Most of
4320-660: The Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in 2006, and again in 2009. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of television adverts for the Norwegian electric goods shop chain Elkjøp . In March 2010 it was announced that Cleese would be playing Jasper in the video game Fable III . In 2009 and 2010, Cleese toured Scandinavia and the US with his Alimony Tour Year One and Year Two. In May 2010, it
4440-500: The Pluto TV and Paramount+ Internet streaming services. Since 2012, additional local TV channels are available via Freeview channel 7 or 8. The channels are licensed by Ofcom, with 34 local TV channels licensed as of 2 July 2020. Nineteen of the licenses are held by That's TV, and eight are held by Made Television. The remainder are held independently. Each license contains the amount of local TV programming required. As an example,
4560-614: The Republic of Ireland can reach 71% of Northern Irish households from 3 transmitters. Local TV and radio is available to 54% of households from an additional multiplex via 44 transmitters, and an extra multiplex is available to 54% of households in Greater Manchester. Multiple vendors sell hybrid set-top-boxes or smart TVs which combine terrestrial channels with streamed (Internet TV) content. Internet-based TV apps such as BBC iPlayer , ITVX and Channel 4 are available via
4680-676: The United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air , free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced
4800-505: The red button , and coverage across the UK. All providers make available the UK's five most-watched channels: BBC One , BBC Two , ITV ( ITV1 / STV ), Channel 4 and Channel 5 . Broadcast television is distributed as radio waves via terrestrial or satellite transmissions, or as electrical or light signals through ground-based cables. In the UK, these use the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. Most TVs sold in
4920-603: The " Ministry of Silly Walks " sketch (written by Palin and Jones), for example, Cleese exploits his stature as the crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office. On the Silly Walks sketch, Ben Beaumont-Thomas in The Guardian writes, "Cleese is utterly deadpan as he takes the stereotypical bowler-hatted political drone and ruthlessly skewers him. All the self-importance, bureaucratic inefficiency and laughable circuitousness of Whitehall
Ripping Yarns - Misplaced Pages Continue
5040-489: The 1961 Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move , and was registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962. He was also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights Revue Double Take! Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with an upper second . Despite his successes on The Frost Report , his father sent him cuttings from The Daily Telegraph offering management jobs in places such as Marks & Spencer . Cleese
5160-644: The Andes by Frog originally appeared in Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls , co-authored by Palin and Jones. The series was released on three VHS tapes in the UK in the 1990s. Two of these compilations were reissued by Revelation Films on Region 0 (worldwide) DVD in 2000, though the six episodes included were not remastered . The fully restored series was released in October 2004 as The Complete Ripping Yarns . This two-disc Region 2 DVD set included commentaries on all nine episodes by Palin and Jones and
5280-513: The BBC's commercial units. Originating in 1992 with UK Gold , UKTV expanded its channels from 1997 onwards, with the BBC taking full ownership in June 2019. Unlike the BBC's public service channels, the UKTV channels contain advertising. ITV, branded as ITV1 or STV, is the network of fourteen regional and one national commercial television franchise, founded in 1955 to provide competition to the BBC. ITV
5400-761: The Canadian insurance company Pacific Blue Cross . In 2012, Cleese was cast in Hunting Elephants , a heist film comedy by Israeli filmmaker Reshef Levi. Cleese had to quit just prior to filming due to heart trouble and was replaced by Patrick Stewart . Between September and October 2013, Cleese embarked on his first-ever cross-Canada comedy tour. Entitled "John Cleese: Last Time to See Me Before I Die tour", he visited Halifax, Ottawa , Toronto, Edmonton , Calgary, Victoria and finished in Vancouver , performing to mostly sold-out venues. Cleese returned to
5520-731: The Cornell campus. In 2001, Cleese was cast in the comedy Rat Race as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the name of the Torquay hotel owner on whom he had based the character of Basil Fawlty. That year he appeared as Nearly Headless Nick in the first Harry Potter film : Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), a role he would reprise in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). In 2002, Cleese made
5640-536: The English psychiatrist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It . The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese. The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda , Fierce Creatures —which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin—was released in 1997, but was greeted with mixed reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making
