Written by and starring both Michael Palin and Terry Jones, The Complete and Utter History of Britain was a formative influence on television comedy and fed directly into the work they did for Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Shown in 1969, the same year that Python became part of the national consciousness, this series takes a …

Adapting a story by Edgar Wallace, one of the twentieth century’s most celebrated and prolific suspense writers, this 1940 crime thriller centres on the attempts of Flying Squad officers to smash a London drug-smuggling ring. The final feature by leading silent-era director Herbert Brenon, Flying Squad stars some of the era’s most accomplished performers, including …

Adapting Ivor Novello’s long-running musical play for the big screen, this enchanting Ruritanian romance marked the second pairing of Errol Flynn and British film heroine Anna Neagle under the direction of Herbert Wilcox. Blending sumptuous pageantry and richly varied music and choreography, King’s Rhapsody echoed the abdication crises that enthralled pre-War Europe, with Flynn starring …