‘I can’t see it matching the original’: Monty Python star Carol Cleveland, 81, admits she is ‘amazed’ Fawlty Towers is being revived – more than 40 years after it went off air
Monty Python’s Carol Cleveland has admitted she is ‘amazed’ that Fawlty Towers is being revived.
The second and final series ended more than 40 years ago but Monty Python actor John Cleese, 83, will write new episodes of the former BBC programme with his comedian daughter Camilla Cleese, 39.
And commenting on the news, Carol Cleveland – who appeared in 30 episodes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and all four of their films – said she was ‘delighted’.
Speaking to The Mirror, she said: ‘I’m amazed. I’m no spring chicken at 81. John is 83, which in reality would be too old to run a hotel.
‘I can’t see it matching the original, but maybe it’s not meant to,’ she said, but added: ‘I’m delighted it’s coming back and I can’t wait to see it.’
Amazed: Monty Python’s Carol Cleveland has admitted she is ‘amazed’ that Fawlty Towers is being revived (Pictured in 2005)
Aside from Fawlty Towers, John is best known as one of the original members of the Monty Python comedy troupe.
The group produced a number of surreal sketch shows and films including Monty Python And The Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life Of Brian and Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life.
Developed by actor and filmmaker Rob Reiner’s Castle Rock Entertainment, the new series will look at how cynical and misanthropic snob Basil fares in the modern world, it was announced on Tuesday.
John is set to return to screens as hotel manager Basil Fawlty, and while plot details are mostly being kept under wraps, the story will look Basil’s relationship with his daughter, who he has only recently discovered he is father to.
Despite being tortured by ‘that annoying section of the general public who insist on staying at hotels’ in the previous two series which ran from 1975 to 1979 for 12 episodes, Basil and his daughter decide to reenter the industry and open up a boutique property.
The original series followed the unfortunate exploits of highly-strung Torquay hotelier Basil and his wife Sybil, portrayed by Prunella Scales, as they tried to keep their hotel and marriage afloat.
But Carol, now enjoying semi-retirement in West Sussex, believes that the show might be very different this time.
She said: ‘It’ll be interesting to see how John gets round today’s political correctness.
Upcoming: The second and final series ended more than 40 years ago but Monty Python actor John Cleese, 83, will write new episodes of the former BBC programme with his comedian daughter Camilla Cleese, 39 (John, pictured in 2019)
‘It might not be as fun if it’s so politically correct’, she told the publication.
Meanwhile, the BBC’s Nick Robinson has suggested that John Cleese will have to rediscover his sense of humour ahead of the revival.
Discussing reports of the remake, Robinson told listeners about John: ‘He’ll have to discover some humour.
‘Because he’s been very cross, John Cleese, the last few times we’ve talked to him on this programme. No doubt he can be funny still. We’ll see.’
Comeback: John is set to return to screens as Basil Fawlty, with a reboot of the star’s famous comedy Fawlty Towers in the work (John pictured in 2019)
Cleese was last on the programme in October, complaining he ‘cancelled or censored’ if he appeared on the BBC.
He also expressed views on ‘the appalling debate on Brexit, when I thought this country had sunk to the lowest intellectual level I can ever remember’, and the Tory government, which he described as ‘progressively more and more disastrous’.
In 2019, Fawlty Towers was named the greatest British sitcom of all time by a panel of television experts for Radio Times magazine.
Actor Rob Reiner, his wife and actress Michele Reiner, director and producer Matthew George and Derrick Rossi will act as executive producers on the series.
On air: The second and final series ended more than 40 years ago but Monty Python actor John is writing new episodes of the former BBC programme (John is seen as character Basil Fawlty in 1975’s episode one of series one, A Touch of Glass)
John said: ‘What I like about Matt is that, unlike many producers, he really ‘gets’ the creative process.
‘When we first met, he 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.’
Family affair: John has teamed up with his comedian daughter Camilla Cleese, 39, to write the new episodes (Camilla pictured in 2018)
Producer Matthew said that meeting John and Camilla was one of the ‘great thrills’ of his life, adding: ‘I’m obsessed with Fawlty Towers and the legendary characters he created.
‘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.’
Rob Reiner said: ‘John Cleese is a comedy legend. Just the idea of working with him makes me laugh.’
Former Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, who was best known for his portrayal of put-upon Spanish waiter Manuel in the classic sitcom, died at the age of 86 in 2016 following a secret four-year battle with dementia that left him wheelchair-bound and unable to speak.
Iconic: John played hotel manager Basil who was tortured by `that annoying section of the general public who insist on staying at hotels’ in the two series from 1975 to 1979 (L-R: Prunella Scales as Sybil, John Cleese as Basil, Connie Booth as Polly and Andrew Sachs as Manuel in 1975)
He passed away in a care home, with his wife Melody, who cared for him tirelessly, saying at the time: ‘My heart has been broken every day for a long time.’
She said the couple was happy until the end, adding: ‘I never once heard him grumble.’
Melody told how her husband had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012. It is the second most common form of the disease after Alzheimer’s.
She said: ‘It wasn’t all doom and gloom, he still worked for two years.
‘We were happy, we were always laughing, we never had a dull moment. He had dementia for four years and we didn’t really notice it at first until the memory started going.
Update: The new series, of which there was originally just 12 episodes made, will see Basil open up a new boutique hotel with a daughter he didn’t know he was father to
‘It didn’t get really bad until quite near the end. I nursed Andrew, I was there for every moment of it.’
The actor died on November 23 2016 and his family and close friends gathered on November 30 that year for his funeral and burial in North London.
Sybil Fawlty actress Prunella Scales was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014 but, in November last year, her husband Timothy West insisted she was ‘still enjoying life’ after celebrating her 90th birthday in June.
Former Coronation Street star Timothy, 88, told the Mirror: ‘She enjoys life, which is essential really. She likes doing things.’
Farewell: Andrew Sachs, who was best known for his portrayal of put-upon Spanish waiter Manuel in the classic sitcom, died at the age of 86 in 2016 after a dementia battle
John also revealed last year he was joining GB News after being told it is a ‘free speech channel’.
When announcing the move on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he said: ‘The BBC have not come to me and said, ‘Would you like to have some one-hour shows?’
‘And if they did, I would say, ‘Not on your nelly’, because I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored.’
Today presenter Amol Rajan replied at the time: ‘Well, we’ve given you five minutes today and I can promise you you haven’t been censored yet.’
Plot: The original series followed the exploits of highly-strung Torquay hotelier Basil and his wife Sybil as they tried to keep their hotel and marriage afloat (John pictured as Basil in 1975)
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