Spamalot is a tried and tested Monty Python tribute show drawn in some part from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Familiarity with the film, or the Python oeuvre, is hardly essential but looking around the Buxton audience it was evident that many recognised some of the less obvious references.

The inclusion of the show-stopping Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life, lifted from The Life Of Brian, is a happy piece of opportunism on the part of Eric Idle who largely takes the credit for writing and assembling the show which premiered on Broadway in 2005. Spamalot has been seen by millions since.

Idle was always the most musical Python and his collaboration with the Bonzo Dog Band’s Neil Innes dates from the late 1960s and the cult children’s TV programme Do Not Adjust Your Set. In the end Spamalot is much more a tongue…