KOOL TV CLASSIC IMAGE OF THE WEEK : "RIPPING YARNS"

Terry Jones and a clearly not well Michael Palin enjoy spoofing the British stiff upper lip tradition in RIPPING YARNS. Images: BBC.

Next month (20th June) sees the return of ex-MONTY PYTHONers Michael Palin (my favourite of the mad ensemble) and Terry Jones brilliant late seventies comedy series homage to the classic rip-roaring BOYS OWN 1940's adventure stories of the past: RIPPING YARNS, which, though it lasted a mere nine episodes on the BBC 2 channel (due to their then expense to make), has remained incredibly popular over the years with its own unique cult following, and is now being commercially re-released by those splendid chaps and chapesses at NETWORK.

Palin is hilarious as the disease ridden Uncle Jack in THE CURSE OF THE CLAW.

Pretty much all the episodes are inspired comedy cracker, but my own personal favourite episodes are TOMKINSON'S SCHOOLDAYS (a wicked parody on TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS, of a young mans nightmarish years at an English boarding school, facing sadistic teachers and daily terrors from Grayson the school bully (an excellent performance from THE RETURN OF THE SAINT's Ian Ogilvy)), MURDER AT MOONSTONE ABBEY (a murder mystery in the best Agatha Christie parody tradition, with an hilarious ending that has been much imitated since), ESCAPE FROM STALAG LUFT 112 B (about the adventures of Major Errol Phips and his attempts to escape a dreaded POW camp via the most incredulous means (including a giant catapult!)), THE CURSE OF THE CLAW (a horror story about a generational family curse first unleashed in Burma (watch our for Palin as old timer Uncle Jack-who loves dirt and filth and has every disease known to man- a classic character!)) and GOLDEN GORDON (and how one boring but devoted fan, Gordon Ottershaw, leads his disastrous football team, Barnstoneworth United, now comprised of a special squad of classic old age pensioners, to one last time of glory!).

A life in education! Palin in the brilliant series pilot: TOMKINSON'S SCHOOLDAYS!

Due to the episodes period settings, RIPPING YARNS has barely dated, and, overall, ignoring the canned laughter, its stood the test of time well (directed with humorous flair by comedy TV veterans Alan J. W. Bell, Jim Franklin and Terry Hughes), with some great guest stars turns from the aforementioned Ian Ogilvy, Kenneth Colley, Judy Loe, Edward Hardwicke, Roy Kinnear, Iain Cuthbertson, Denholm Elliot and Don Henderson.

Check out some classic clips: YouTube - Ripping Yarns S1E06 - The Curse of the Claw - Part 01
YouTube - Ripping Yarns S1E01 - Tomkinson's Schooldays - Part 03
YouTube - Ripping Yarns S2E02 - Golden Gordon - Part 01
YouTube - Escape from Stalag Luft 112B - Pt2

The cover of the new NETWORK DVD release.