The veteran performer, writer and broadcaster has over 30 years experience on our screens, rising to popularity with Monty Python in the early 70s and with films like A Fish Called Wanda and TV series including Sahara and Himalaya to his name.
Good comedians look beyond the surface; they don’t take things at face value. They see what an absurd place we’re in.
In this video - available to watch in full on BAFTA Guru, and recorded in the resplendent Ely Cathedral as part of the Cambridge Film Festival - Palin talks to film critic Mark Kermode. Highlights include Palin recalling the challenges of turning the Python sketches into a big screen venture for The Holy Grail and his shock at beating Robert De Niro to the part of Jack Lint in Terry Gilliam’s dystopian fantasy Brazil.