5760-486: The Internet. In the article, Ofcom responded that the licensing scheme was inherited from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport . In April 2018, BBC News reported that "many of the stations have been ridiculed for the poor quality of their output or have been reported to Ofcom for breaching broadcasting rules". The local TV companies receive a subsidy from the BBC of £147.50 per local news story, funded by
5880-478: The Monty Python sketch "Philosophy Football"), featuring interviews with pop culture icons Dave Stewart , Dennis Hopper , and Henry Kissinger , as well as eminent footballers, including Pelé , Mia Hamm , and Thierry Henry . The Art of Soccer with John Cleese was released in North America on DVD in January 2009 by BFS Entertainment & Multimedia. Also in 2006, Cleese released the song " Don't Mention
6000-589: The Republic of Ireland are available, including RTÉ One , RTÉ2 and the Irish-language TG4 . British television differs from other countries, such as the United States , in as much that programmes produced in the United Kingdom do not generally have a long season run of around 20 weeks. Instead, they are produced in a series, a set of episodes varying in length, usually aired over a period of
6120-533: The Romans ever done for us?", before being met with a string of benefits including sanitation, roads and public order–was ranked the seventh funniest line in film in a 2002 poll. Since the last Python film ( Meaning of Life in 1983) Cleese has participated in various live performances with the group over the years. From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews . His election proved
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#17327940967756240-504: The UK (as well as much of the rest of Europe) come with a DVB-T (terrestrial) tuner. Set-top boxes are generally used to receive channels from other providers. All of the traditional services have integrated their broadcast TV with streamed channels or on-demand programmes when connected to the Internet . Since 2022, broadcast-like TV services can be wholly-received via Internet-connected devices, which don't require an aerial, satellite or
6360-775: The UK, offering a combination of subscription, rental and purchase options for viewing online TV. Most are available via any Internet connection, however some require a specific broadband connection. Some services sell 3rd party services, such as Amazon's Prime Video. BARB tracks the number of households subscribing to Netflix, Prime Video and Now, referred to as SVOD households. Their statistics for Q1 2020 show that 53% of households subscribe to at least one of these, and 24% to at least two. Netflix has 13.01 million subscribers, Prime Video (Amazon) has 7.86 million, and Now has 1.62 million, according to BARB's figures for Q1 2020. BARB's equivalent figures for broadcast TV show that 56% of households subscribe. The table following summarises some of
6480-472: The UK. As of 2 January 2022, the average daily viewing time per home was 3 hours 8 minutes (of BARB-reported channels, includes broadcast and Internet viewings). 15 channels have a 4-week share of ≥ 1.0%. As of 2 January 2022 , there are 10 broadcaster groups with a four week share of ≥ 1.0% (although BARB reports sub-groups of BBC and Paramount individually, and it's unclear what the 'ITV' group refers to). The British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC )
6600-707: The World Cup ". Cleese lent his voice to the BioWare video game Jade Empire . His role was that of an "outlander" named Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a British colonialist stereotype who refers to the people of the Jade Empire as "savages in need of enlightenment". His armour has
6720-534: The ability to view recordings on other devices, remote operation via the Internet to add recordings, and on-demand content via the satellite-receiver's broadband connection of both Sky and third-party TV. The Sky subscription also includes access to Sky Go , which allows mobile devices and computers to access subscription content via the Internet. Freesat is a free satellite service operated by Everyone TV, who also operate Freeview. Like Sky, it provides high-definition content, digital recording and video-on-demand via
6840-575: The above included, apart from Secrets . A further box set, fully remastered, including the directors commentary, was released in 2004. The DVD was re-released in March 2012. To publicise the event, Network hosted a "Hopathon" to recreate the "Tomkinson's School Days" episode. The intention was to break a Guinness World Record , but not enough people took part. Television in the United Kingdom Television broadcasts in
6960-824: The available Internet TV services in the UK. For brevity, it does not include catch-up-only or amateur-only services, individual channels, distributors of illegal or adult content, services which solely redistribute free broadcast channels, portals, or services which don't target the UK. 'Free' refers to free at the point of consumption, not including fees for Internet connectivity or a TV licence. Other international streaming services with pricing in GBP include: Acorn TV, Arrow, BKTV, Crunchyroll, Dekkoo, Demand Africa, Docsville, Funimation Now, GuideDoc, Hayu, Hoichoi, Hotstar, iQiyi, iWantTFC, Mubi, NewsPlayer+, Revry, Shudder, Starz, True Story, WOW Presents Plus and ZEE5. The Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB) measures television ratings in
