Title The secret policeman's ball - The complete edition Content Pleasure at her majesty's (1976, 71 min.) Mermaid frolics (1977, 52 min.) The secret policeman's ball (1979, 75 min.) The secret policeman's other ball (1981, 90 min.) The secret policeman's third ball (1987, 82 min.) The secret policeman's biggest ball (1989, 93 min.) Amnesty international's big 30 (1991, 100 min.) The secret policeman's balls (music compilation) Company Amnesty International Discs, format 4 discs, region 0 PAL (?) Release date 2002 Total time 581 min. Aspect ratio 4:3 Subtitles - Extra's - Comments various picture and sound quality, no Eric Idle

Title The secret policeman's ball - The complete edition Content Pleasure at her majesty's (1976, 71 min.) Mermaid frolics (1977, 52 min.) The secret policeman's ball (1979, 75 min.) The secret policeman's other ball (1981, 90 min.) The secret policeman's third ball (1987, 82 min.) The secret policeman's biggest ball (1989, 93 min.) Amnesty international's big 30 (1991, 100 min.) The secret policeman's balls (music compilation) Documentary for the 25th anniversary of the ball. Company Amnesty International Discs, format 5 discs, region 0 PAL (?) Release date 2004 Total time 581 min. Aspect ratio 4:3 Subtitles - Extra's - Comments various picture and sound quality, no Eric Idle This set has an extra disc but the box is really crappy.

At irregular intervals between 1976 and 1991 Amnesty International had fund raising shows. This started relatively small with John Cleese offering to get some of his friends together. "The secret policeman's ball - The complete edition" covers all those shows, all of which have some pythons (although Eric Idle never attended) and most have really interesting performances - from a collector's point of view - suuch as a revised Parrot sketch. Also many other famous faces in British comedy appear with python members or with their own acts. Rowan Atkinson as e.g. one of the Yorkshiremen is but one of the comedy combinations never seen before, or after. How about Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and John Cleese?

And let's not forget the music (Sting, Phil Collins and many others).

Also available on separate DVD's. Note that the first show has poor picture quality but it gradually increases as Amnesty and its campaign grow. Note also "The secret policeman's private parts (1984) IMDB is a compilation of the shows until 1981.

The conclusion: the first box is much better-looking and has a booklet. But only the crappy 25th anniversary edition silver box has the documentary included. Sigh.