Half a century on, hilarity and absurdism are still the holy grail

There are a number different films and TV shows that take me straight back to being a kid.

- Kate Wobschall

Tiswas is one - Spit the dog, the Phantom Flan Flinger and the Bucket of Water Song helping to launch the careers of Christ Tarrant and Lenny Henry, among others.

Another is Fawlty Towers, with the Peter Crouch-proportioned John Cleese dishing out a hitherto unmatched level of sarcasm and dark wit.

And then there was Monty Python. Obviously the films and TV shows had been out for many years (ahem) but my dad was a massive fan so when mother was otherwise occupied, he'd stick on a video and we'd end up in absolute hysterics.

And while it can be tiresome when people of a certain vintage parrot off lines from every one of the films and some of the TV shows, it's more than stood the test of time.

Take Monty Python and the Holy Grail - this is a film that was first aired some 50 years ago. Half a century on and it's still ridiculously, irrepressibly, uproariously funny.

Essentially, it's a send-up of the story of King Arthur, who leads his knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail.