John Cleese Fawlty Towers

Jimmy Carr has dished out advice for John Cleese ahead of the Fawlty Towers reboot after fans of the classic sitcom voiced their concerns.

‘I think, from John Cleese’s point of view, if he leaves it, he doesn’t get paid. That’s the smart money.’ [Who was in the cast of the original Fawlty Towers and how many episodes were there?](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/09/fawlty-towers-who-was-in-the-original-and-how-many-episodes-are-there-18250701/?ico=more_text_links) [writing the show](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/07/fawlty-towers-john-cleese-to-reboot-show-with-daughter-camilla-18242368/) with his daughter Camilla Cleese, 39, while Matthew George, Rob Reiner, Michele Reiner and Derrick Rossi are set to executive produce the revival, amid [fears from fans](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/08/fawlty-towers-fans-are-already-dreading-sitcom-revival-18244000/) that it could be a ‘car crash’. [all of the hijinks he gets up to](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/09/fawlty-towers-who-was-in-the-original-and-how-many-episodes-are-there-18250701/) with his fellow staff members and wife, would be making a return after more than 40 years. [Jimmy Carr](https://metro.co.uk/tag/jimmy-carr/) has given his two cents on the upcoming reboot of popular British sitcom [Fawlty Towers](https://metro.co.uk/tag/fawlty-towers/?ico=auto_link_entertainment_P1_LNK1), revealing what advice he’d give for [John Cleese](https://metro.co.uk/tag/john-cleese/) as the lead star prepares to reprise his role.

As you may already have heard, John Cleese is planning to revive 'Fawlty Towers' for the modern era. The comedy show, which ran for two series in 1975 and ...

News of the revival has divided opinion on social media; some people think that the classic show should not be touched, while others look forward to seeing what the increasingly cantankerous Cleese will bring to a show set in the modern era. Having just discovered that he has fathered a daughter, the show will see the pair team up to run a boutique hotel together while navigating the trials and tribulations of modern society. However, it seems that Cleese - its star and writer - is not one for sacred cows.

Fawlty Towers was named the greatest British sitcom of all time by a panel of television experts for Radio Times magazine in 2019, but fans are mixed about ...

Actor and director Rob Reiner will be an executive producer on the series alongside his wife and actress Michele Reiner. [Vote in our poll](https://xd.wayin.com/display/container/dc/730e413b-2fbc-4743-a983-f5446ae75b16/details). The comedy followed hotelier Basil Fawlty and his wife Sybil, played by Mr Cleese and Prunella Scales as they tried to keep their Torquay hotel and marriage together.

The actor, who is best known for portraying Basil Fawlty in the sitcom, said that it would not return to its broadcasting home. Advertisement. Fawlty Towers is ...

[will show the much-loved character running a boutique hotel](https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/tv/7331861/iconic-british-tv-comedy-to-make-return/) while adjusting to the modern world. [John Cleese](https://www.the-sun.com/who/john-cleese/) will be teaming up with his real-life daughter Camilla in a reboot of the 1970s series. [John, 83](https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/7337498/john-cleese-net-worth-wife-shows/), who appeared on the BBC sitcom back in the 1970s, opened up about the rebooted series in a new chat. [Fawlty Towers will return for a reboot ](https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/tv/7331861/iconic-british-tv-comedy-to-make-return/)– with filming beginning in 2024. He hit out that the BBC lacked "the freedom" he remembered in the "60s, 70s and beginning of the 80s". JOHN Cleese has revealed that the new Fawlty Towers reboot will NOT air on the BBC as he opened up about the show.

The actor, who played grumpy hotelier Basil Fawlty in the BBC2 show, said last night: 'I'm not doing it with the BBC because I won't get the freedom.'

Details are secret but it is safe to assume it will avoid very ‘un-woke’ scenarios of the original show, which ran from 1975 and 1979. It was temporarily pulled by streaming service UKTV. But I believe it’s become far too dominated by people who are frightened of offending people.’

John Cleese pushed back on assertions that the rebooted comedy series would be "an anti-woke nightmare"

(The first, of course, being his [long-running commercial campaign](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z82QibdzFbY) on behalf of Schweppes Tonic Water.) Now Cleese has revealed that the series won’t be returning to its old home at the BBC, and will instead (aided, presumably, by the help of co-producer Rob Reiner) be shopped elsewhere. [This is per Deadline](https://deadline.com/2023/02/fawlty-towers-john-cleese-bbc-caribbean-1235255256/), itself reporting on an interview Cleese gave this week to GB News, a U.K. Also, the word “woke” gets worked in there, although to the credit of Cleese—who’s settled pretty comfortably into the [“they don’t let you say things like they used to”](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/may/29/john-cleese-criticised-for-saying-london-is-no-longer-an-english-city) portion of his elder comedy statesman status—only in response to other people bringing it up.

Former Monty Python member John Cleese disputes speculation that his Fawlty Towers reboot will be an "anti-woke nightmare."

