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Synopsis: British television comedy series. Includes a sketch entitled ‘Hospital for Over-Actors’ which parodies Olivier. Dialogue is as follows:

Specialist: Most of these cases are pretty unpleasant. Nurse... (a nurse comes in and sedates Richard III) But the treatment does work with some people. This chap came to us straight from the Chichester Festival; we operated just in time, and now he’s almost normal.
- the patient’s screaming ‘a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse’ .

The sketch also features Eric Idle as Second Richard, a reformed Shakespearean actor.
Series: Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Television
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Transmission details: 15 Dec 1970 (Channel: BBC1)
Duration: 30 mins

Director

Cast

Eric Idle	Second Richard
Graham Chapman	Specialist
John Cleese
Michael Palin	Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later King Richard
Terry Gilliam

Production type: Sitcoms/Variety
Plays: Richard III
Keywords: acting; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Olivier, Laurence (1907-1989)

Notes: The script can be read at http://orangecow.org/pythonet/sketches/overact.htm
General: Other Python episodes, too brief to catalogue individually, are a sketch entitled SHAKESPEARE in the episode ARCHEOLOGY TODAY (tx 17 November 1970 ) in which Shakespeare, washing up at the sink, gives Beethoven tips on how to compose the Fifth Symphony. He dismisses the name David as a suitable title for his play (preferring the name Hamlet as suggested by Beethoven). Shakespeare tells Michelangelo that he can have the name. HAMLET (tx 21 November 1974) follows some of the action and characters of the play - Terry Jones plays Hamlet. In THE SPANISH INQUISITION (tx 22 September 1970) there is a sketch JULIUS CAESAR WITH AN ALDIS LAMP.
History: Series 2, episode 25. Available through amazon.com as part of The Complete Monty Python’s Flying Circus Megaset (1991) (Region 1 only)

British Universities Film & Video Council