Judea, 30AD, around teatime and Brian is mistaken for the messiah. Which he does his best to discourage … but the Jews are very religious and insist he is. It really goes downhill for Brian from there, he is far more interested in Judith (with the Welsh accent) than being a prophet.

Religious parody : so it must be blasphemy? Is pointing out the herd instincts of religion blasphemy? Is it blasphemous to highlight how quickly a hierarchy develops, how quickly orthodoxy and heresy are defined and how soon a true prophet is pushed aside? I saw this film as a newbie Christian in 1984 and honestly couldn’t see the fuss. If anything it shows organised religion for what it is. Perhaps that’s why some people got upset.

Apparently the film was initially banned in Norway and wasn’t released there until 1980. Subsequently, it has been marketed in Sweden as “The film that is so funny that it was banned in Norway!” Cool. Its impressive how the Pythons make every single line of dialogue count, every line becomes painfully funny and terribly quotable. You’ll always raise a laugh quoting anything from this film, well at least with my friends. One of my all time favourites.

He’s not the messiah. He’s a very naughty boy.