“You might think that this is a massive can of worms to open”

It is fair to say that The After-Life of Brian by Julian Doyle was not exactly what I was expecting. I have been an avid fan of Monty Python since childhood and jumped at the opportunity to read an account from someone who was there when they filmed The Life of Brian.

So, it was with some trepidation when it became clear that this was not an account of what happened next but more of an exploration of the events in the movie compared to the religious texts and what else is known of the time of Jesus Christ.

You might think that this is a massive can of worms to open, especially with how sensitive some people are when it comes to religion, much as the Pythons found when The Life of Brian was released in 1979.

In fact, Julian just deals in facts and it is an unexpected fascinating read, especially as he exposes some of the inaccuracies of the accounts of the life of Jesus.

After seeing the fallout from the movie first-hand, I am sure Julian knew what he was doing when he opened the lid again on a subject that would certainly court controversy on a few fronts. For the reader, it is certainly an eye-opener and Julian’s painstaking research has not gone to waste.

It may not be the book that Python fans may have been expecting but it is still a book worth reading for the contradictions that Julian lays out in the pages.