Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus (known during the final series as just Monty Python) is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring the comedy group Monty Python. The first episode was recorded at the BBC on 7 September and premiered on 5 October 1969 on BBC One, with 45 episodes airing over four series from 1969 to 1974, plus two episodes for German TV.
Torquay
A number of sketches for the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" television show (1969-73) were filmed on location in and around both Torquay and neighbouring Paignton. It was while staying in Torquay at the Gleneagles Hotel with the Python team in 1971 that John Cleese found inspiration (and the setting, although not the actual film location) for the popular sitcom "Fawlty Towers" (1975, 1979). Incidents during the Pythons' stay are said to include the owner, Donald Sinclair, having thrown Eric Idle's suitcase out of a window in case it contained a bomb. Cleese later described the eccentric owner as, "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met", although Mr. Sinclair's widow has since said her husband was totally misrepresented in the comedy.