Michael Palin Criticizes BBC’s Health and Safety Obsession, Compares It to a "Theme Park"

[Social Media]

 

Sir Michael Palin, the renowned comedian and travel documentarian, has revealed his frustrations with the BBC, stating that the broadcaster’s increasing focus on health and safety measures began to interfere with the authenticity of his travel documentaries. Palin, who became a household name through his travel series from 1989 to 2012, said that by the time he completed his final BBC project in Brazil, their working relationship had become “exhausted.”

 

 

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the 81-year-old former Monty Python star described how the BBC’s strict health and safety regulations detracted from the sense of adventure that characterized his shows. “They want you to wear a helmet just to cross the road, or while riding on an elephant. Unfortunately, if you do that, it looks as if you are in a theme park,” Palin explained. The excessive precautions, in his view, stripped the raw, exploratory essence from his documentaries, making them feel artificial.

 

Palin expressed pride in the work he had done with the BBC, but the collaboration reached a natural conclusion after the 2012 series *Brazil With Michael Palin*. He has since moved on to create travel programs for Channel 5, exploring countries like North Korea, Nigeria, and Iraq. These projects have allowed him to continue his explorations without the constraints he faced during his later years with the BBC. His previous BBC documentaries include *Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure* and *Around The World In 20 Years*, which contributed to his status as one of Britain’s most beloved travel presenters.

 

This isn’t the first time Palin has voiced concerns about working with the BBC. At the Hay Festival in 2016, he remarked that executives had become increasingly risk-averse, describing them as “frightened” and “more managed” in their approach to producing his shows. This change, he said, resulted in a more restrictive creative process, which clashed with the spontaneity and freedom that his documentaries were known for.

 

In 2009, Palin also revealed frustrations with his 2007 documentary *New Europe*, which had been censored by the BBC Trust. He claimed that important issues related to the Balkan wars of the 1990s were oversimplified, diluting the depth and nuance he intended to convey in the series.

 

At this year’s Cheltenham festival, Palin also shared reflections on his long career as a writer and actor, particularly focusing on his diaries, which span several decades and have been published in four volumes. He admitted feeling “embarrassment” when encountering people he had written about, uncertain of how they might react. He recounted how someone once asked if he would show his diaries to close friends, such as his Monty Python colleagues, before publishing them. His response was a firm “No.” Palin defended the integrity of his writing, saying, “That would be completely wrong. You could be asking someone else to edit the diaries for you.”

 

For now, Sir Michael continues to balance his career as a travel presenter and author, though his break with the BBC remains a defining moment in the later stages of his career. Despite the changes in his working relationship with the broadcaster, Palin’s legacy as a pioneer of travel documentaries is firmly cemented.

 

Based on a report from The Times | Daily Teleggraph 2024-10-16

 

 

 

[JonnyF]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

Speaking at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the 81-year-old former Monty Python star described how the BBC’s strict health and safety regulations detracted from the sense of adventure that characterized his shows. “They want you to wear a helmet just to cross the road, or while riding on an elephant.

 

Ridiculous.

 

It's more dangerous walking the corridors of the BBC's broadcasting house, especially if you are a teenager looking for a start in journalism. 

 

Palin is better off out. I certainly wouldn't want the BBC on my CV. 

[thaibeachlovers]

Once again the BBC shows how ridiculous it has become. The rot was exposed when they sacked the excellent Top Gear team and tried to replace it with a bunch of losers.

[Chomper Higgot]

Not like the ‘good old’ days’ when presenters and guests were maimed in the pursuit of entertainment:

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/richard-hammond-top-gear-crash-injuries-grand-tour-b2605546.html

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13824703/top-gear-host-Freddie-flintoff-presenter-horror-crash.html

[bamnutsak]

Sign the insurance waiver, then producers will probably allow you to do anything.

 

 

[JingerBen]

That nanny-state mindset goes far beyond the BBC and far beyond the UK.

It is one of the main reasons I, and so many others, gladly left the Faranglands never to return.

[Chomper Higgot]

12 minutes ago, JingerBen said:

That nanny-state mindset goes far beyond the BBC and far beyond the UK.

It is one of the main reasons I, and so many others, gladly left the Faranglands never to return.

Until you need the Nanny State to take care of you when you are sick and old.

[JingerBen]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

Until you need the Nanny State to take care of you when you are sick and old.

My Thai wife and our two grown, and successful, daughters will provide, they tell me.

I hope so. A return to the US is something I wouldn't even want to think about nowadays.

[JonnyF]

25 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Until you need the Nanny State to take care of you when you are sick and old.

 

At which point they remove your winter fuel allowance and you freeze to death. 

[Will B Good]

 

 

Nothing to do with the BBC per se .......it will be the legal beagles and finance boys wary of an increasingly litigious society.

 

Sue till your blue.......money to be made.....where there's an accident there's a claim.

[BritManToo]

38 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Until you need the Nanny State to take care of you when you are sick and old.

I paid $$$s to the UK government all my working life, so I don't think it unreasonable to expect them to look after when I'm sick and old, no matter where I choose to live after retirement.

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

At which point they remove your winter fuel allowance and you freeze to death. 

Not if you are in receipt of any means tested pension welfare support they don’t.

 

I expect you, like most ‘professional expats’ in my experience are saving for a very comfortable retirement so as not to be a burden on tax payers when retirement day comes.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I paid $$$s to the UK government all my working life, so I don't think it unreasonable to expect them to look after when I'm sick and old, no matter where I choose to live after retirement.

