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12 Phonebox Magazine | September 2025 Nearly 50 years since Fawlty Towers was fi rst broadcast on BBC Two on 19th September 1975, comedy legend John Cleese has chosen three of his favourite original TV episodes %u2013 %u2018The Hotel Inspector%u2019, %u2018The Germans%u2019 and %u2018Communication Problems%u2019 %u2013 and adapted them into a two-hour play, complete with a new fi nale. Cleese, who originally co-wrote the %u2018greatest British sitcom of all time%u2019 according to the Radio Times, with Connie Booth, has given theatre goers across the country a treat as his comedy masterpiece makes a seamless transition to the stage.The press have so far loved the sho %u2018an indisputably funny evening%u2019 said the Daily Telegraph, %u2018from the moment Basil walks on stage, the audience start laughing%u2019 agreed the Daily Mail. %u2018Some of the best punchlines ever written%u2019 said London Theatre. To quote Broadway World %u2018if you loved the original TV series, you will adore this show%u2019.%u201cI%u2019m thrilled with the top-class group of comedy actors that we%u2019ve assembled for the UK tour of Fawlty Towers %u2013 The Play, which begins in September,%u201d said John Cleese.%u201cSeptember also marks exactly 50 years since the fi rst ever TV episode was broadcast on the BBC. I never thought that all these years later the stage show would get the reception that it has. But here we are, still making theatres rock with laughter.%u201dDanny Bayne stars as Basil Fawlty, Mia Austen plays Sybil, Hemi Yeroham reprises his role as Manuel, Joanne Clifton is Polly, Paul Nicholas reprises his role as The Major, and Jemma Churchill plays Mrs Richards. The show also features other beloved characters from the original TV sitcom: Mr Hutchinson / Wilhelm played by Greg Haiste; Miss Tibbs played by Emily Winter; Miss Gatsby played by Dawn Buckland; Mr Thurston / G%u00fcnter played by John Hasler; Mr Walt played by Adam Elliott; Taxi Driver/ Mr Firkins / Mr Kerr / Mr Sharp played by Neil Stewart; and Johanna and Liz (Hotel Guest) played by Josie Brightwell. Following a tipoff that hotel inspectors may be visiting and eager to impress, Basil attempts to ingratiate himself with guests that he suspects are there to critique the establishment. The situation is further plagued by a party of Germans and the deaf and dotty guest-from-hell Mrs Richards, whose infuriating complaints prevent him from hiding a gambling win from his ever-vigilant and bossy wife, Sybil. Together they run their hotel with a little help from the unfl appable Polly, and very little help at all from Manuel, the trainee waiter from Barcelona who is the butt of Fawlty%u2019s frustration.Set in a fi ctional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay, only 12 halfhour episodes of the original BBC comedy were ever made. It%u2019s based on a real-life hotel owner, Donald Sinclair. John Cleese came up with the idea for the character Basil Fawlty when he stayed at Sinclair%u2019s Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay and became fascinated with his incredibly rude behaviour.The iconic TV show won many awards and plaudits, including two BAFTAS for Best Situation Comedy, and in 2000, it was voted the best British programme of all time in a British Film Institute poll.Fawlty Towers %u2013 The Play is at Northampton Royal & Derngate from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd November and Milton Keynes Theatre from Tuesday 28th April to Saturday 2nd May.How do you take an iconic TV comedy show and make it work on stage? Legend John Cleese did just that, and Northampton and Milton Keynes will get to see the results, says Phonebox%u2019s Tom Johnston.PERFECTLY FAWLTY PERFECTLY FAWLTY