MacNaughton spent a year in medical school before abandoning his plans to become a doctor and joining the Royal Marines for a year in 1945. His elder brother was killed in World War II. Ian MacNaughton was born in Glasgow and educated at Strathallan School in Perthshire. In 1973, the production team shared the BAFTA Award for Best Light Entertainment Programme for Monty Python's Flying Circus. MacNaughton was director and producer for all but four of the forty five episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus from 1969 to 1974, director of the group's first feature film And Now for Something Completely Different in 1971 and director of their two German episodes, Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus in 19.

Not only did he direct nearly all of the episodes for the show, he helmed a German TV special called 'Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus' and the group's first foray into film with 1971's 'And Now for Something Completely Different.' By the 1970s MacNaughton was based exclusively in Germany, where he lived out the remainder of his career directing television series.Edward Ian MacNaughton (30 December 1925 – 10 December 2002) was a Scottish actor-turned-television producer and director, best known for his work with the Monty Python team.

After finishing the course, MacNaughton began directing episodes of several British television programs, including the comedies 'Q5,' and 'Charley's Grants.' MacNaughton's most notable directorial work, however, came when he was asked to direct the British comedy troupe, Monty Python, in their groundbreaking television series, 'Monty Python's Flying Circus.' It was the beginning of a relationship that would last throughout MacNaughton's career. A native of Scotland, MacNaughton returned to his homeland after the war and immediately began appearing in films such as 1956's 'X: The Unknown,' 1958's 'The Safecracker,' and a small uncredited part as a Scottish soldier in director David Lean's 1962 epic, 'Laurence of Arabia.' By 1964, however, MacNaughton had grown tired of acting and enrolled in a BBC training course for TV directors. Although he initially wanted to pursue a career in medicine, Ian MacNaughton became interested in acting while performing in an amateur theater group with the Royal Marines during World War II.

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