John Cleese says playing Basil Fawlty on stage 'would kill me' as play hits West End

John Cleese has admitted he can no longer play Basil Fawlty on stage at 84-years-old, claiming: “It would kill me.”

The comedian is bringing his beloved comedy Fawlty Towers to the West End stage for the first time, 45 years after it last aired on TV.

Speaking to the Standard, Cleese explained why he personally will not be reprising his role as the eccentric hotelier who was frequently rude to guests, with the part now played by Adam Jackson-Smith.

“Honestly, I had to get fit when we filmed Fawlty Towers and go for runs because of the amount of energy it used to take out of me, just the movements, keeping every muscle in your body stressed was very tiring,” he said.

“That’s the only way you can play Basil, to use every muscle in your body so you can’t play him relaxed, it would never work — especially now I’ve had two hip replacements, a new knee, a bone spur and now I suffer from vertigo.”

The original TV programme, written by Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth, ran on BBC2 for two series in 1975 and 1979.

Despite being considered one of the greatest sitcoms of all time, only 12 half-hour episodes were produced.

It followed the exploits of highly strung Fawlty and his wife Sybil, played by Prunella Scales, with the late Andrew Sachs playing hapless Spanish waiter Manuel. The stage show, which launches on Saturday at the Apollo Theatre and will run until September, merges the storylines of three classic episodes, The Hotel Inspector, The Germans and Communication Problems.

Cleese said he was refusing to tone down any of the plotlines to make them more PC, but admitted some out-of-date phrases have been taken out. He said: “We simply cut them, it’s much easier.”

All the main characters feature in the show, including Sybil (Anna-Jane Casey), Manuel (Hemi Yeroham) and The Major (Paul Nicholas), with Cleese very much part of the audition process.

The Monty Python star said: “Actors have a lifetime of disappointments going from audition to audition, not quite getting it, so I try to treat them rather kindly because it’s a ruthless process particularly when somebody starts and you think, ‘oh no, that’s not going to work’ and then you have to sit through the rest of the audition.

“But in this case there were at least three Basils and anyone of them would have been good enough and there were two or three Sybils and a few Manuels, it was extraordinary the amount of really good talent. And I’m incredibly happy with everyone we have cast.”

This month, Cleese revealed he is spending up to £17,000 a year to pay for stem cell therapy to combat the side-effects of ageing. He has been having the treatment for more than 20 years and said he was ensuring he doesn’t “look bad” for his age by getting the “highest quality” cells from Switzerland.

He admitted the fee was hefty but claimed it was “worth it if you’re buying yourself a few extra years”.

Fawlty Towers: The Play runs from May 4 to September 28 at Apollo Theatre.