John Cleese has come under fire after publicly questioning why the BBC has not aired Monty Python “for a couple of decades”.
The 83-year-old English actor, comedian, and screenwriter, turned somewhat controversial political commentator, is well-known for his roles as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, as a performer on The Frost Report, and for appearing in several Harry Potter, James Bond, and Shrek films.
But to the majority of people, he is most famous for being one of the founding members of the six-piece Monty Python comedy troupe.
Alongside fellow members Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Graham Chapman, Cleese starred in the troupe’s popular TV sketch series Monty Python and the Flying Circus, as well as five films and a number of touring stage shows.
Flying Circus originated on the BBC, but according to Cleese – who is set to present a show on right-wing news channel GB News in 2023 as he wants to “promote proper argument” – the show hasn’t appeared on the network it quite a considerable amount of time – “a couple of decades”, he seems to think – and it appears as if he was a bit in the dark as to why this is the case.
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So he took to Twitter for some answers and to call the broadcaster out.
Can anyone ( including BBC employees ) tell me why the BBC has not shown Monty Python for a couple of decades ?
Cleese asked his 5.6 million Twitter followers: “Can anyone (including BBC employees) tell me why the BBC has not shown Monty Python for a couple of decades?”
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While it may seem like a simple question for the comedian to ask at first, many people picked up on what was likely Cleese’s intended critiquing, derogatory, and politically-inclined tone, and were quick to explain to him the reason the BBC has not aired any repeats of the sketch show.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus may have originally aired on the BBC between 1969 and 1974, but the rights to it were later sold to streaming platform Netflix in 2019, along with the rest of the comedy troupe’s movies, collections, and specials.
With Netflix owning exclusivity, this therefore prevents the show from being broadcast on any other channels – including the BBC.
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Some people couldn’t believe Cleese apparently wasn’t aware of this.
Coz the BBC sold the license for the show to Netflix. I don't work for the BBC but it's pretty easy to find out, John.
Others took to mocking Cleese for questioning this when there is a good chance he already knows the answer and just intended to stir the pot.
“You know why though John, they don’t own the broadcasting rights do they,” one person wrote, “Can you tell us why you’re asking a question in very bad faith? Is it because you want attention again? Do us all a favour and be quiet mate.”
Some used this as an opportunity to call Cleese – who has aligned himself as a vocal critic of “woke culture” – out on his intent to voice his political views and his upcoming GB News show.
One even dubbed him a “faded light bulb”.
can anyone (including john cleese) tell me, why john cleese has a show on rightwing tv?
Get your grandkids to teach you how to Google, John.
— Laura Shortridge-Scott 🐈💙🏴 (@DiscordianKitty) December 28, 2022
You decided to give the exclusive rights to Netflix, you faded light bulb. Please try performing something actually funny since the 1980s and you might get a better deal. Fierce Creatures wasn't it. https://t.co/wygqMBT0Rf
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
28th December 2022 
