A new stage version of classic TV sitcom Fawlty Towers comes to the region this month following a sell-out run in London’s West End. Actor Danny Bayne says he’s revelling in the role of hapless hotelier Basil Fawlty… even when the character’s legendary creator, John Cleese, is in the audience...

Set in a dysfunctional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay - and apparently inspired by a real-life hotel visited by the cast of Monty Python - Fawlty Towers is regularly cited as one of the UK’s greatest-ever TV sitcoms.

The series ran for just 12 episodes between 1975 and 1979, and now three of that dozen have been adapted and combined - by original co-writer John Cleese, no less - to create a stage show; one that proved to be an instant hit when it opened in the West End in May 2024.

The level of interest saw the show’s run extended multiple times, with every performance sold out. After a couple of months off, the cast have now embarked on a seven-month tour.

Danny Bayne - best known for roles in musicals including Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Hairspray and Only Fools And Horses - is the actor who plays madcap hotelier Basil Fawlty, the role made famous by Cleese. Taking the production around the UK is, he says, a big deal for him - not least because he knows how expensive travelling to see a show in the capital can be: “I’m from south-east London, I’m not from a theatre background, and I’m not from money. The first time I saw a show wasn’t in London. Even though we were only 12 miles away, we didn’t have the dough to go there [he briefly slips into a ‘sarf Landahn’ accent at this point]. Instead, I went to Dartford or Bromley to see a show. So being able to take a production to the provinces is quite special for me. We can make it way more cost-effective for the viewer by bringing it to you. You can go to your local theatre and see the same cast as the West End.”

That cast also includes old-stager Paul Nicholas (still best known for 1980s TV comedy Just Good Friends) as the Major, Strictly Come Dancing star Joanne Clifton as Polly, Mia Austen as Sybil and Hemi Yeroham as Manuel, alongside a 12-strong ensemble playing an array of mostly familiar characters.

Cleese himself was involved in the casting process - “sorting the very, very, very good from the merely very, very good,” he said at the time. Danny initially played a minor role before taking over as the lead last year. He then found himself performing in front of the original Basil.

“I started off as a character called Mr Walt and first cover for Basil. John Cleese came to see the show when I was on for Basil, which was brilliant. It was very nerve-wracking for maybe the first 30 seconds, until I heard him laugh, because he has a very distinctive laugh [imitates Cleese’s Muttley-like cackle]. I heard him in the box, it settled me right down, and I ended up having a lovely time.

“It was very nice having the respect of the person who wrote it and starred in it originally, and he said some lovely things.”

Those lovely things included Cleese, now aged 85, even taking to X/Twitter to proclaim Danny ‘a funnier Basil than me’.

“Even if he doesn’t mean it, it’s the nicest thing anyone could possibly have said, and it really did make me feel marvellous. It just gives you that boost of confidence that you’re doing the right things and paying homage to something that deserves respect.”

Danny was subsequently cast as Basil for the show’s final three months in the West End and this year’s tour. But as much as he loves the role, he admits it can be hugely tiring.

“If you see the show, it’s a lot of talking [for me] - almost constantly for an hour and 45 minutes - and having a mild mental breakdown for an hour and 45 minutes, too!

“Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done parts that are massive. Tony Manero (Saturday Night Fever) was a big, big job, but the words have been broken up by dancing and singing and all sorts of stuff, while this is machine-gun farce - it’s very quick.

“The reason I took the job in the first place is because it scares and terrifies me - and when something terrifies me, it makes me want to do it. I want to prove to myself that I can do it, and then serve the audience - there’s nothing better than making people laugh.”

The laughs come from Cleese’s amalgamation of classic (weren’t they all?) episodes - Communication Problems (“the one with Mrs Richards, the deaf lady”), The Hotel Inspectors (“full of farcical madness”) and The Germans (“the one that everyone’s waiting for”).

Danny says fans won’t see the join: “It’s not like they’re stuck on the end of each other. They’re interwoven into something you’d completely recognise, with all the classic lines. It’s complete insanity.”

There are elements from other episodes, too - including Basil The Rat - making the show something of a ‘greatest hits’ experience for people familiar with the original series. And that includes Danny, who despite being born long after it originally aired, claims to have seen every episode “20 or 30 times”, courtesy of his father being a huge comedy fan.

The play obviously attracts plenty of people just like Bayne senior, but while Danny says the majority of audience members are aged “late 30s and up”, many also bring their children. He especially enjoys performing to kids.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world when you’re running around like a crazy man on stage and you’ve got some eight-year-old giggling at you because you’re being a fool.

“My comedy heroes are people like John Cleese - obviously - Jim Carrey and Robin Williams; all physical geniuses that I look up to and take things from. I laughed at them when I was a kid, even if I didn’t understand what they were saying - the physicality is what was funny. So the kids might not laugh at the words, but they’ll laugh at you being silly, which is kind of magic.”

Indeed, words are the one element that has come in for criticism from some quarters, as some of the series’ content hasn’t dated well. And Cleese recently stating that “wokeness has a disastrous impact on comedy,” hasn’t helped matters any.

That said, Fawlty Towers’ more dubious dialogue was clearly designed to be ridiculed - as were the characters delivering it - and Danny says the stage version follows the same template: “Everyone’s aware of what they’re watching. When the Major says something inappropriate, you’re pointing out certain generations and their prejudices - that’s what we’re poking fun at. I’ve spoken to many people after the show - fans, people who weren’t fans - and at no point has anyone been offended.

“At the end of the day we’re just trying to make people laugh and provide a couple of hours of  joy every night.”

Fawlty Towers shows at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 21 February; the Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, from Tuesday 24 to Saturday 28 February and The Alexandra, Birmingham, from Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 March.

By Steve Adams