The BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers sequel show has a fresh return to the stage, John Claes has confirmed.
The comedy legend, 85, reprised his role as bumbling hotel owner Basil Fawlty in the West End last year, drawing fans of the original show, which ran from 1975 to 1979.
Fawlty Towers: The Play was a two-hour stage play that Kleise completed based on three original episodes: the hotel inspector, the Germans, and the communication problems, which remain true to the show’s original tone.
However, he passed the baton to Danny Bayne to portray the lead role.
Now three more episodes will be revived in the sequel – The Psychiatrist, Kipper and the Corpse, which includes plots such as hiding a dead body and trying to capture an escaped rodent.
Kleise said in a statement: “In the West End, we took favorites like Mrs. Richards, the Germans and the food inspectors and put them together to make a show.
“But it’s been so successful that I said, ‘Let’s put together three more shows.’ There’s no reason we can’t do it again, but we wouldn’t want to put it on at the same time, so maybe in a year and a half?”
The current play runs at the Apollo Theatre until September 13, before embarking on a UK and Ireland tour until July 2026.
It has received RAVE reviews since its opening last year, no doubt securing its place for a sequel next year.
Given the show’s somewhat dated humor, not everything translated to the stage reboot.
Last year, Kleis told Metro that he had decided to remove the use of the N-word from the German adaptation.
He explained, “There was a scene where the Major used a couple of words that you can’t use now, it would go under the racial slur, so we took it out.”
“There’s always a problem with comedy that you’re dealing with literal thoughts.
“Literal thinkers don’t understand irony. That means if you take them seriously, you get rid of a lot of comedy, because literal thinkers don’t understand metaphor, and they don’t understand irony, and they don’t understand comic exaggeration… they don’t play with a full deck.”
It remains to be seen whether Cleese will face similar decisions in the upcoming sequel.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph , the actor who portrays the lead on stage, Paul Nicholas, agreed with the decision.
“People are sensitive to these things and quite rightly so, you can’t get around calling people the… n-word,” he said.
Tickets for Fawlty Towers: The West End Play and Tour are available now.
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