Fawlty Towers: Fawlts and All: A 50th anniversary celebration of the nation's beloved sitcom

by John Cleese

Duck surprise. The car that wouldn't start. The psychiatrists. Those builders...

Fifty years ago Fawlty Towers hit British TV screens for the first time, becoming an instant classic. Now for the first time John Cleese tells his stories from behind the scenes of his favourite moments. From writing scripts that were so carefully planned they were double the length of similar shows', to casting, lighting, how the show was almost cancelled before it started, and other production shenanigans, these are your favourite moments from Fawlty Towers as you've never seen them before. Exploring the how and why of creating classic comedy, there is a laugh on every page, and a dose of nostalgia for vintage TV fans. With gorgeous commissioned illustration and archival imagery, the book revisits such iconic scenes as Basil thrashing his car, a rat appearing in a box of cheese biscuits, and Basil goose-stepping across the dining room to an audience of horrified guests.

Written by and starring Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth, the first series of Fawlty Towers aired in 1975, with a second series broadcast in 1979. It featured Cleese as the irascible hotel manager Basil Fawlty, Prunella Scales as his sybaritic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the hapless waiter Manuel, and Booth as Polly, an efficient waitress and art student. It won three BAFTAS and, despite having only 12 episodes in total, continues to be regularly voted the best sit-com in British history.

Genres: Nonfiction, Comedy, Humor

224 pages, Hardcover

Published November 25, 2025

About the author

John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and singer.

Cleese is probably best known for his various roles in the British comedy Monty Python's Flying Circus, his role as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and his various roles in the British comedy The Frost Report. He also played the role of Archie Leach in the American / British comedy film A Fish Called Wanda.

Reviews

[Thibault Busschots · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fawtly Towers is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. I’ve seen this series so many times and I still enjoy rewatching it every time. So a chance to read about about all the behind the scenes stuff and its inspirations sounded right up my alley.


In the foreword, Fawlty Towers gets called an enjoyable wake-up call, which I must admit made me chuckle. This is not only inspired by a classic moment from the series, but it’s also very fitting to describe it as a whole. “Perhaps it’s a dream. [Bangs head on desk] No, it’s not a dream. We’re stuck with it!” And in this book, we get some information about why this style of comedy works and how they managed to make it work so well.


The show was the brain-child of John Cleese, who played Basil in the show, and Connie Booth, who played Polly. They were married and wrote many of the scripts together. Though their marriage ended somewhere before the second series of the show was finished, it’s clear there’s still a lot of respect and even gratitude between them.


Though of course, no matter how amusing and well-written the iconic episodes were, Fawlty Towers is for a big part so successful because of its iconic characters. It’s really interesting to read about what makes the characters work so well and how they thought about creating those characters in advance. But it’s also quite cool to see the actors getting the credit they deserve for making the characters come to life so brilliantly. A lot of other people behind the scenes get credited too, for making Fawlty Towers the success it still is to this day. Because it takes a whole team to make a series like this. And the book takes a look at every step of how a sitcom is made.


Good stuff. A trip down memory lane done right. Very enjoyable and informative read for fans of the legendary TV series. And now I’m off to watch it again!

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been fortunate enough to meet comedy legend John Cleese & briefly chat with him on two occasions. Both times he came across as someone who was quick to praise other people while playing down his own incredible talent. This excellent book on making Fawlty Towers shows him in the same light.
The classic BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers may be 50 years old, but Cleese tells the story of its creation & success in amazing detail. There are also plenty of excellent rare photographs to support the text.
As well as a history of the series John Cleese also covers the recent Fawlty Towers stage play & there is a nice Afterwood by series c0-creator Connie Booth.
This was a superb book on my favourite comedy series, enchanced by this copy from Waterstones which was signed by John Cleese.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fawlty Towers by John Cleese is the best comedy series of all time, if you ask me, it is one of the best according to others – you find thousands of notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other sites, plus multitudes of reviews on books from The Greatest Books of All Time and other lists on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and YouTube channel


10 out of 10

I think this is miraculous, indeed, as I write this, I realize I have to have a look again https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... albeit you may not even heard of it, if you are young, and then more importantly, if you are extant, as in anybody reading this

Phenomenal John Cleese has the leading role of Basil Fawlty, an obnoxious, if hilarious hotel owner, manager, waiter, and jack of all trades in his business, he has created this spectacular show with his then wife, Connie Booth, who is also acting in the series, as Polly Sherman, waitress, receptionist, versatile employee
All sorts of funny accidents, calamities happen – Basil Fawlty is stingy, so he hires some incompetent builder, while his wife is away, and then the access to the restaurant is walled up, and the whole thing turns into a farce and exceptional episode, wherein Manuel, the waiter from Barcelona, played by Andrew Sachs shines