7080-496: The average viewership achieved by each broadcast during its run-time and do not include peak viewership. Notes : John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( / ˈ k l iː z / KLEEZ ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and presenter . Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as
7200-513: The broadband connection of Freeview Play and Netgem devices. These also support optional subscription services such as Netflix and Prime Video. EE TV and TalkTalk TV offer additional subscription services for their respective broadband customers using Netgem or YouView devices. Saorview , the terrestrial TV service in the Republic of Ireland which launched in 2011, can be received in parts of Northern Ireland via overspill transmissions. Many regional companies developed cable-television services in
7320-460: The broadband connection. Freesat and Sky TV transmit from SES Astra satellites at 28.2° east ( Astra 2E / 2F / 2G ). As the satellites are in geostationary orbit , they are positioned above the earth 's equator ( 0°00′N 28°12′E / 0°N 28.2°E / 0; 28.2 ( Satellites transmitting Sky TV and Freesat to the UK and Ireland ) ) approximately 35,786 km above sea level ; this places them above
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#17327940967757440-425: The broadcast TV providers have integrated their set-top-boxes with Internet video to provide a hybrid broadcast and online service. Since 2006, UK channel owners and content producers have been creating Internet services to access their programmes. Often, these are available for a window after the broadcast schedule. These services generally block users outside of the UK. There are numerous online services targeting
7560-475: The channel name of STV for its two franchises in Scotland. ITV plc names the channel UTV in Northern Ireland, and ITV1 for the remaining regions, although UTV has used ITV or ITV1 branding since April 2020. The national breakfast-time franchise is held by ITV plc, which appears as an indistinguishable programming block across the network. Legally, the network has been known as Channel 3 since 1990, which
7680-568: The character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6 . In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing , featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films, Casino Royale , Quantum of Solace and Skyfall ; in the latter film, Ben Whishaw was cast in the role of Q. Cleese is Provost's visiting professor at Cornell University , after having been Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large from 1999 to 2006. He makes occasional well-received appearances on
7800-444: The design of a fork stuck in a piece of cheese. In 2007, Cleese appeared in ads for Titleist as a golf course designer named "Ian MacCallister", who represents "Golf Designers Against Distance". Also in 2007, he was involved in filming of the sequel to The Pink Panther , titled The Pink Panther 2 , with Steve Martin and Aishwarya Rai . Cleese collaborated with Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser in 2008 on
7920-566: The envelope of acceptable behaviour in new and disgusting ways". The show was developed in New York City with William Goldman and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a writer and actor (the shows were directed by Australian Bille Brown ). His assistant of many years, Garry Scott-Irvine, also appeared and was listed as a co-producer. The show then played in universities in California and Arizona from 10 January to 25 March 2006 under
8040-560: The film was successful in the UK but not in the United States. It earned Cleese the 1987 Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards . In 1988, Cleese wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda as the lead, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis , Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, becoming one of the top ten films of
8160-664: The final Bath date). Later in 2011 John took his Alimony Tour to South Africa. He played Cape Town on the 21 & 22 October before moving over to Johannesburg , where he played from 25 to 30 October. In January 2012 he took his one-man show to Australia, starting in Perth on 22 January and throughout the next four months visited Adelaide , Brisbane , Gold Coast , Newcastle, New South Wales , Melbourne , Sydney, and finished up during April in Canberra . In 2010, Cleese appeared in advertisements for The Automobile Association and for
8280-555: The first Monty Python film . Partnership with Graham Chapman He was the greatest sounding board I've ever had. If Graham thought something was funny, then it almost certainly was funny. You cannot believe how invaluable that is. — Cleese on Chapman in The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003). Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Graham Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display
8400-569: The first series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large on his own in 1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, owing to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was, therefore, unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on The Frost Report an enjoyable experience and invited him to join
