Oh you are awful...

Studios in the 1970s began to offer established TV audiences film spin-offs from their favourite sit-coms - Dad’s Army, On The Buses, Bless This House, Steptoe & Son and The Dick Emery Show were among the most popular. But none of these television crossovers would be as successful as the BBC sketch show whose distinctive brand of comedy would become famous the world over. The Monty Python’s Flying Circus team only made four films, but their novel take on life and historical subjects created one of the most exceptional, talked-about movies of all time. When polls are taken of the greatest comedies ever, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian (1979) is always in the top three.

Life of Brian also bought together businessman Denis O’Brien and former Beatle George Harrison, who stepped in to produce when EMI pulled out a week before filming was due to commence, and Handmade Films was created. Their contribution to the British comedy film output of the 1980s and 90s was significant: Privates On Parade (1982) and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels (1998) are just two of their gems.

The six members of Python (even Eric Idle) would all individually go on to make waves in British comedy film, from fantasies such as Time Bandits (1981), to beautiful period pieces like The Missionary (1982) to silly crime capers such as A Fish Called Wanda (1988). Between them, these six comedians have been involved as actors, writers and directors in over two hundred British comedy movies.

Since the 1980s, the British film comedy industry has become more than the quaint relative of its US cousin. It has its own stable of auteurs and performers who consistently win awards. Political, regional and class issues handled by directors like Bill Forsyth, Bruce Robinson and Peter Chelsom and box-office regulars like Richard Curtis, Mike Leigh and Guy Ritchie; Hollywood casting interlopers like Rowan Atkinson, Russell Brand, Billy Connelly, Steve Coogan, Lee Evans, Eddie Izzard, Simon Pegg and Tracey Ullman.

British film comedy has gained year-on-year in quality, acclaim and financial health. Its output may be smaller and slower than that of the US, but the laughs-per-minute and innovative storylines from Withnail and I (left) to Kill List are distinctly British. One thing we know for sure, it's certainly left the French behind.