John Cleese slaps down critics of ‘hugely different’ Fawlty Towers revival - ‘Haven’t the slightest idea!’
John Cleese slaps down critics of ‘hugely different’ Fawlty Towers revival - ‘Haven’t the slightest idea!’
GB News
Comedy legend John Cleese has slapped down critics of his “hugely different” Fawlty Towers revival.
The 83-year-old, who will soon host his own show on GB News, spoke to Camilla Tominey about rebooting the show after more than 40 years.
Cleese will reprise his role as Basil Fawlty and his daughter Camilla will also join the cast.
The series, which originally aired on the BBC in the late 1970s, was signed on with Castle Rock Entertainment.
Camilla Tominey (left) and John Cleese (right)
GB News
Cleese told GB News: “The answer is that it is going to be hugely different.
“My daughter, who is called Camilla, and I have been working on it for about a week and all we know is it certainly won't be set in the UK.
“It’ll probably be set somewhere in the sun, not in a big city, but somewhere out in the sun with a lot of open air stuff, which you never get in Fawlty Towers.
“But we’ve only just started to think about it because I am working on the stage version of Life of Brian, the musical of The Fish Called Wanda and the other Camilla and I have written a very good comedy on Hollywood stereotypes, I mean lookalikes.”
Cleese will reprise his role as Basil Fawlty and his daughter Camilla will also join the cast
GB News
He added: “The press tried to make it [Fawlty Towers] an albatross.
“I mean some of the press were so negative at the idea.
“I can’t remember, but I think it was The Guardian said it’s going to be bloody awful, which is a new form of criticism which is a critic criticising something before you have the slightest idea what it is.”
The Guardian’s Stuart Heritage warned that the “classic sitcom” faced an “almost impossible task” of emulating the show’s original glory but will see Cleese complain about “cancel culture until he runs out of breath”.
The Camilla Tominey Show airs on GB News at 9.30am every Sunday.
GB News
Cleese concluded: “It is going to be very, very different because if it’s in the Caribbean it’s going to be a multicultural cast which will be very interesting and my Camilla will be playing the woman who is running the hotel at the time.”
Speaking to Tominey this morning, Cleese also discussed the Royal Family and British media.
GB News’ The Camilla Tominey Show included former Brexit Secretary David Davis, ex-Defence Secretary Lord John Hutton and journalist Ross Clarke.
Australia's former foreign minister Alexander Downer also helped conduct the paper review.
The Camilla Tominey Show airs on GB News at 9.30am every Sunday.