bigshot
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2008
- Messages
- 2,933
- Real Name
- Stephen
I've been watching the new DVD set of Spike Milligan's Q... https://www.amazon.co.uk/1-3-Q5-Q6-Q7-DVD/dp/B01LYSRT1V/
I've heard this series mentioned before, but I had no idea how important it was. It's basically Monty Python's Flying Circus six months before Monty Python even started. I can't believe how many Monty Python mainstays were actually created in the first few episodes of this series. The writing isn't as focused- it's more anything for a laugh, but the basic ideas and structures underlying the show are instantly recognizable.
I googled to find out what the relationship was between the two shows, but all I could find was a wikipedia mention that Terry Jones loved Q and that it inspired them to do sketches without punch lines. But I suspect it goes deeper than that. I have a theory- and I may be wrong- but the way it looks to me is that the BBC loved the show, but they didn't love Spike Milligan. So they hired a bunch of staff writers for other BBC comedies, they gave them the exact same director and crew that Milligan had used, and told them to basically make the same show so they could cancel Milligan's Q and replace it with the lookalike. When Monty Python's Flying Circus disbanded years later, the BBC finally grudgingly renewed Q for another season and continued cancelling and renewing it every few years.
There has to be some sort of behind the scenes explanation for the amazing similarities between the shows... stock footage of elderly audiences clapping, hurling grannies off cliffs, sketches interrupted at the end by policemen, sets that are obvious sets, funny man in the street non-sequiturs... the list goes on and on. Can anyone in the UK who has more info on this show please share it? Thanks!
I've heard this series mentioned before, but I had no idea how important it was. It's basically Monty Python's Flying Circus six months before Monty Python even started. I can't believe how many Monty Python mainstays were actually created in the first few episodes of this series. The writing isn't as focused- it's more anything for a laugh, but the basic ideas and structures underlying the show are instantly recognizable.
I googled to find out what the relationship was between the two shows, but all I could find was a wikipedia mention that Terry Jones loved Q and that it inspired them to do sketches without punch lines. But I suspect it goes deeper than that. I have a theory- and I may be wrong- but the way it looks to me is that the BBC loved the show, but they didn't love Spike Milligan. So they hired a bunch of staff writers for other BBC comedies, they gave them the exact same director and crew that Milligan had used, and told them to basically make the same show so they could cancel Milligan's Q and replace it with the lookalike. When Monty Python's Flying Circus disbanded years later, the BBC finally grudgingly renewed Q for another season and continued cancelling and renewing it every few years.
There has to be some sort of behind the scenes explanation for the amazing similarities between the shows... stock footage of elderly audiences clapping, hurling grannies off cliffs, sketches interrupted at the end by policemen, sets that are obvious sets, funny man in the street non-sequiturs... the list goes on and on. Can anyone in the UK who has more info on this show please share it? Thanks!
