Monty Python announces five further dates

The poster for the show utilises Monty Python's famous cartoon imagery

The surviving members of the Monty Python team have doubled the number of their reunion shows, by announcing five further dates at London's O2 Arena.

Tickets for the new shows go on sale on Friday, following the sell-out success of the first batch on 1 to 5 July.

The new dates will see the team perform again on 15, 16, 18, 19 and 20 July.

John Cleese called the response to the reunion "very silly" but said the group were "touched that so many fans still want to see such old people perform".

Tickets for the 1 July date sold out in just 43.5 seconds. Once announced, the other concerts sold out shortly afterwards.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today Programme earlier, Cleese said it was "extraordinary to have such a positive reaction".

The reunion will see the 74-year-old appear alongside Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle.

Only Graham Chapman will be missing from the line-up, having died in 1989 at the age of 48.

Not everyone has welcomed the team's partial reformation, with former Fleet Street editor Piers Morgan declaring himself "distraught" by the news.

"They once parodied the ludicrous," wrote the journalist turned broadcaster of the celebrated sketch comedians earlier this week.

"Now they are in severe danger of becoming the very thing they parodied."

The Pythons have not ruled out the possibility of performing elsewhere in the UK.