On television, Idle created Rutland Weekend Television ( RWT ), a sketch show on BBC2, written by himself, with music by Neil Innes.

The name was a parody of London Weekend Television, the independent television franchise that provided Londoners with their ITV services at weekends ; Rutland had been England's smallest county, but had recently been ' abolished ' in an administrative shake-up.

In 1976, he produced a spin-off book to Rutland Weekend Television, entitled The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book.

* The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book, 1976 ISBN 0-413-36570-0

Created as a short sketch in Idle's UK television comedy series Rutland Weekend Television, the Rutles gained fame after being the focus of the 1978 mockumentary television film, All You Need Is Cash ( The Rutles ).

The Rutles began in 1975 as a sketch on Idle's BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television.

In 1976, BBC Records produced The Rutland Weekend Songbook, an album containing 23 tracks including the Rutles songs " I Must Be In Love " and " The Children Of Rock And Roll " ( later reworked as " Good Times Roll ").

Two years later, on 2 October 1976, when Idle appeared on the American NBC show Saturday Night ( later Saturday Night Live ), he took videotape extracts from Rutland Weekend Television — including the Rutles clip.

The Rutles members in the original 1975 skit on Rutland Weekend Television, which subsequently aired on Saturday Night Live, were:

The Ringo Starr character was originally named Barry, although in the series spin-off book " The Rutland Weekend Songbook ", this character is mistakenly identified as " Kevin "— the only appearance of this name in the entire Rutles canon.

Rutles music for Rutland Weekend Television and the spin-off album The Rutland Weekend Songbook was recorded by Neils Innes ' own band Fatso, which consisted of:

" The Rutland Weekend Songbook " / Eric Idle & Neil Innes

Much of the material on these releases comes from 1978 rehearsal tapes, or from the Rutland Weekend Television soundtrack LP.

* Rutland Weekend Television, which spawned The Rutles

A parody of the show as part of Rutland Weekend Television in 1975, featuring Eric Idle as Harris, is the first known mention of fictional band, Toad The Wet Sprocket-a later reference on a Monty Python album gave rise to the band of the same name.

* Rutland Weekend Television

* Rutland Weekend Television

There was also an extended skit about the fictional Toad the Wet Sprocket on one of Idle's later shows, Rutland Weekend Television ( Season 1, Episode 4, Rutland Weekend Whistle Test ).

Programming included a special compilation of clips from Eric Idle's BBC television series Rutland Weekend Television, the original pilot of Shooting Stars, and Mike Leigh's film Nuts in May.

The band originally appeared in a sketch on Idle's program Rutland Weekend Television.

The film is also notable for its many cameo appearances by both British and American comiedians, including Monty Python, Saturday Night Live and Rutland Weekend Television.

Rutland Weekend Television or RWT centred on " Britain's smallest television network ", situated in England's smallest ( and mainly rural ) county, Rutland.

A Rutland TV station would be pretty small, so a Rutland Weekend Television would have to be ridiculously tiny.

Cecil was displeased with the arrangement, given his daughter's age compared to Oxford's, and had entertained the idea of her marrying the Earl of Rutland instead.

Cousin Wilfred ( John Rutland ) – Mrs. Warboys ' cousin, Wilfred, appeared twice in the series, and was considered to be a fairly boring middle-aged man.

The original principal alternative candidate was Francis Bacon, but by the beginning of the twentieth century other candidates, typically aristocrats, were put forward, most notably Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland and William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby.

In 1928 it was deemed necessary to use Clipsham Stone, a honey-coloured limestone from Rutland, to replace the decayed Anston.

These pubs were named after John Manners, Marquess of Granby, who was the son of John Manners, 3rd Duke of Rutland and a general in the 18th century British Army.

At the time of the death of his father and older brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland at the Battle of Wakefield, Richard, who was eight years old, was sent by his mother, the Duchess of York to the Low Countries, beyond the reach of Henry VI's vengeful Queen, Margaret of Anjou.

Ketton, where Robert was either born or perhaps first took holy orders, is a small village in Rutland, a few miles from Stamford.

Rutland attempted to escape over Wakefield Bridge, but was overtaken and killed, possibly by Clifford in revenge for his father's death at St Albans.

In fact, York was killed during the battle, and Rutland, at seventeen, was more than old enough to be an active participant in the fighting.

He was Sergeant-of-Arms to Henry VIII in 1526, Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1532, and a Justice of the Peace for Rutland.

Fry briefly attended Cawston Primary School, Cawston, Norfolk before going on to Stouts Hill Preparatory School at the age of seven, and then to Uppingham School, Rutland, where he joined Fircroft house and was described as a " near-asthmatic genius ".

Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, who was killed at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and his wife, Cecily Neville as well as his son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, who with Richard himself, fell at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, are buried in the church.

Edmund of Rutland was intercepted as he tried to flee and was executed, possibly by John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford in revenge for the death of his own father at the First Battle of St Albans.

The show was presented as a programme by a fictional TV network in Rutland, the smallest county in England.

Tragical History Tour, their self-indulgent TV movie about four Oxford history professors on a tour around Rutland tea-shops, was regarded as a failure.

According to a story recorded by the 16th century antiquarian John Leland, and derived by him from a now lost book in the possession of the Earls of Rutland at Belvoir Castle, there was once a King Alfred III of Mercia, who reigned in the 730s.

" A painting of this supposed incident was commissioned in 1778 by the then Duke of Rutland, but was destroyed in a fire in 1816.

East Midlands Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for its East Midlands region, which covers Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, and the Grantham and Stamford areas of Lincolnshire.

Peter Levy ( born 5 September 1955 ) is a British television and radio presenter, currently host of the BBC regional news programme Look North, broadcast from Kingston upon Hull to East Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, northwest Norfolk, west Suffolk, Rutland, east Leicestershire and northeast Nottinghamshire.

In the south of the parish towards Rutland Water is Barnsdale Gardens which were created by Geoff Hamilton of the BBC television series Gardeners ' World.