There's A Giant Dead Parrot On London's South Bank

This parrot is no more. He has ceased to be. He's expired and gone to meet his maker.

As you know, this is a giant Norwegian Blue.

Tim Anderson

It looks like he's resting.

David Parry / PA

Or perhaps pining for the fjords.

David Parry / PA

Actually, he was commissioned by comedy TV channel Gold to celebrate the screening of the very last Monty Python live show on July 20.

David Parry / PA

The 15-metre sculpture took a team of three sculptors over two months to design, construct, and paint.

David Parry / PA

Lead sculptor Iain Prendergast says: “We are all Monty Python fans, so we were delighted to receive the brief from Gold to recreate the mythical Norwegian Blue on a giant scale. We watched both live and televised versions of the sketch, and found that there have been a number of different incarnations of the parrot with a variety of different plumages. Our sculpture provides a colourful hybrid of all the dead parrots which have featured in the celebrated sketch. The key challenge for us was capturing the comedy value of the dead parrot, keeping the realism of the bird while also adding touches like the bloodshot ‘stunned’ eyes.”

Time to watch this again then.