Ripping Yarns is a British television comedy series. It was written by Michael Palin and Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. It was transmitted on BBC 2. Following an initial pilot episode in January 1976, it ran for two series — six episodes in October 1977 and three episodes in October 1979. Each episode had a different setting and characters, each looking at a different aspect of British culture and parodying pre-World War II literature aimed at schoolboys. In the title, "ripping" is a chiefly British slang meaning "excellent" or "fine", and "yarns" is a colloquialism for exaggerated stories.

Pilot episode

In 1975, the BBC commissioned a pilot episode from Palin and Jones, envisioned to be a light entertainment comedy piece. The result was Tomkinson's Schooldays (a title loosely inspired by Tom Brown's Schooldays, and suggested by BBC director Terry Hughes). Palin and Jones both wrote and starred in multiple roles.

Episodes

The nine episodes and their original airdates are: