The Monty Python team will receive a Bafta Special Award at the official 40th anniversary Monty Python reunion in New York on October 15.

John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin will attend the event, which is being co-hosted by Bafta and Independent Film Channel (IFC). The sixth member of the Monty Python team, Graham Chapman, died in 1989.

The award will honour the Pythons’ outstanding contribution to film and television. The last time the team were recognised by Bafta was in 1987 when they were presented with the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.

David Parfitt, chairman of Bafta, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to co-host this event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the incomparable Monty Python. It promises to be a rare and memorable occasion bringing the hugely talented Monty Python team together again, and we feel that the Special Award is a fitting tribute to this much-loved and singularly British institution.”

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