MONTY PYTHON - LIFE OF BRIAN NAMED TOP BRIT FLICK

Monty Python's Life of Brian has been named as the nation's favourite British film in a new poll.

The 1979 comedy, featuring Python stars Michael Palin, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Graham Chapman and John Cleese, was one of two films made by the comic group to feature in the survey.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, released in 1975, also made it in to the top ten British films ranked in a poll for the Radio Times website.

It achieved last place in the survey of some 2,500 people.

Beaten to first place was the 1997 film The Full Monty, with the comedy about a group of unemployed steel workers who become strippers coming in second.

Four Weddings and a Funeral, the 1994 romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant, made third place, while Trainspotting, the 1996 film that shot Ewan McGregor into the spotlight, came in fourth.

The classic 1962 movie Laurence of Arabia was ranked in fifth place, followed by the lighter zombie flick Shaun of the Dead (2004).

Withnail & I (1987), Brief Encounter (1945) and Zulu (1964) completed the top ten.

However film critic Barry Norman told the Radio Times that it was "hard to justify" the Life of Brian as the greatest British film of all time.

He added that while the nation's film sector had become something of a "cottage industry", Britain could still make "great" movies.