John Cleese planning sequel to Fawlty Towers: The Play
John Cleese intends to bring three more classic episodes of Fawlty Towers to the stage in a follow-up to the hit theatre show based on the classic 1970s sitcom.
John Cleese is planning a stage show sequel for Fawlty Towers.
The classic BBC sitcom was revived at the theatre for Fawlty Towers: The Play - which has been a huge success since debuting on London's West End last year - and Cleese is now planning a new production inspired by three more classic episodes of the comedy, in which he starred as inept hotel owner Basil Fawlty.
The 85-year-old star is planning a new screenplay featuring scenes from The Psychiatrist, where Basil accidentally gropes a guest's breast as he reaches for the light switch.
Other episodes featured include The Kipper and the Corpse - where hotel staff attempt to hide a dead body - and Basil the Rat, where waiter Manuel's (Andrew Sachs) pet rodent escapes.
Fawlty Towers: The Play is made up of scenes from three episodes including the famous scenes from The Germans, in which Basil imitates Adolf Hitler in front of German guests.
Cleese said: "In the West End, we took favourites such as Mrs Richards, The Germans and The Food Inspectors and put those together to make the show.
"But it has been so successful that I said, 'Let's put together three other shows.'
"There is no reason we cannot do it again but we wouldn't want to have it on at the same time so maybe in a year and a half's time?"
Cleese changed very little content from the 1970s comedy in the stage play and previously hit out at "literal-minded people" who have caused older programmes to be slapped with trigger warnings.
The Monty Python star said last year: "Whenever you're doing comedy you're up against the literal-minded, and the literal-minded don't understand irony. That means if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy.
"The literal-minded don't understand metaphor and don't understand irony and they don't understand comic exaggeration. The result is if you listen to them, people who are not understanding of what other human beings are saying and doing, they're not playing with a full deck.
"Literal-minded people can only have one interpretation of what's being said and that's the literal-minded one. People who are not literal-minded can see that there are different interpretations depending on different context."
