Fawlty Towers: John Cleese to revive series with daughter

John Cleese, who played Basil Fawlty, will be returning to write and star alongside his daughter Camilla Cleese.

The two-series show, which featured on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979, followed the lives of Torquay hotelier Basil and his wife Sybil as they tried to keep their business and marriage afloat.

The new series will explore how the cynical and sarcastic Basil navigates the modern world.

Castle Rock Entertainment announced on Tuesday it had closed a deal with Cleese to bring back the television series.

The revival will also see Basil, and a daughter he has just discovered is his, team up to run a boutique hotel.

Fawlty Towers was named the greatest British sitcom of all time by a panel of television experts for Radio Times magazine in 2019.

The new series will see actor Rob Reiner, his wife and actress Michelle Reiner, director and producer Matthew George and Derrick Rossi all act as executive producers.

Cleese - one of the original members of Monty Python - said when he first met George "he offered an excellent idea" which led to "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," he said.

"Camilla and I look forward enormously to expanding it into a series."

Director George said he was "obsessed with Fawlty Towers" and meeting Cleese and his daughter was one of the "great thrills" of his life.

"I've watched the first two seasons so many times I have lost count," he said. "I dreamed of one day being involved in a continuation of the story. Now it's come true."

Reiner described the Fawlty Towers star as a "comedy legend". "Just the idea of working with him makes me laugh."

In 2020, Cleese had a disagreement with the BBC after it temporarily removed a classic episode of Fawlty Towers because of "racial slurs".

The 1975 episode, called The Germans, featured the Major Gowen character using highly offensive language and Basil declaring "don't mention the war".

Cleese criticised the decision, saying: "I would have hoped that someone at the BBC would understand that there are two ways of making fun of human behaviour.

"One is to attack it directly. The other is to have someone who is patently a figure of fun, speak up on behalf of that behaviour."

Streaming service UKTV temporarily removed the episode while it carried out a review, but it was reinstated with a warning about "offensive content and language".

The original show was written by Cleese and Connie Booth.

In October 2022, the Monty Python actor confirmed he would be hosting his own GB News TV show.

-bbc