8520-555: The fourth series. He remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail . Much of his work on Holy Grail remains widely quoted, including the Black Knight scene. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in two further Monty Python films, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life . His attack on Roman rule in Life of Brian –when he asks "What have
8640-451: The frequency used by Channel 5's new broadcasts. Channel 5 was the first terrestrial channel to also broadcast via satellite. From 2006 onwards, Channel 5 launched new digital channels and an Internet on-demand service. After changing ownership several times, in May 2014 Channel 5 and its sister channels were acquired by Viacom, an American media conglomerate , known as Paramount since 2022. By
8760-536: The future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration significant. Cleese's and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures, some of whom were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that opened with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost 's monologue. During this period Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook , eventually collaborating with Cook on several projects and forming
8880-514: The government and the BBC. Its first analogue terrestrial channel was launched by the BBC Television Service in 1936. It rebranded to BBC1 in 1964 following the launch of BBC2 , the UK's third analogue terrestrial channel after ITV. BBC News 24 launched as an analogue cable channel in 1997, later rebranding to BBC News in 2008. BBC Parliament , which was originally an analogue cable channel known as The Parliamentary Channel,
9000-470: The guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after he dared to ask
9120-511: The last three Shrek films. He received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for Cheers (1987) and was nominated for 3rd Rock from the Sun (1998) and Will & Grace (2004). Cleese has specialised in political and religious satire , black comedy , sketch comedy , and surreal humour . He was ranked the second best comedian ever in a 2005 Channel 4 poll of fellow comedians. He cofounded Video Arts ,
9240-672: The late 1980s and 1990s as licences for cable television were awarded on a city-by-city basis. The mid-1990s saw the companies start to merge and the turn of the century only three big companies remained. In 2007 Telewest and NTL merged, resulting in the formation of Virgin Media , which is available to 55% of households. Cable TV is a subscription service normally bundled with a phone line and broadband. There are two distinctly-marketed direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) services (also known as direct-to-home (DTH), to be distinguished from satellite signals intended for non-consumer reception). Sky TV
9360-573: The latter's attendance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Cleese starred in the low-budget spoof of the Sherlock Holmes detective series The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) as the grandson of the world's greatest consulting detective. In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show . Ranked one of the best guest stars to appear on
9480-400: The launch of digital TV. Sky make their channels available via rival cable and Internet services as well as their own satellite service and Now. Channel 5 was the fifth analogue terrestrial channel to launch, in March 1997. Due to constraints with the available UHF frequencies at the time, many households had to retune their video recorders , which shared the frequency on their RF output with
9600-549: The license fee, paid whether the BBC uses the content or not. A June 2018 article on BuzzFeed claimed that That's TV was created "primarily to extract money from the BBC whilst delivering little content of useful value". BBC One, BBC Two and the ITV network (comprising ITV1 and STV) are split into regions in which regional news and other programming is broadcast. ITV1/STV is split into fourteen geographic licencees , with several of these split into two or three sub-regions, resulting in
9720-460: The license for Scarborough, which is held by That's TV, requires seven hours of local programming per week (one hour per day on average). Thirteen additional licenses were originally intended, but Ofcom decided not to advertise these in June 2018. The way Ofcom structured local television – being dependent on terrestrial transmission – was criticised in a Guardian article in 2015 for being "years behind in its thinking", as it does not account for
9840-512: The menu are scans of the first drafts of the scripts for six episodes ( Tomkinson's Schooldays , The Testing of Eric Olthwaite , Murder at Moorstone Manor , Across the Andes by Frog , The Curse of the Claw and Whinfrey's Last Case ), type-written with Palin's handwritten comments and changes in the margin. There is an informative booklet enclosed. This set was also released in Region 1 with all of
9960-422: The mid-1970s, Cleese and first wife Connie Booth cowrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers , in which he starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty , for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance . In 2000, the show topped the British Film Institute 's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes , and in a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on its list of
