Tim Brooke-Taylor Movies

Veteran comedian and comedy writer Tim Brooke-Taylor played the title role in this British sitcom. The story concerned the various misadventures of Tom and Alice Hammond (Brooke-Taylor and Diane Keen), who had been comfortably married for 20 years. Long the breadwinner of the family, Tom found his status diminished when wife Alice, an aspiring writer, managed to publish a best-selling novel. The humor arose from the sudden fame thrust upon Alice and the equally sudden subordinate position that Tom ended up assuming in the household -- and in the eyes of the reading public. The 13 episodes of You Must Be the Husband were beamed out to British viewers in two "series," from September 8 to October 20, 1987, and from February 29 to April 4, 1988. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The highlights of two benefit concerts staged in support of Amnesty International are collected in this British performance film, which features ample helpings of both music and comedy. The members of the Monty Python comedy troupe serve as headliners, performing live variations on some of their most famous sketches. Additional humor is provided by such luminaries as Peter Cook, while the musical segments include performances by Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, and Sting, amongst others. While all of the performers deliver the goods, the film's overall effectiveness is unfortunately limited by the purely functional direction and often poor image quality. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

David Niven is Alex, a scholar who has won the Nobel Prize for developing a universal language. The U.S. State Department has decided to honor him with a statue, to be displayed in London's Grosvenor Square. The commission for the project went to Alex's wife Rhonda (Virna Lisi), who has designed a statue that is completely nude, without even a fig leaf. Husband Alex sees that is it a perfect replica of himself, except for the part usually covered by fig leaves. He accuses his wife of using one of her lovers as a model and begins a hilarious search for the original. Robert Vaughn has some good lines as the American Ambassador, discussing the couple's controversy with the President. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The sketch comedy series At Last the 1948 Show was the first big break for rising young British comedians and friends Marty Feldman (Igor in Young Frankenstein), Tim Brooke-Taylor, and future Monty Python's Flying Circus writer/performers John Cleese and Graham Chapman. Prior to the show, they had worked at local comedy clubs and had written and acted in The Frost Report. The show was executive produced by David Frost and aired on the ITV network for two runs of six and then seven episodes in 1967. Described by Brooke-Taylor as a combination of the cutting edge satirical stage revue Beyond the Fringe and British music hall, the show's sketches work within conventional structures and strive for a high degree of professionalism in both writing and performance. The most popular and well-known sketch is "The Four Yorkshiremen," later adapted by Monty Python, where a group of middle-aged businessmen brag about their ridiculously awful childhoods. The sketches are connected by short bits starring Aimi Macdonald, who plays a carelessly vain and occasionally cruel showgirl. Eric Idle made several appearances in bit parts. The Python troupe would essentially be formed from the creative minds behind At Last the 1948 Show and a popular children's sketch comedy series from the same period, Do Not Adjust Your Set. ~ All Movie Guide