The Secret Policeman's Balls is a 3-disc DVD box set released by Shout! Factory in the USA and Canada on 27 January 2009. The discs comprise comedic and musical performances given at a series of fund-raising events for Amnesty International known collectively as The Secret Policeman's Balls. The box set includes only performances from the late 1970s through the late 1980s.[1]
Home Media Magazine reported in December 2008 that the set would include five films: Pleasure at Her Majesty's (1976), The Secret Policeman’s Ball (1979), The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981), The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball (1987) and The Secret Policeman’s Biggest Ball (1989).
Performers featured include a wide variety of British talent, ranging from members of Monty Python (i.e. John Cleese (co-founder of The Secret Policeman's Balls), Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin) to prominent figures of the early-1960s Satire Boom, such as Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller, to younger and then up-and-coming performers such as Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr. Bean), Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie (A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Jeeves and Wooster), and Jennifer Saunders (French and Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous).
The box set contains performances by a number of artists, including Pete Townshend, Sting, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, Peter Gabriel, Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading, plus rare duets from Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, and Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins.
Also included is a BBC documentary Remember The Secret Policeman’s Ball, rare performances from other shows not included in the set, such as The Mermaid Frolics (1977) and introductions and commentaries from executive producer Martin Lewis, who also provided the liner notes.[2]