Unburied National Treasure John Lloyd launches a new conversation series, On A Roll, at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, beginning with the unearthing of the real Michael Palin.

On A Roll is an easy-going programme of Monday night events in central London, where format is intentionally simple: no interval and no gimmicks. It is a collaboration between producer John Lloyd CBE (the force behind QI, Blackadder, Spitting Image and Radio 4’s The Museum of Curiosity) and Clive Conway Productions. After a career spent working with some of the most interesting people in the country, John felt it was time to provide a stage for the sort of heart-to-heart chats that usually only happen in private or in the corner of a quiet pub.

Behind the scenes and off the leash, it is a rare chance to see Michael Palin, live and unedited, gently excavated by John Lloyd.

‘Everyone agrees Mike is the nicest person in showbiz, but he’s always insisted to me that he has a dark side. Join me in my futile mission to find out what it is’.

Palin remains one of our most gifted observers of the human condition. His career has been defined by a quiet, persistent curiosity about the world and his place in it. Hear him reflect not just on where he has been, but on the strange, often hilarious business of being Michael Palin.

Photography credit: Seamus Ryan