‘They were literally rocking with laughter’: John Cleese on Fawlty Towers – The Play

John Cleese is talking about the runaway success of Fawlty Towers, which is heading to Northampton this autumn.

“To be honest, I was more confident about it than almost anything I’ve ever done. But life has taught me to be self-deprecating, particularly in the UK; otherwise, you’re accused of being a bit cocky and you get slapped down.

“I remember reading the finished script and thinking it was really funny. And the English do love farce. Think Ben Travers. Think Brian Rix and Ray Cooney. Look at the success of Noises Off and One Man, Two Guvnors. Farce is universal.”

For all his quiet confidence that this evening in the theatre would be enthusiastically received, he couldn’t have predicted its rapturous reception.

The Daily Mail said it was “a fine reproduction of a vintage antique”. The Express deemed it “the funniest show in town” and The Times called it “hugely entertaining”.

I sat next to two women, both in their 30s, and not only were they enjoying it: they knew every single word of every scene written surely before either of them was born.

Cleese doesn’t try to hide his pride in this much-loved classic co-created with first wife, Connie Booth. But he shakes his head in mild wonder at the way in which it seems to have rooted itself in the public consciousness.

“I was told not so long ago of a family who have a game where one of them tries to introduce a quote from Fawlty Towers into the conversation without the other three realising. How great a compliment is that? For instance, if anyone says: ‘Don’t mention the war’, everyone knows its origin.”

The show opened at London’s Apollo theatre in May 2024 and he won’t easily forget the reaction of the first night audience. “They were literally rocking with laughter.” But then who could resist the self-delusional Basil, once described so brilliantly by Cleese himself as: “Rude but inefficient”?

The Fawlty stage show, niftily directed by Caroline Jay Ranger who scored a huge hit with the West End musical version of Only Fools and Horses, was a resounding success from the off. This ‘new’ touring production includes some cast changes. Danny Bayne will now play the crane-legged Basil with Mia Austen as his acerbic wife, Sybil. Joanne Clifton, winner alongside Ore Oduba in 2016 of the famed Strictly glitterball, takes on the role of Polly, the woman who pretty much single-handedly prevents Fawlty Towers from collapsing like a pack of cards. Happily, the peerless Paul Nicholas remains as The Major.

It features three of the most cherished scenes, cleverly stitched together (by Cleese himself) with a new finale wrapping up proceedings. Prepare to enjoy yourself all over again.

Miscommunication is the name of the game with a threatened visit by a brace of hotel inspectors followed by a party of German tourists. Then there’s Basil’s ongoing – futile, as it turns out – attempt to keep from Sybil his flutter on the horses with little or no help from Spanish waiter Manuel, played by the excellent Hemi Yeroham.

For two months until recently, an inexhaustible John, 85, has been writing a book called Fawlty Towers: Fawlts And All - My Favourite Moments (to be published by Headline on October 9) to celebrate 50 years of the comedy milestone.

He and younger daughter Camilla have also been working on developing a possible third TV series of Fawlty, set in a Caribbean motel where she will play opposite him as Basil’s illegitimate daughter. And she’s been collaborating with him on a stage musical version of the hit film, A Fish Called Wanda.

He beams when I ask him about his wife. “Oh yes,” he says, “She’s wonderful.” Jennifer Wade is a superfit jewellery designer he married in 2012. “She gets up at 5am every morning and swims two-and-a-half miles in a hotel pool and then does Pilates classes.”

He turned down a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1996. “I asked the authorities if I could call myself Commander Cleese. Absolutely not, apparently. Frankly, I think those things are rather silly. I don’t want a stamp of approval from people I don’t always have that much respect for.

“Also, just look at those men who have turned down awards and titles: David Bowie and Michael Frayn and Alan Bennett and Albert Finney. I have respect for them.”

Michael Palin accepted a knighthood in 2019. “And good luck to him. I was genuinely pleased. I now call him Sir Mickey: that’s how I always address my emails to him. He’s a lovely guy.”

So, let’s be clear: if John were offered a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List, he’d turn it down? “I would. I simply don’t need that sort of validation. It’s enough for me to know – because people often tell me – that I’ve helped them through difficult times by making them laugh.

“They come home, turn on an episode of Fawlty Towers and the world doesn’t seem quite so bleak. That’s my reward.

“I think we need much more laughter in the world. I’m not advocating mean teasing. Just good old-fashioned laughter,” says jolly John Cleese. “There’s nothing to beat it.”

Fawlty Towers – The Play runs at the Royal & Derngate from November 18 to 22. Visit royalandderngate.co.uk or call 01604 624811 to book.