A home for the new Fawlty Towers episodes has not been announced, but Cleese is sure it won't be at the BBC "because you wouldn't get the freedom." "If you put it in the Caribbean, it becomes very multi-racial," promised Cleese, who will write the show with his daughter Camilla Cleese. Cleese has a habit of criticizing the BBC, where the original two seasons of Fawlty Towers ran. The original Fawlty Towers featuring Clesse as an angry and incompetent hotel manager ran for only two seasons in 1975 and 1979. When presenter Dan Wootton confronted the comedian with a headline from the left-leaning British newspaper The Guardian speculating the revival would turn into an "anti-woke nightmare," he responded that "the idea that it's all going to be about wokery hadn't particularly occurred to me." Cleese stated that an episode adhering to the paper's standards might "not be very funny, but I'm sure it would really please some of their readers."

Monty Python star John Cleese reveals Fawlty Towers revival won't be on the BBC and insists the new series won't be 'anti-woke nightmare'.

By dessert we had an overall concept so good that, a few days later, it won the approval of Rob and Michele Reiner. [Who was in the cast of the original Fawlty Towers and how many episodes were there?](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/09/fawlty-towers-who-was-in-the-original-and-how-many-episodes-are-there-18250701/?ico=more_text_links) People in the hotel business come from everywhere, so you can bring lots of different people together. ‘Maybe they should write an episode for me that they would find acceptable. ‘They obviously know better than I do what’s going to be in it,’ he said. [bringing back the classic comedy](https://metro.co.uk/2023/02/07/fawlty-towers-john-cleese-to-reboot-show-with-daughter-camilla-18242368/) – which initially aired two series of six episodes each on the Beeb in 1975 and 1979 – and he revealed the show will be finding a new home for the Castle Rock Entertainment production.

John Cleese announced he has written new episodes of Fawlty Towers with his daughter Camilla.

[John Cleese](/latest/john-cleese) told Dan Wootton, he was “lucky” to work with the broadcaster in the past but is now looking for a new home for the sequel. John continued: “If you look at a paper now from 1985 and look at the TV shows available that evening and compare what they are now - basically in Britain we’ve gone from what was a middle-class culture with all its failings to a tabloid culture and that is why there is so much of this screaming at people.” “She met a guy and they chatted briefly and we were all in Las Vegas together because I was doing a show with her and we had dinner and we suddenly realised that if we do a sequel, first of all it’s interesting. “I was terribly lucky before, because I was working for the BBC in the late Sixties, Seventies, and the beginning of the Eighties. He explained: “I’m not doing it with the BBC because I won’t get the freedom. [GB News](/latest/gb-news) and insisted he would never return to the [BBC](/latest/bbc).

A reboot of the classic Seventies sitcom won't just be a disappointment, says Louis Chilton. It proves that absolutely nothing is sacred.

[argued in favour of the forthcoming Frasier revival](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/frasier-reboot-revival-kelsey-grammer-cast-b2263035.html), a prospect that has prompted only doom and foreboding in many of the series’ fans. Of course, by now, audiences are so numb to the very word “reboot”, that it could be easy to overlook the significance of a Fawlty Towers one. The fact that it’s been years since Cleese was a talked-about presence on the British TV circuit is of course not insignificant. But even within this sea of dredged-up mediocrity, the absurdity of a Fawlty Towers reboot cannot be downplayed. Maybe the TV industry really has just run out of ideas. In the modern world of “intellectual property”, every work of art is reduced to a familiar face, a pristine corpse waiting to be dug up and dusted off. A cynical mind might suggest that reviving Fawlty Towers is the only way for Cleese to get a major TV role again. The problem with a Fawlty Towers reboot isn’t simply that it will disappoint – though disappoint it surely will. The thrill of watching Basil Fawlty always lay in Cleese’s energy, in the manic physicality he brought to the performance. But the bigger issue with a Fawlty Towers reboot is what it represents for the industry. From the writing through to the performances, it was bottled lightning. For decades, the very idea seemed unthinkable.

John Cleese has revealed that the new Fawlty Towers reboot series will be set abroad and won't be on the BBC.

[subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). More than 40 years after the iconic sitcom brought us new [episodes](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/fawlty-towers-watch-stream-netflix/), the news sent fans and sceptics alike into a frenzy. No further casting details have been announced yet but we do now know that it won't be housed on the BBC, according to Cleese. Sachs (who starred as Spanish waiter Manuel) died in 2016 after being diagnosed with vascular dementia four years earlier. Cleese continued: "We thought that if the only continuing character is Basil, then we can come up with something surprising. "I’m not doing it with the BBC because I won’t get the freedom," he said. [Comedy](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/) coverage or visit our [TV Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/tv-listings/) and [Streaming Guide](https://www.radiotimes.com/streaming-guide/) to find out what's on. Speaking about working with his daughter on this new series, he told GB News: "My daughter and I have been writing together for 16 years... Secondly, it doesn’t rely upon Manuel – dear Andy Sachs who’s not with us anymore, and Prue Scales." The actor claimed changes within the BBC led to the broadcaster prioritising audience numbers. [learn more](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/commercial-links-on-radiotimes-com/)) [Fawlty Towers reboot](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/fawlty-towers-reboot-john-cleese-newsupdate/) was announced.

