Michael Palin reveals his verdict now on Life of Brian and the killer bunny scene in the Holy Grail

Michael Palin in Life of Brian
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Michael Palin has revealed how he feels looking back on Monty Python's legendary 1979 movie Life of Brian.

The comedy, which was highly controversial upon its release, saw a man called Brian (played by Graham Chapman) being mistakenly hailed as the Messiah (he's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy!). 

Palin took on a string of different roles in the movie perhaps most memorably as Pontius Pilate. Speaking to The Times, Palin commented that he remained proud of making "something that was quite intelligent but also very silly".

He added that it tickled him that a survey "found 90 percent of people thought Life of Brian was more Christian and more relevant to religion than Mel Gibson's Bible thing [The Passion of Christ]."

Terry Gilliam and Graham Chapman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Terry Gilliam and Graham Chapman in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Image credit: Photo 12/Alamy Stock Photo)

The debate still rages over whether Life of Brian or Monty Python and the Holy Grail is their best film. In our best 100 movies of all time article, we side with Holy Grail although you can easily make a case for Life of Brian.

In the same interview, Palin revealed he'd recently watched the killer rabbit scene again in the Holy Grail and was pleased to find it still made him laugh. Both Life of Brian and the Holy Grail movies are available to watch now on Netflix.

Michael Palin In Nigeria.

Michael Palin in Nigeria for his recent Channel 5 series (Image credit: Channel 5)

Most recently on television, he was seen taking a 1300-mile journey across Nigeria in Michael Palin In Nigeria on Channel 5. Talking at the time about why he wanted to make the three-part series, he said: "I wanted to test myself physically to see if I could still do this at 80, but I also found it was very good for me in terms of my mental capacity — you're seeing something new and hoping to find out what's really happening in a country.

"Nigeria has a population of nearly 220 million, it's the most prosperous country in Africa and Lagos is going to be the biggest city in the world by 2098. All these things give it tremendous clout, and yet 60 percent of Nigerians live in poverty." 

Michael Palin in Nigeria is still available to watch on My5.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!