10080-458: The most successful British programmes of the 20th century. The top 10 programmes are: 100 Greatest TV Moments was a list compiled by Channel 4 in 1999. The top 10 entries are: The majority of special events attracting large audiences are often carried on more than one channel. The most-watched programme of all time on a single channel is the 1973 wedding ceremony of The Princess Anne , shown only on BBC1. The figures in these tables represent
10200-498: The much abused Spanish waiter Manuel , and Booth as waitress Polly , the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair , whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine if it weren't for
10320-493: The musical Half a Sixpence , Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968. At their wedding at a Unitarian church in Manhattan, the couple attempted to ensure an absence of any theistic language. "The only moment of disappointment", Cleese recalled, "came at the very end of the service when I discovered that I'd failed to excise one particular mention of
10440-593: The only child of Reginald Francis Cleese (1893–1972), an insurance salesman, and his wife Muriel Evelyn ( née Cross, 1899–2000), the daughter of an auctioneer. His family's surname was originally Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing and used the name Cleese when he enlisted in the Army during the First World War ; he changed it officially by deed poll in 1923. As a child, Cleese supported Bristol City and Somerset County Cricket Club . Cleese
10560-502: The programme. The theme tune for the series was Fanfare from the ‘Facade Suite No. 2', by Sir William Walton , played by the City of Birmingham Orchestra, conducted by Louis Frémaux . Terry Hughes , who had directed The Two Ronnies and would later direct The Golden Girls and 3rd Rock from the Sun , directed early episodes of Ripping Yarns . Jim Franklin , known for The Goodies , directed other episodes and two episodes in
10680-914: The same year, Cleese played Petruchio , in Shakespeare 's The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he appeared in the Terry Gilliam -directed Time Bandits as Robin Hood . He also participated in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (filmed 1980, released 1982) and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International . In 1985, Cleese had
10800-600: The second film had been a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner , what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn't have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I wouldn't have made Fierce Creatures ." In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as "R". In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day ,
10920-882: The second series were directed by Alan J. W. Bell , known for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Last of the Summer Wine . Bell used Michael Radford , who later became noted for the films Nineteen Eighty-Four , White Mischief and Il Postino , as cinematographer. Each episode featured several guest character actors including Ian Ogilvy , Kenneth Colley , Isabel Dean , Liz Smith , Roy Kinnear , Frank Middlemass , Iain Cuthbertson , John Le Mesurier , Jan Francis , Denholm Elliott , Gwen Taylor , Harold Innocent , Richard Vernon , Gwen Watford , Barbara New , Gerald Sim , Gilly Flower , Joan Sanderson , Roger Sloman and David Griffin . John Cleese makes
11040-413: The seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty . Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman wrote together in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved him doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods before suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a new level. A classic example of this
11160-478: The series was picked up, Jones did not appear in any further episodes, following a decision by Jimmy Gilbert that it should be a “Michael Palin series”. The nine episodes and their original airdates are: Tomkinson's Schooldays was shot on videotape in front of a studio audience, with filmed exterior scenes. The remaining episodes were all shot on film , and were originally shown with laugh tracks (recorded by showing each completed film to an audience), but with
11280-564: The series. Palin had previously been working on Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and Jones, with Terry Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set , been offered a series for Thames Television , which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones, and Idle. Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four series from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC Television , though Cleese quit
11400-439: The show after the third. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a sophisticate and a loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts, and government officials (for example, " The Ministry of Silly Walks "). The latter is perhaps best represented in the " Cheese Shop " and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He
