Material from Michael Palin’s archives was written for Holy Grail but they had too many ideas to get in one movie

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Unseen sketches from Monty Python have been discovered in the archives of Michael Palin.



The comedy group of Palin, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle and Terry Jones produced their last film 35 years ago but boxes of material have now emerged, according to the Times.

The material, deposited at the British Library in 2017, has been revealed to contain unused script ideas including two sketches written for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

One of the sketches is about a Wild West bookshop while another features an “amorous Pink Knight”. They will go on display to the public along with more than 50 notebooks containing notes on two of the Pythons’ films, Holy Grail and Life Of Brian. Material deemed controversial at the time was reportedly discarded and would still be seen as too risque today.

Michael Palin donates 22 years' worth of notebooks to British Library Read more

Palin, 75, has given permission for the sketches to be reproduced and admitted the group often produced more material than was needed.

“Sometimes you have things like that. I can’t think why it wasn’t used. The Holy Grail took shape gradually and at the beginning it had far more ideas in it than ended up on screen because you had to have a narrative. In the end the story of the knights was strong enough.”

The archive spans the writer, actor, comedian and TV presenter’s literary and creative life for more than 20 years, from 1965 to 1987.



On Monday Cleese suggested the reason Monty Python’s Flying Circus is no longer regularly shown on TV is because it’s “too funny” compared with modern comedies.