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Fawlty Towers: The Play Airing on UK TV for Sitcom's 50th Anniversary

Fawlty Towers: The Play will get a TV broadcast on UK satellite station U&Gold in September as part of the classic sitcom's 50th Anniversary.

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Article Summary

  • Fawlty Towers: The Play will air on UKTV station U&Gold in September for the sitcom’s 50th anniversary.
  • The special broadcast will feature a live recording of the West End show with the original cast.
  • John Cleese fully supports the TV airing, celebrating the enduring impact of his classic comedy creation.
  • The play combines iconic episodes like "The Hotel Inspector," "The Germans," and "Communication Problems."

The recent stage play version of perhaps the greatest sitcom ever made, Fawlty Towers: The Play, is set to air on TV for the first time as part of the classic sitcom's 50th anniversary celebrations. British cable station U&Gold will be marking the occasion with a live "pro-shot" recording of the West End show's original cast. The laughter of the audience will be real. The days of canned laughter are long gone.

Fawlty Towers: John Cleese' Classic Sitcom Becomes West End Play
"Fawlty Towers: The Play" Photograph: Neil Reading PR/PA

The two-hour long broadcast will air in September, with full support of show co-creator and star John Cleese, who said: "I've been overwhelmed by the wonderful response to 'Fawlty Towers: The Play' since its debut in the West End and it's a pleasure to hear U&Gold will be bringing it straight to everyone's living rooms just in time for the 50th anniversary."

In the story for both the series and play, the Fawlty Towers hotel in Torquay, Devon, is run by Basil and Sybil Fawlty (Cleese and Prunella Scales on the series) as they face bumbling guests and staff members alike, but control freak Basil keeps making things worse for himself as things always spiral out of control and leave him worse off than the start. Cleese always said the comedy of Basil was an allegory for the failure of fascism.

Fawlty Towers Sequel Series to Star John Cleese and His Daughter
"Fawlty Towers" key art, BBC

Gerald Casey, director of programming, comedy and entertainment and director of commissioning at UKTV, said of the upcoming screening: "Fawlty Towers is a cornerstone of British comedy, and we're honoured to be the first place TV audiences can watch this new stage version to mark the show's 50th anniversary."

The play is a combination of three of the sitcom's most notable episodes: "The Hotel Inspector," "The Germans," and "Communication Problems." The play premiered in May 2024 and is set to tour the UK and Ireland later this year. The production to air on U&Gold stars Adam Jackson-Smith as Basil, Anna-Jane Casey as Sybil, Hemi Yeroham as the hotel's bumbling but well-meaning waiter Manuel, and Victoria Fox as the straight-talking and clear-thinking maid, Polly.

Fawlty Towers: The Play will air on U&Gold (possibly the worst name for a streaming service in the world!) in the UK in September. There is no news of a US streamer picking it up.

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Adi TantimedhAbout Adi Tantimedh

Adi Tantimedh is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. He wrote radio plays for the BBC Radio, “JLA: Age of Wonder” for DC Comics, “Blackshirt” for Moonstone Books, and “La Muse” for Big Head Press. Most recently, he wrote “Her Nightly Embrace”, “Her Beautiful Monster” and “Her Fugitive Heart”, a trilogy of novels featuring a British-Indian private eye published by Atria Books, a division Simon & Schuster.
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