11520-559: The show, Cleese was a fan of The Muppet Show and co-wrote much of the episode. In it he is "kidnapped" before the show begins, complains about the number of pigs, and gets roped into doing a closing number with Kermit the Frog , Sweetums , pigs, chickens and monsters. Cleese also made a cameo appearance in their 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper and won the TV Times award for Funniest Man on TV – 1978–79. In 1979, he starred in
11640-504: The six digital terrestrial multiplexes with ITV as Digital 3&4 . Since the advent of digital television, Channel 4 is now also broadcast in Wales across all digital platforms. Channel 4 was the first British channel not to carry regional variations for programming, however it does have six set advertising regions. Sky is a European broadcaster owned by global American media conglomerate Comcast . Sky Television launched in 1989, with
11760-574: The stage in Dubai in November 2013, where he performed to a sold-out theatre. Cleese was interviewed and appears as himself in filmmaker Gracie Otto 's 2013 documentary film The Last Impresario , about Cleese's longtime friend and colleague Michael White . White produced Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Cleese's pre-Python comedy production Cambridge Circus . At a comic press conference in November 2013, Cleese and other surviving members of
11880-459: The subscription service named ONdigital or ITV Digital, which ran from 1998 to 2002. Digital terrestrial television was itself the replacement for analogue terrestrial TV , which ran from 1936 to 2012. As of March 2021 , Freeview provides over seventy TV and radio channels, which are received via an aerial. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd., joint ventures between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. The transmitter network
12000-642: The text to the performance piece "The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha". Cleese, as narrator, and the LAGQ premiered the work in Santa Barbara . The year 2008 also saw reports of Cleese working on a musical version of A Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla. At the end of March 2009, Cleese published his first article as "Contributing Editor" to The Spectator : "The real reason I had to join The Spectator ". Cleese has also hosted comedy galas at
12120-488: The time it acquired Channel 5, Paramount already operated a large number of subscription channels in the UK, including the MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central channels, which are available via Sky TV, Virgin Media and Now. In terms of viewing share, the combined viewing across Paramount's channels make the group the UK's fifth largest broadcaster, according to BARB's viewing figures for 1 March 2020. Paramount additionally operates
12240-471: The time of the next bus to town. The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2 , initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of two seasons, each of only six episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this
12360-493: The title Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot . His voice can be downloaded for directional guidance purposes as a downloadable option on some personal GPS -navigation device models by company TomTom . In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders, The Comedians' Comedian , Cleese was voted second to Peter Cook . In 2006, Cleese hosted a television special of football's greatest kicks, goals, saves, bloopers, plays, and penalties, as well as football's influence on culture (including
12480-501: The two physically (the tall, lean Cleese and the short, stout Dawson) and socially (the public school and the Cambridge-educated Cleese vs. the working class, self-educated Mancunian Dawson) were marked, but both worked well together from series 8 onwards until the series ended in 1976. Cleese appeared on a single, "Superspike", with Bill Oddie and a group of UK athletes, billed the "Superspike Squad", to fund
12600-518: The two series of Fawlty Towers , first broadcast 1975 and 1979, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth . The series won three BAFTA awards when produced, and in 2000 it topped the British Film Institute 's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes . In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4 Basil Fawlty was ranked second (behind Homer Simpson ) on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters . The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil , Andrew Sachs as
12720-480: The word 'God'." Later, Booth became a writing partner. Cleese was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio , where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketch writer for The Dick Emery Show . The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again , which were so popular that the BBC commissioned
12840-466: The year at the US box office, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Kline won the Oscar for his portrayal of bumbling, violent, narcissistic ex-CIA agent Otto West in the film. From 1988 to 1992, Cleese appeared in numerous television commercials for Schweppes Ginger Ale. Between 1992 and 1994, he also appeared in some television commercials for Magnavox. In 1989, Graham Chapman
