John Cleese discusses writing the Fawlty Towers scripts
Fawlty Towers originally aired on BBC Two between 1975 and 1979 and it was co-written by John Cleese and his first wife Connie Booth. Two seasons of the sitcom were made and it followed a dysfunctional hotel in the English seaside town of Torquay, Devon.
The stories centred around the hotel owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, chambermaid Polly and waiter Manuel. The idea came to John after he stayed at a Devon hotel where he encountered the eccentric hotel owner.
The series won numerous accolades including British Academy Television Award for Best Scripted Comedy. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes by the British Film Institute in 2000.
A sequel series starring John and his daughter Camilla, which was announced in February 2023, is in development. Almost 50 years after its initial release, the cast have come a long way.
Here is all you need to know about where the stars of Fawlty Towers are now.
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John Cleese - Basil Fawlty
John, now 84, has taken on a number of new ventures in recent years. In 2023 he starred in Roman Polanski's drama film The Palace.
In October of that year, he started presenting a new show on GB News called The Dinosaur Hour.
On BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he warned GB News audiences "may not be used to hearing the sort of things I'll be saying" and he hoped to encourage "proper argument".
The star has recently found a new love in his life, in the form of his daughter's dog, Harry.
On Instagram, he shared a number of videos of himself with the rescue pooch, saying: "I adore him."
He is still married to Jennifer Wade.
Prunella Scales - Sybil Fawlty
Prunella, 92, has defied her decade-long dementia diagnosis to reprise her iconic role as Queen Victoria in a play at the Edinburgh Festival.
The new production, Queen, saw Prunella providing voiceover as an 81-year-old Victoria alongside two other actresses playing the queen in her youth.
Julian Machin, a stage manager on the original production, spoke of Prunella's impressive performance.
He told The Telegraph: "Although Prunella has vascular dementia, which greatly affects her in many ways, she absolutely retains longer-term memory of herself and her working experience."
She is still married to actor Timothy West.
Connie Booth - Polly Sherman
Connie, now 83, quit acting in 1995 and worked as a psychotherapist until her retirement, after studying for five years at the University of London.
She lives in North London with her second husband, John Lahr, author and former drama critic.
In May 2024 she visited the cast of the Fawlty Towers stage play and posed alongside theatre performer Victoria Fox, who plays her part in the West End show.
Andrew Sachs - Manuel
Andrew experienced his fair share of drama producing the show and during the shooting of the episode "The Germans", he was left with second-degree acid burns due to a fire stunt.
He was also hit by a faulty prop on the set of the show by John and ended up with a severe headache.
The star died in November 2016, aged 86. He was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2012, which left him unable to speak and forced him to use a wheelchair.
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Brian Hall - Terry Hughes
Brian played the hotel chef in the series and he formed a close bond with his co-star John.
Years after the series had finished, John sent him a personally signed autographed picture as a joke.
Brian wrote back and demanded a "signed Rolls-Royce car" instead, with John sending him a children's toy car.
He died at a hospice in 1997, aged 59, after a three-year cancer battle.
A year before his death, he told the Mirror: "Cancer is a bully and I hate bullies. This old boy cancer will get about as much change out of me as all the other bullies I've met – nothing."
Renee Roberts - Miss Ursula Gatsby
Renee was married to the actor Ronald Frankau and went on to marry Eric P Pattison. Her daughter, Rosemary Frankau, also became an actress.
She died in February 1996 at the age of 87.
Gilly Flower - Miss Abitha Tibbs
Gilly, who was also a model in her youth, retired from acting in 1991.
She died in February 2001, at the age of 92.
Ballard Berkeley - Major Gowen
Ballard rose to prominence posthumously in the early 2020s as an icon of Hampshire Cricket Club, thanks to a scene in Fawlty Towers in which he shouts, "Hampshire won!" which the club would post on X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate every victory.
His last role was as the Head of the Army in the animated version of Roald Dahl's The BFG.
He died in London in January 1988, aged 83, and the film was released the following year.
