Station Zero

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was released in 1975, but it still casts a long shadow over Arthurian cinema . Almost half a century later, any mention of Camelot on social media will prompt some bright spark to respond with, ‘It’s only a model!’ and any reference to the Lady of the Lake will have them trotting out that line about strange women lying in ponds distributing swords being no basis for a system of government. David Lowery’s recent The Green Knight drew the same disparaging comparisons to Brave Sir Robin and the Knights Who Say ‘Ni’ as Excalibur did forty years ago. (I found much to dislike about The Green Knight , but tweeting screenshots of it with captions like, ‘It is a silly place!’ isn’t really a valid criticism.) It’s as if Python has seeded our whole culture with glib little land mines which can be triggered by the merest mention of King Arthur, the Round Table, or the Holy Grail. I loved Monty Python’s Flying Circus when I was a teenager. Trying to watch the ser...