12960-679: Was a scriptwriter, as well as a cast member, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths . The revue was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on The Ed Sullivan Show in October 1964. After Cambridge Circus , Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and off-Broadway . While performing in
13080-447: Was acquired by the BBC in 1998. From 1998 onwards the BBC started digital TV transmissions, launching new channels and broadcasting via satellite in addition to terrestrial and cable. The BBC's Internet-based service iPlayer contains content from the BBC's TV channels, the Welsh-language public-service broadcaster S4C, as well as videos created from BBC radio programmes. UKTV is a commercial broadcaster owned by BBC Studios , one of
13200-399: Was also known for his working class "Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. Cleese also appeared during some abrupt scene changes as a radio commentator (usually outfitted in a dinner suit) where, in a rather pompous manner, he would make the formal and determined announcement "And now for something completely different", which later became the title of
13320-537: Was announced that this tour, set for May 2011, would extend to the UK (his first tour there). The show is dubbed the "Alimony Tour" in reference to the financial implications of Cleese's divorce. The UK tour started in Cambridge on 3 May, visiting Birmingham , Nottingham , Salford , York , Liverpool, Leeds , Glasgow, Edinburgh , Oxford , Bristol and Bath (the Alimony Tour DVD was recorded on 2 July,
13440-680: Was diagnosed with throat cancer ; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook, and Chapman's partner David Sherlock witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus , with Jones commenting that it was "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese gave a eulogy at Chapman's memorial service. Cleese later played a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh 's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro . With Robin Skynner ,
13560-463: Was educated at St Peter's Preparatory School, paid for by money his mother had inherited, where he received a prize for English and did well at cricket and boxing . When he was 13, he was awarded an exhibition at Clifton College , an English public school in Bristol. By that age, he was more than 6 feet (1.83 m) tall. The biggest influence was The Goon Show . Kids were devoted to it. It
13680-422: Was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Cleese received a credit on three episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, though he was officially unconnected with
13800-409: Was not allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad, and if there was anything worse than his singing, it was his dancing. He was then asked "Well, what do you do?" to which he replied, "I make people laugh." At the Footlights theatrical club, Cleese spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie and met his future writing partner Graham Chapman . Cleese wrote extra material for
13920-509: Was not fair and therefore it was unworthy of my respect... I believe that this moment changed my perspective on the world." Cleese could not go straight to the University of Cambridge , as the ending of National Service meant there were twice the usual number of applicants for places, so he returned to his prep school for two years to teach science, English, geography, history, and Latin (he drew on his Latin teaching experience later for
14040-712: Was played by Minnie Driver . In the series, Lyle Finster briefly marries Karen Walker ( Megan Mullally ). In 2004, Cleese was credited as co-writer of a DC Comics graphic novel titled Superman: True Brit . Part of DC's " Elseworlds " line of imaginary stories, True Brit , mostly written by Kim Howard Johnson , suggests what might have happened had Superman 's rocket ship landed on a farm in Britain, not America. From 10 November to 9 December 2005, Cleese toured New Zealand with his stage show John Cleese—His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems . Cleese described it as "a one-man show with several people in it, which pushes
14160-437: Was the country's first commercial television provider funded by advertisements . Each region was originally independent and used its own on-air identity . Through a series of mergers following relaxation of regulation in 1990, thirteen of the franchises are now held by ITV plc , and the remaining two by STV Group . Since 2012, ITV plc produces the network nationally, with STV Group acting as an affiliate . STV Group uses
14280-564: Was to avoid compromising the quality of the series. The popularity of Fawlty Towers has endured, and in addition to featuring high in greatest-ever television show polls it is often rebroadcast. In a 2002 poll, Basil's " don't mention the war " comment (said to the waitress Polly about the German guests) was ranked the second funniest line in television. During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. In
14400-404: Was written by Spike Milligan . It also had Peter Sellers in it, who of course is the greatest voice man of all time. In the morning, we'd be at school and we'd discuss the whole thing and rehash the jokes and talk about it. We were obsessed with it. —Cleese on his greatest comedic influence growing up, 1950s BBC Radio comedy The Goon Show . Cleese allegedly defaced the school grounds, as
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