BBC Comedy

When the Monty Python film Life of Brian opened in Britain in 1979, it broke box office records in its first week of release. The film was banned by many local authorities, but by the start of 2009 only one ban was left - in Aberystwyth. The mayor of Aberstwyth successfully campaigned to get the ban lifted. To celebrate this historic event, Pythons Michael Palin and Terry Jones attended a special charity screening at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

BAFTA award-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood is back with a Christmas special. Victoria Wood's Midlife Christmas features highlights from the Midlife Olympics 2009, the popular costume drama Lark Pies to Cranchesterford and the further adventures of soap star Bo Beaumont played by long-term collaborator Julie Walters.

Slapstick comedy special narrated by Miranda Hart, charting the highs and lows of physical comedy and examining the audience's love of visual humour. Featuring pies and pratfalls from over a century of comedy and entertainment programming including Monty Python, Charlie Chaplin, Morecambe and Wise and even Hole in the Wall. From the craft of the Buster Keaton classics to the cartoon antics of The Goodies and the absurdly violent anarchy of Bottom, the genre has shifted through silent films, surrealism, sketch and sitcom, and today even filtered in to Saturday night family entertainment. Featuring analysis from great physical gag practitioners including Vic Reeves, Mathew Horne, Reece Shearsmith, Ben Miller and Sally Phillips. A festive treat that features physical comedy both classic and contemporary, including the inappropriate manhandling of Manuel from Fawlty Towers, the roller-skating Frank Spencer epic from Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em and more funny physical pain than you can fling a frying pan at!