John Cleese boards Fawlty Towers sequel
Cleese is returning as Basil Fawlty, now running a boutique hotel with his daughter.
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Meanwhile in news nobody expected….
John Cleese is returning to Fawlty Towers, more than 4 decades after the finale screened, in a project with daughter, Camilla Cleese.
The sequel even sees Cleese, 83, perform as Basil Fawlty, now grappling with the fact that he has a daughter who he didn’t know existed, trying to run a boutique hotel, all the while trying to stay up to date with the modern, ever-changing world.
Backing the project is famed director / producer Rob Reiner (This is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally) and a producing team at Castle Rock.
“John Cleese is a comedy legend. Just the idea of working with him makes me laugh,” said Reiner.
Last year, Cleese signed up to become a presenter for UK news channel GB News, complaining that “cancel culture” had prevented him from being on screen.
Fawlty Towers only ran for two six-part seasons wrapping in 1979.
In 2009, John Cleese said that there would never be another episode of the show.
“I think everyone would be excited if we did it [a new series],” he said. “The problem is, when you do do something that is generally accepted as being very good, a horrible problem arises, which is: how do you top it? The expectation of what you will do is so high.”
No, really?
Source: Metro, The Guardian
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17 Responses
Seemingly no broadcaster attached so suspect it’ll never actually make it to air, just like the reported reboot of The Bill a year or two ago.
And what Fawlty Towers screenplay will Mr. Cleese be re-writing?, there’s a number of reasons why a reboot may not work as well as Rob Reiner may think. Fawlty Towers is a product of a less activist age when humour was escapist fun and socio-political outrage was kept in check, making fun of the Germans or featuring racial stereotypes like the bullied Spanish waiter Manuel was ‘Carry On’ British comedy, it relied on visual comedic skill and timing, which Cleese knows a lot about, the episode where Manuel was chased around the kitchen by a love sick gay chef, after being locked in the kitchen by Cleese, was a classic but no doubt red flag slapstick for todays PC media critics and diversity watchdogs. In fact the famous Cleese goosestep and Hitler salute, due to head injury concussion, in front of his German guests was deleted in later re-runs. I’m not sure that aging fans of the show will find much that’s new or original, especially if it is made with American audiences in mind.
Contemporary sequel not a reboot.
In my opinion if Mr. Cleese is involved it will be a reboot, but we will wait and see.
That would require new actors as Sybil, Polly, Manuel etc.
Cleese also wouldn’t be able to replicate much of the more physical humour that characterised the original series.
I would love to see them throw caution to the wind and really ruffle some feathers with a revival that remains true to the spirit and tone of the original, but it seems that few have any balls to take any risks nowadays. Either way, I’m happy to dismiss the revival as non-canon if they screw it up (but I’m open to being surprised).
Theoretically, Booth could return as Polly, though I’d strongly doubt that she would be interested at her age (and the fact that she retired from acting over two decades ago). It also wouldn’t make sense for a character like hers to be so professionally devoted to a man like Basil (but we often have to suspend disbelief when it comes to revivals that are made decades after the originals).
Scales is out of the question, sadly, as her Alzheimer’s has advanced to the extent that she was forced into retirement a few years ago.
He’s got nothing to lose so why not.Better than more reality stuff on our screens for a change.John of recent years was on a show for a couple of seasons that screened on Foxtel can’t think of the title but it was good
Hold the Sunset was the name and it was good. It included various actors young and aging (get that a lot now days) actors, and I completely agree on the reality score.
Without Sybil,Polly and Manuel this reboot just won’t be the same.Also I hope they don’t make it in America.The Americans tried to remake this series a few times before and failed dismally on every occasion.
Cleese should bring the character back but have him in a different setting, maybe Basil living in a retirement village. I can just imagine all the stuff he’d get up to. But to open a boutique hotel………… nope.
Did somebody say Bullpitt!?
My only comment is…..why? Oh what next!!!
It used to be back by popular demand, now it’s back by cost of living demand. It’s difficult to replicate anything similar as those times were different. And likely without the same cast. It’s difficult to replicate the chemistry of the cast. A classic comedy nonetheless. It needs to be just as good or better than the original.
I feel that there are a lot of ‘classics’ that should be left untouched. All these reboots (hello Idol)/remakes can be harmful to the legacy of the originals. The world that we live in now is different from what it used to be. And our taste in entertainment has evolved.
Reality and entertainment formats are designed to have long lives, be financially rewarding and should be part of TV’s cycle -it’s sort of why they are called formats. Scripted far more difficult.
He’s been taken to the cleaners with his divorces so this is the reason he’s doing it ,it proves that he’s desperate for money and will even tarnish his classic to make a few bucks,sorry Mr Cleese I won’t give this the time of day.
It 2023 this will get murdered, I wonder why they want to destroy the legacy of the original, yes money of course.