Hot on the heels of John Cleese's first post-'Python' project 'Fawlty Towers' came this splendid spoof of stiff-upper-lipped schoolboy adventure tales from the days when Britain had an empire. Michael Palin and Terry Jones obviously had fun writing this, as well as performing ( although Jones only appeared in one edition ). 'Ripping Yarns' stretched Palin's acting abilities far more than 'Python'; check out 'The Curse Of The Claw' in which he played the utterly disgusting 'Uncle Jack'! Beautifully filmed, with wonderful period atmosphere, 'Yarns' featured impressive guest-stars such as Denholm Elliott, Iain Cuthbertson, and John Le Mesurier. The quality of the humour varied from Pythonesque romps such as 'Tompkinson's Schooldays' to the genteel, touching 'The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite'. My favourite, however, was 'Murder At Moorstones Manor', a whodunnit so convoluted its impossible to tell who did what to whom! Palin and Jones were wise to only make nine episodes of this gem.
