The Rutles

It all began 35 years ago when Eric Idle of Monty Python persuaded Neil Innes, of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, to join him in a comedy series for BBC 2 called Rutland Weekend Television - all about a spoof TV station, the smallest in Britain, churning out really cheap programmes on a shoestring. Low budget? More like No Budget!

Innes suggested to Idle that they could do a send-up of A Hard Day's Night, the Beatles first movie. "It's in Black and White, it's speeded up, and we could wear wigs and tight trousers and run around a field somewhere..." "Great!" Exclaimed Idle. "I've got a sketch about a man making a documentary who's so boring, the camera runs away from him..."

And so the name "Rutles" was born. But no one could have expected what happened next.