FAWLTY TOWERS RETURNS
CLASSIC sitcom Fawlty Towers is to get a new series — 44 years after it ended.
John Cleese, 83, will write it again and play Basil Fawlty.
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Cleese’s daughter Camilla, 39, will also write and star in the reboot which will spark a TV bidding war.
Manic Basil Fawlty will be seen grappling with the modern world as he runs a boutique hotel in the Fawlty Towers reboot.
John Cleese is writing and starring in the new project — as he did the original two series — along with his daughter Camilla, and promises the script is “excellent”.
The latest shows, which will see Basil running a hotel with his long-lost daughter, are likely to spark a bidding war between streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, as well as US and UK channels.
American production company Castle Rock Entertainment, run by director Rob Reiner and producer Matthew George, is backing the new project.
Filming is likely to begin next year.
Cleese said: “When we first met, Matt offered an excellent first idea, and then Matt, my daughter Camilla and I had one of the best creative sessions I can remember.
“By dessert we had an overall concept so good that, a few days later, it won the approval of Rob and Michele Reiner. Camilla and I look forward enormously to expanding it into a series.”
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George said: “I’ve watched the first two seasons so many times I have lost count. I dreamed of one day being involved in a continuation of the story. Now it’s come true.”
Fawlty Towers, which aired in 1975 with a second series in 1979, consistently tops all-time comedy lists thanks to famous scenes such as “Don’t mention the war” and Basil bashing his car with a branch.
Prunella Scales, 90, who played Basil’s wife Sybil, retired from acting in 2020 following her Alzheimer’s diagnosis six years earlier.
Andrew Sachs, who played Spanish waiter Manuel, died in 2016.
Connie Booth, who co-wrote the original two series and played chambermaid Polly, was married to Monty Python star Cleese from 1968 to 1978.
She quit acting in 1995.
Cleese went on to appear in films such as Clockwise, A Fish Called Wanda and two Bond movies.
But his private life was more of a blockbuster.
His 2008 divorce from his third wife, American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger, cost him £12million, including £600,000 a year for seven years.
He has called it “feeding the beast” and said: “She’s far better off than I am.”
Cleese now lives with fourth wife Jennifer on Caribbean isle Nevis.
Five best Basil bits
The goose step
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Sybil is in hospital, so Basil is left to cope when some German guests arrive.
The mayhem leads to the infamous goose step and “Don’t mention the war” scenes.
Car-thrashing
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Basil loses his rag with his car when it breaks down during a gourmet night.
Grabbing a tree branch, he shouts: “I’m going to give you a damn good thrashing.”
The Waldorf Salad
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Basil argues with an American guest over a Waldorf salad request.
The guest later calls Basil “the British Tourist Board’s answer to Donald Duck”.
Moose's head
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A moose’s head accidentally lands on Manuel’s bonce, leading Major Gowen to think the animal can talk.
He tells Basil: “Remarkable animal you’ve got there.”
Sybil's phone calls
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Basil’s wife wound him up by repeatedly saying “Oooh, I knowww” to a pal on the phone.
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He likened her laugh to “someone machine-gunning a seal”.