The 83-year-old says he slipped in the family bathroom where he has walked for 58 years, describing it as a “comedy fall with no audience”.
Sir Michael Palin has postponed his UK book tour after fracturing three ribs and his pelvis in a fall at home. The 83-year-old Monty Python star was due to appear on stage to promote his new book, Michael Palin – In the Philippines. In a message on Instagram, he apologised to fans and to everyone who had worked on the tour. His website says ticket holders will be contacted about rescheduled dates.
What Palin said
He wrote: “My accident was quite unsensational, a slip in the family bathroom where I’ve walked for 58 years. I fell heavily on my left side resulting in three fractured ribs and a minor pelvic fracture. The recovery of bone fractures takes a long time especially when you’re 83.”
He added: “It was a comedy fall with no audience there to see it. I shall stick to fish slapping dances from now on. Sincere apologies to everyone who has already put a lot of work on the tour. I’d also like to say a huge thanks to the NHS for their incredible care.”
He has not given a medical timetable for returning to live appearances. His statement does not say whether he needed surgery, stayed in hospital overnight or is having rehabilitation at home, and it does not name the hospital that treated him. The tour has been postponed rather than permanently cancelled.
The tour dates
Palin’s website had advertised 13 performances between 7 and 30 October 2026, including Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall (12 October), Warrington’s Parr Hall (13 October), Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel (15 October), Norwich Theatre Royal (18 October), Richmond Theatre (19 October), Oxford Playhouse (25 October), Newcastle’s Tyne Theatre (29 October) and Bradford’s St George’s Hall (30 October). The tour was also billed as including previously unseen footage, photographs and stories not in the television documentary.
Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall and Chesterfield’s Winding Wheel have confirmed postponements, with ticket holders to be contacted. Ticketmaster is marking several shows, including Newcastle and Bradford, as postponed without new dates. Some other venue websites still show the original dates, so their listings should not be taken as confirmation that the shows will go ahead. Tickets were advertised at £46.50 in Chesterfield and £48 in Bradford.
The book and the documentary
The 192-page hardback was published on 1 October 2026 at a recommended UK price of £20. It follows Palin’s island-hopping through the Philippines, which Penguin says he writes about in “all its beauty, variety and many paradoxes”.
In one section he visits Manila’s “Smokey Mountain”, a vast rubbish dump with houses built into it, where he tries “pagpag”. This is made by a woman called Doring, who collects leftover KFC bones late at night, strips the flesh, washes it three times, refries it in ketchup and sells it the next morning. “I like a gastro challenge,” Palin writes, “and have eaten maggots and bull’s testicles in my travelling life. But pagpag defeats me.” Elsewhere he walks the beaches of Cadlao Island. Penguin’s description also mentions a confrontation involving a Chinese coastguard vessel near one of the country’s remote territories, a visit to the ruins of a town devastated by a five-month conflict between Islamist militants and government forces, and an unexpected encounter with the Marcos family at the end.
The book accompanies a Channel 5 documentary, Michael Palin in the Philippines, a three-part series made by ITN Productions covering a journey of about 2,500 miles. It looked at tourism, poverty, political history and territorial disputes, and included Palawan’s underground river, alleged flood-control corruption and synchronised dancing by prisoners. The series began on 28 September, and its third episode was due on 12 October. Nothing suggests any episode has been withdrawn.
Palin’s website shows he had finished filming in the Philippines months earlier, so the accident did not interrupt production. The book is his latest travel project, following visits to the North and South Poles, the Sahara, the Himalayas, Eastern Europe and North Korea for documentaries.
