Comedy1969–1974BBC One

The Best Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus

Every episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus!

Best episode
S2E2 The Spanish Inquisition
8.91,383 votes
Worst episode
S4E1 The Golden Age of Ballooning
7.2899 votes
Top season
Season 2
8.1avg
Binge time
21h 54m
45 episodes
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons4

All1234

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 2 - The Spanish Inquisition
    8.9/10(1383 votes)

    S2:E2

    Featuring the Spanish Inquisition, courtroom charades and a semaphore interpretation of Wuthering Heights.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  2. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 8 - Full Frontal Nudity
    8.6/10(1361 votes)

    S1:E8

    Featuring an art critic, some hermits, Hell's Grannies and the dead parrot sketch. Some newlyweds attempt to buy a bed and the mafia offer protecting to the army.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  3. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 3 - How to Recognise Different Types of Trees from Quite a Long Way Away
    8.5/10(1567 votes)

    S1:E3

    Featuring a court scene, the larch, Bicycle Repair Man, children's stories, a restaurant sketch, some seduced milkmen, an interview with some children and a stolen newsreader.

    Directors:Ian MacNaughton, John Howard Davies
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  4. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 1 - Face the Press
    8.5/10(1172 votes)

    S2:E1

    Featuring Doug and Dinsdale Piranha, Face the Press and the Ministry of Silly Walks. Mrs G Pinnet buys a new gas cooker.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  5. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 12 - Spam
    8.5/10(1016 votes)

    S2:E12

    The sketches in this episode include Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook, World Forum-Communist Quiz, Hospital for Over-Actors and Spam.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  6. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 9 - The Ant, An Introduction
    8.3/10(1246 votes)

    S1:E9

    Featuring Ken Buddha, a man with a tape-recorder up his nose and a hairdresser who always wanted to be a lumberjack.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus

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  7. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 12 - The Naked Ant
    8.3/10(1172 votes)

    S1:E12

    Featuring the North Minehead by-election, the Upper Class Twit of the Year competition, Ken Shabby and a Party Political Broadcast on behalf of the Wood Party.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  8. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 11 - How Not to Be Seen
    8.3/10(969 votes)

    S2:E11

    Features gags and sketches such as Job Hunter, Railway Timetables, How Not to be Seen and Interview in a Filing Cabinet.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  9. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 3 - The Money Programme
    8.2/10(904 votes)

    S3:E3

    Features The Money Programme, Erizabeth L, Dead Bishop, Jungle Restaurant and The Argument Skit.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  10. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 5 - Man's Crisis of Identity in the Latter Half of the 20th Century
    8.1/10(1327 votes)

    S1:E5

    Featuring Confuse-a-Cat, discussion programme A Duck, a Cat and a Lizard, the arrest of a newsreader, an erotic film, a silly job interview and a burglar/encyclopaedia salesman.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Jones

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  11. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 3 - Déjà Vu
    8.1/10(1034 votes)

    S2:E3

    Featuring the work of the poet Euan McTeagle, a psychiatrist milkman and some exploding animals. A television presenter suffers from a severe case of deja vu.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  12. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 4 - The Buzz Aldrin Show
    8.1/10(1020 votes)

    S2:E4

    More surreal humour from the Monty Python team. Sketches include The Architects, How to Recognise a Mason, Poets and the Chemist sketch.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  13. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 8 - The Cycling Tour
    8.1/10(946 votes)

    S3:E8

    This episode tells the story of Mr Pither as he embarks on his Cycling Tour.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  14. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 13 - Royal Episode 13
    8.1/10(932 votes)

    S2:E13

    Sketches in this episode include How to Feed a Goldfish, The Man Who Says Things in a Very Roundabout Way and Lifeboat.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  15. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 7 - Salad Days
    8.1/10(877 votes)

    S3:E7

    Features gags and sketches such as Biggles Dictates a Letter, Climbing the North Face of the Uxbridge Road, Lifeboat and The Cheese Shop.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  16. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 11 - Dennis Moore
    8.1/10(869 votes)

    S3:E11

    Features the sketches Dennis Moore, What the Stars Foretell, The Ideal Loon Exhibition, Off-Licence and Prejudice.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  17. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 9 - How to Recognise Different Parts of the Body
    8.0/10(969 votes)

    S2:E9

    Featuring a guide on how to recognise parts of the body, a singing policeman, an interview with a plastic surgeon, a camp soldiers' drill and the Verrifast Plane Company.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  18. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 4 - Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror
    8.0/10(881 votes)

    S3:E4

    Features gags and sketches such as Blood, Devastation, Death, War and Horror, The Man who Speaks in Anagrams and Pantomime Horses.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  19. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 10 - E. Henry Thripshaw's Disease
    7.9/10(817 votes)

    S3:E10

    Sketches include The Tudor Jobs Agency, Elizabethan Pornography Smugglers, Thripshaw's Disease and The Man Who Says Words in the Wrong Order.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  20. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 12 - A Book at Bedtime
    7.9/10(823 votes)

    S3:E12

    Features gags and sketches such as A Book at Bedtime, Kamikaze Scotsmen, No Time to Lose, Spot the Looney and Frontiers of Medicine-Penguins.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  21. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 3 Episode 2 - Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular
    7.9/10(891 votes)

    S3:E2

    Features Emigration from Surbiton to Hounslow, The Fish Slapping Dance, SS Mother Goose, Trim-Jeans Theatre and some very famous guests.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  22. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 8 - Archaeology Today
    7.9/10(964 votes)

    S2:E8

    Featuring Mrs Beethoven, the Reverend Arthur Belling, some Australian Mosquito Hunters and a drink party with the Gits.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  23. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 2 Episode 5 - Live from the Grill-O-Mat
    7.9/10(992 votes)

    S2:E5

    Featuring gameshow Blackmail, The Society for Putting Things on Top of Other Things, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and boxer Ken Clean-Air System.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  24. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 13 - Intermission
    7.9/10(1107 votes)

    S1:E13

    Featuring some historical impersonations, a cinema usherette with a dead seabird, restaurant abuse and Probe Around On Crime.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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  25. Monty Python's Flying Circus Season 1 Episode 6 - It's the Arts
    7.9/10(1271 votes)

    S1:E6

    Featuring a gang of legal burglars, the Whizzo Quality Assortment, a Scottish wedding and a day in the life of a city stockbroker. Some film moguls try to impress their boss.

    Director:Ian MacNaughton
    Writers:Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

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Best Episodes Summary

"The Spanish Inquisition" is the best rated episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. It scored 8.9/10 from 1,383 votes. Directed by Ian MacNaughton and written by Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, it aired on September 22, 1970. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Full Frontal Nudity".

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