Comedian John Cleese declared that he would not allow a reboot of "Fawlty Towers" to air on BBC because the outlet was "frightened of offending others."

Cleese will be starring in the show along with his daughter, Camilla Cleese. [CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP](https://www.foxnews.com/apps-products) [JOHN CLEESE SPEAKS OUT AGAINST CANCEL CULTURE, SAYS IT ‘MISUNDERSTANDS THE MAIN PURPOSE OF LIFE’](https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/john-cleese-cancel-culture-misunderstands-purpose-life) "That was the best time because the BBC was run by people with real personality who loved the medium and who were operating out of confidence, which was okay because there wasn’t so much competition," Cleese "I was terribly lucky before, because I was working for the BBC in the late Sixties, Seventies, and the beginning of the Eighties." [British media giant](https://www.foxnews.com/media/bbc-radio-issues-apology-trans-gamer-rails-jk-rowling-transphobia-fell-short) had lost its sense of humor and become "dominated by people who are frightened of offending" people.

The news of Fawlty Towers' return has brought a mixed reaction, and John Cleese had his own opinions about some comments about the revival.

In such a volatile comedy landscape, where exactly Fawlty Towers will land is intriguing to many fans of the original show and those waiting for a chance to tear it down. Cleese also noted that he did not want to work with the BBC on the new series as he would “not get the freedom” he is clearly getting from Rob Reiner’s Castle Rock Entertainment. While the 70s sitcom is still regarded as one of the greatest British sitcoms of all time, mainly thanks to the manic performance of Cleese as hotelier Basil Fawlty, it is seen by some as being “of its time” in terms of its attitude.

John Cleese says he's not willing to let the 'Fawlty Towers' reboot land on the BBC because it's "frightened of offending people".

He told [GBNews](https://www.gbnews.uk/entertainment/world-exclusive-john-cleese-says-he-wont-allow-bbc-to-screen-new-series-of-fawlty-towers/439812) this was because he wanted “to deal with subjects that get people upset” and doesn’t believe this will align with the broadcaster’s vision. “Then John Birt came in and said if the BBC didn’t match the viewing figures that the commercial channels were getting they’d get their license revoked. As well as critiquing the BBC in the past, Cleese has also hit out at his alma mater Cambridge over the matter. Cleese wrote and starred in the ’70s sitcom, which originally aired on the BBC. I was terribly lucky, Dan. [BBC](https://www.nme.com/tag/bbc) over his [Fawlty Towers reboot](https://www.nme.com/news/tv/fawlty-towers-to-be-rebooted-by-john-cleese-and-his-daughter-3394591) because the broadcaster wouldn’t give the show “freedom”.

TOM LEONARD: What is the right response to John Cleese, who many believe hasn't been funny for at least 30 years, trying to resurrect the best-loved sitcom ...

The thing I try to remember is the good times when we were young and funny.’ He’s expected to pursue this issue when he presents a news show on GB News alongside the journalist Andrew Doyle. But he said he’d ‘never been prouder of anyone’ when she eventually managed to get clean. Cleese, now 83, will write and act in the new show alongside his daughter, Camilla Cleese, a 39-year-old Los Angeles stand-up comic. Cleese’s second wife, American actress Barbara Trentham, to whom he was married from 1981 to 1990 produced another daughter, Camilla, but also ended in divorce. He relies heavily on voiceovers in children’s films, although he has a part in Hollywood pariah Roman Polanski’s next film, a black comedy starring Mickey Rourke called The Palace. ‘I think they’ve got to write him a cheque beforehand and he’ll be fine,’ he said. His first marriage, to American Connie Booth in 1968, lasted ten years and produced one child, Cynthia. Cleese, reportedly now worth £8 million, has no such worries with Wade, whom he calls his ‘kindred spirit’. TV show following the exploits of various dysfunctional employees and guests at an exclusive resort. Controversial comedian Jimmy Carr suggested the remake, given Cleese’s age, should be set in a retirement home, and he claimed the former Python was only in it for the money. Cleese stayed on and the result was the magnificent Fawlty Towers, even if at the time of his stay Cleese didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

John Cleese says he won't let the BBC screen the Fawlty Towers reboot because the broadcaster would not give him the “necessary freedom”.

The star also revealed the new Fawlty Towers will be set in a “bijou hotel in the Caribbean”. John Cleese revealed the new Fawlty Towers will be set in the Caribbean John Cleese revealed the new Fawlty Towers will be set in a "bijou hotel in the Caribbean".