Python's Terry Gilliam - DIY animation 101

Ever wonder how that giant foot came down at the beginning of the classic opening to Monty Python's Flying Circus or how any of the other buffer elements between show segments were created?

Terry Gilliam: 'I'm not sure I'll direct again'

Terry Gilliam has admitted that he may not make any more movies.

Video: Terry Gilliam's battle to release Brazil in US

Hollywood film director and former Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam talks about how he struggled to get his 1985 award-winning film, Brazil, released in the US.

This comedy drama is an "accurate" retelling of the events surrounding the making of Monty Python's Life of Brian and the accusations against its blasphemy.

You know right from the start what you're letting yourself in for when Jesus comes onto the screen speaking Aramaic and then farts into a disciple's face. The main cast; Darren Boyd (as John Cleese), Charles Edwards (Michael Palin), Steve Punt (Eric Idle), Rufus Jones (Terry Jones), Tom Fisher (Graham Chapman) and Phil Nichol (Terry Gilliam) are great at portraying the original stars, or rather exaggerated versions of them. For example, Cleese is characterised as Basil Fawlty, Palin is the nicest man in the world and Idle is a "greedy bastard."

The programme was full of references to both Python and events relating to the modern day, and introduced by a rolling credit sequence akin to the way many episodes of Flying Circus had, which I personally found hilarious. There are other connections to the Python saga, too, like Palin's wife being played by Jones in drag (Rufus or Terry, take your pick).

Then there are the links to the actual film, such as the debate between bishops and devils which is akin to the People's Front of Judea talking about "what the Romans have ever done for us". Holy Flying Circus also refers to offensive comedy incidents in the present day, like Jerry Springer the Opera and just about anything to do with Frankie Boyle.

My favourite scene in the entire programme, however, was a cameo from Alexander McQueen as the BBC's Head of Rude Words. His wonderfully stiff performance as a typical Beeb executive reading out the rudest words he could think of was delightful. There was no racist, sexist or homophobic language - but there was a member of the Ku Klux Klan earlier on so you could argue that was covered as well.

I know many critics were dissatisfied by the fact it wasn't entirely factual. All I have to say to that is if you want something factual then watch a documentary.

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Imagine Terry Gilliam and the Zucker brothers co-directing a remake of The Wicker Man starring Stanley Unwin and Flight of the Conchords. You're now about a seventh of the way to appreciating the silly, knobbly magic of This Is Jinsy. It's a secret club you must join.

Set on the musty, muddy-brown island of Jinsy, it stars its previously unknown writers Justin Chubb and Chris Bran as Maven, the community's fussing "arbiter", and his sensible sidekick Sporall. They're a classic sitcom duo but little else is familiar in this bumper hamper of visual gags, twisted characters and fantastic parodies of 1960s folk-pop.

The opening double bill features David Tennant as a flamboyant game show host, and Peter Serafinowicz as a cupboard salesman.

Will Gompertz meets Terry Gilliam - eventually

The chorus master was easy to spot - he was attired in orange and pink ("why don't more people dress like this?" he asked me).

Video: Film-maker Terry Gilliam directs his first opera

Terry Gilliam, who directed Hollywood films such as Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is directing his first opera.

The opera, Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust, performed by the English National Opera, opens at the Coliseum in London on Friday.

Audio: Terry Gilliam, the man behind Python's animation

Terry Gilliam, who was the man behind the animations in Monty Python - the giant feet and open heads - recalls his Flying Circus days which began in October 1969 when the programme first aired.