AND NOW...

Opening titles: The ‘It’s...’ Man

Palin (below) plays a castaway who attempts to introduce each episode but is always cut short… The story goes that the ‘It’s...’ Man – as he would be known – was a once smooth-talking TV presenter given to loquacious introductions. Now fallen on hard times, he is bedraggled – dressed in rags and wild-eyed – but is determined to perform his function… He announces nearly all of the series without ever getting past the word ‘It’s...’

Python convention dictated that the writer of a sketch or creator of an idea would usually be given the main role. Palin suggested a desperate, unkempt, castaway-type character should stagger out of ridiculously harsh surroundings and with his last breath attempt to introduce the show. The others embraced the idea and agreed that Palin would be perfect for the role. He had cause to regret it…

The films put Palin in a series of uncomfortable situations, including being submerged in the sea, hung on a meat hook and crawling across a pebble beach. He was even mauled by a lion. In one episode there was a twist: his luck appeared to change as we see him attended by a bikini-clad woman passing him a glass of wine. A brief smile appears on his face before he realises he has been passed a bomb. Mauled by a lion, hung on a hook and submerged in the sea