Jabberwocky

Michael Palin's perpetually ingenuous cooper's apprentice Dennis Cooper dreams of hitting the Big Time, as he tells wheeler-dealer Mr. Fishfinger, father of the fair(-ly hefty) Griselda, but after his own father disowns him on his deathbed, Dennis must trek to a wondrous medieval metropolis, then in the midst of a flesh-scarfing-monster scare, to get a job. The Dark Ages don't get much darker as guards relieve themselves from castle walls, Mr. Fishfinger hangs rearwards from his window, the sight of the monster scares a man's teeth white, and noble spectators enjoy repeated blood drenchings at a tournament. Only the occasional shaft of light penetrates the gloomy, grimy throne room of Max Wall's King Bruno the Questionable, as merchants and prelates argue the good of the Monster for business and religion and John Le Mesurier's Chamberlain offers heroically deadpan comments amid the grotesqueries. But ultimately there must be a showdown with the genuinely fearsome Beast...