That’s not what the welfare and NHS regulations say but good luck with your expectations, especial good luck if they are your only plan.

 

 

 

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Not if you are in receipt of any means tested pension welfare support they don’t.

 

I expect you, like most ‘professional expats’ in my experience are saving for a very comfortable retirement so as not to be a burden on tax payers when retirement day comes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't believe the State Pension itself isn't means tested.....whether it is the cost of doing so or feasibility, I've no idea.......but very few people I know need to draw their State pension.

 

 

 

[Will B Good]

 

 

 

 

Sounds like Palin is succumbing to the same 'grumpy old man' disorder (caused by frontal lobe shrinkage) as the other Pythons.

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

 

I can't believe the State Pension itself isn't means tested.....whether it is the cost of doing so or feasibility, I've no idea.......but very few people I know need to draw their State pension.

 

 

 

I would agree that very few people I have worked with need to draw their state pension but that certainly isn’t true if the majority of British retirees I know.

 

The state pension is a universal benefit.

There are significant problems with means testing the state pension, cost of administration being one but also the impact of doing so on personal savings for retirement.

 

Why save if by doing so you lose state pension income?

 

High earners might not consider that a significant issue, middle income earners might very well do so.

 

 

Edited October 16 by Chomper Higgot

[Chomper Higgot]

9 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

 

 

Sounds like Palin is succumbing to the same 'grumpy old man' disorder (caused by frontal lobe shrinkage) as the other Pythons.

This^

[Chomper Higgot]

14 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

Not sure what my personal situation has to do with it?

I thought the same

“

At which point they remove your winter fuel allowance and you freeze to death. ”

Edited October 16 by Chomper Higgot

[JonnyF]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I thought the same

“

At which point they remove your winter fuel allowance and you freeze to death. ”

 

I was referring to British pensioners who have worked all their lives and now cannot afford to heat their homes due to Labour taking away the winter fuel allowance. 

 

I would have thought that was fairly obvious.

 

It doesn't affect me directly. My residences in Thailand very rarely freeze. It's called empathy. Something Labour (and supporters of this policy) seem to possess very little of.  

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

I was referring to British pensioners who have worked all their lives and now cannot afford to heat their homes due to Labour taking away the winter fuel allowance. 

 

I would have thought that was fairly obvious.

 

It doesn't affect me directly. My residences in Thailand very rarely freeze. It's called empathy. Something Labour (and supporters of this policy) seem to possess very little of.  

So what was that about my winter fuel allowance?

 

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

25 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I would agree that very few people I have worked with need to draw their state pension but that certainly isn’t true if the majority of British retirees I know.

 

The state pension is a universal benefit.

A universal benefit that I paid nearly 20% of my total lifetime income to get.

Nearly all the money I earned, saved and inherited was given to my former Brit wife by the British government.

 

The west expects middle class white male citizens to pay for everything!

 

Back on topic,

I enjoyed working for the BBC, but I couldn't afford to stay there when other companies wanted to double my wage. Maybe if I'd been a kiddy fiddler, like Rolf, Philip, Huw and Jim, they would have offered me a larger wage.

Edited October 16 by BritManToo

[Chomper Higgot]

2 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

A universal benefit that I paid nearly 20% of my total lifetime income to get.

Nearly all the money I earned, saved and inherited was given to my former Brit wife by the British government.

 

The west expects middle class white male citizens to pay for everything!

I sense your pain, but are you not going to get a state pension?

 

 

[JonnyF]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

So what was that about my winter fuel allowance?

 

 

 

 

 

I said "your" winter fuel allowance, referring to a collective group of people. I could also have used "their". 

 

But you already knew that. 

[DaddyWarbucks]

On 10/16/2024 at 9:27 AM, Chomper Higgot said:

Until you need the Nanny State to take care of you when you are sick and old.

Nanny-state rules and regulations run amuck is what Michael Palin was talking about.

A social safety-net that helps those who really need it, while excluding the able-bodied "sturdy beggars" in the prime of their lives is a different subject.

Conflating the two is either confusion or pushing an agenda.

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, DaddyWarbucks said:

Nanny-state rules and regulations run amuck is what Michael Palin was talking about.

A social safety-net that helps those who really need it, while excluding the able-bodied "sturdy beggars" in the prime of their lives is a different subject.

Conflating the two is either confusion or pushing an agenda.

 

 

How is he talking about the 'nanny-state and regulations' when the whole discussion is about the BBC?

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, DaddyWarbucks said:

Nanny-state rules and regulations run amuck is what Michael Palin was talking about.

A social safety-net that helps those who really need it, while excluding the able-bodied "sturdy beggars" in the prime of their lives is a different subject.

Conflating the two is either confusion or pushing an agenda.

Conflating you say.

 

And yet Palin didn’t mention any of these pet issues of yours.

[JonnyF]

22 hours ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

How is he talking about the 'nanny-state and regulations' when the whole discussion is about the BBC?

 

 

 

Because the BBC is a left wing propaganda machine that promotes a larger nanny state and ever increasing government regulations over the daily lives of the people (with the exception of the sexual deviancy of their own employees - they try to ignore that).  

[Will B Good]

3 hours ago, JonnyF said:

 

Because the BBC is a left wing propaganda machine that promotes a larger nanny state and ever increasing government regulations over the daily lives of the people (with the exception of the sexual deviancy of their own employees - they try to ignore that).  

 

How does the BBC promote ...."a larger nanny state and ever increasing government regulations"........does the Board of Directors actually lobby the government of the day? Do you know which particular policies they try to promote?