John Cleese Returning to 'Fawlty Towers' in a New Reboot
John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, Connie Booth as Polly, and Andrew Sachs as Manuel) in the original 1975 Fawlty Towers
BBC
Not everything that was once a beloved classic series should get another turn on television, but don’t tell production studios that. Everything is on the table between the gaping maw of endless content that a streaming service demands and the drive to make these services single studio-supplied destinations for consumers. Whether it’s The Darling Buds of May becoming The Larkins or the brand new takes on Poldark and All Creatures Great & Small, the temptation is always there. The latest to give in is the people behind Fawlty Towers, which is headed back into production to see how Basil Fawlty is doing in the 2020s.
The original series is considered one of the greatest British comedies. Starring Monty Python alum John Cleese, the series centers around Basil Fawlty, a white man full of rage and resentment who owns the titular hotel in Torquay on the English Riviera. It co-starred Connie Booth as the maid Polly, the show’s voice of reason, Prunella Scales as his henpecking wife, and Andrew Sachs as Spanish waiter Manuel. The show only ran two seasons, but like Python, it became a defining part of the British comedy landscape.
Cleese is the driving force behind the reboot, which Rob Reiner’s Castle Rock outfit will produce. Note that there is no network or streaming service yet attached to the reboot; this is an “if you film it, they will line up and bid on it” situation. Considering Cleese’s issues with the BBC in recent years, it’s unsurprising the show’s original network is not yet involved at this stage and may very well pass on the finished project.
Here's all that is known about the series so far, according to Deadline:
The new series will explore how Cleese’s over-the-top, cynical, and misanthropic Basil Fawlty navigates the modern world. Plot details are largely being kept under wraps, but the development will bring the story forward to explore Basil’s relationship with a daughter he has just discovered he had, as the pair tempt fate and team up to run a boutique hotel.
Other than Cleese and his daughter, no actors have been attached to the new project. Most of the original cast has passed away in the intervening years. Those who are still here have returned from acting; Connie Booth, Cleese's former wife (though not the mother of Camilla), left acting in 1995, and Prunella Scales (mother of Samuel West) exited more recently in 2019. Booth was co-writer on the 1975 series; considering her absence (and Cleese's hard turn to far-right politics), whatever series does emerge may be barely recognizable to fans of the original.
The Fawlty Towers reboot has not yet started filming, one can only hope it never does.