John Cleese was also part of the best comedy ever (according to yours truly again) https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and you should see – if you, or anyone is here, have not seen this chef d’oeuvre – The Life of Brian, Time Out said this is the best ever
In another episode of Fawlty Towers, we have this woman with a disability, she is deaf, who is complaining all the time: she wants a refund, because she does not like the view in her room, and arrogant, pompous Basil Fawlty is there to ‘help’, except there is a communication problem between them

The guest cannot hear him telling her he is the manager and owner, and has to repeat it and then shout, he will play on this issue – this is the sort of fellow he is, and then this was filmed decades ago, today there may be restrictions on some jokes – catching the visitor and saying ‘you heard that alright’, when the moment comes
Room With a View https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a novel I have enjoyed, but in this situation, Fawlty is right in stating that the demand is exaggerated ‘what did you expect, a volcano, the pyramids’ and he does not use these words, so I have to go see the series again

Another plot revolves around Manuel, who ‘came from Barcelona, for at that time Spain was behind, now it is a star in the European Union, very much ahead with the use of renewable energy, and the prime minster was courageous in facing the Orange Caligula from the White House on the Iran war…Manuel has taken a rat as a pet

[Michelle Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fawlty Towers has always held a special place with me as it was something I would watch with my Grandad as a child and then grew up loving and laughing at it over and over. This book for its 50th anniversary is so special and had me laughing as I remembered all my favourite parts from the episodes. I really enjoyed finding out about the inspiration for it and all the behind the scenes little details. John Cleese's writing is brilliant and I read every one of his words in his voice! A fantastic book that I know my Grandad would have loved if he were still with us ❤️

[Vivien Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and thought out book. Fawlty Towers is my favourite comedy series of all time and I have watched them constantly and always find them extremely funny. Wobderful book with lots of insight as to how it came about

[Martin, I stand with ISRAEL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything Cleese writes< I have to read.

[Brenda Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you love Fawlty Towers, this is a must have.There are detailed notes and plot lines fior all 12 episodes and biographies of everyone, including all the guest stars. On top of that we get insights into how each episode was written and why there is four years between series one and two. If you don’t know what Fawlty Towers is, this great British comedy is streaming on Hulu right now I think. You wont be sorry!

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this just before the sad passing of Pruella Scales. Plenty of information about the TV show and nice to have details about the stage play included.

[Moravian1297 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A kind of celebration of all things ’Fawlty Towers’, to mark the popular TV show's fiftieth anniversary, and it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Outside of sport, and along with ’Dallas’, ‘Fawlty Towers’ was the first 'adult' programme that I remember being aware of to any degree, and then watching and enjoying them along with my parents. But unlike ’Dallas’, which quickly wore thin, and as I developed my own tastes, rather than that of my parents, ’Fawlty Towers’ has remained an ever present favourite throughout my life of watching comedy shows. So I was very much looking forward to reading this effort.

Obviously, because the book has taken on a format more like a comic's 'Annual', it was never going to be as brilliantly in depth as say, J.F. Roberts deeply researched 'The History of the Black Adder', or Graham McCann's light hearted, but comprehensive none the less, history of, 'Only Fools and Horses'. Nevertheless, there was still enough features and photography to grab the attention, and keep any self respecting ’Fawlty Towers’ fans more than happy!

Written ostensibly by the main man himself, John Cleese, who gives us the low down on the making of the innovative comedy, and useful insights and amusing titbits regarding each and every show. My personal favourite being 'The Kipper and the Corpse', which features Geoffrey Palmer as that particular episode's 'special guest'. Where he plays a grumpy, and very hungry doctor, whom is determined to have his sausages for breakfast (I met Palmer once and we exchanged ’Hellos!’, where I worked at my Berwick St. market video stall haha)!
Which actually involves John Cleese's favourite scene from the whole two series, when the Doctor and Manuel face off across a dining table, matador style. Fighting over the table cloth and cutlery! From that episode however, for me personally, the funniest scene is when Basil is attempting to hide the kippers, which because they were out of date, he has mistakenly assumed to have killed the guest by food poisoning, Mr. Leeman (where I learned that this character, is named after John's friend, whom had given him the idea for the episode!), up his tanktop! And Sybil takes him aside and asks, why has he got a kipper tail sticking out the neck of his tanktop?! Haha! Brilliant! Comic timing and farce at its superb best.
In the book, I particularly enjoyed the segments which had a small profile on the given episode's special guests, giving us a bit more detail on who they were and their backgrounds.

Outwith 'The Kipper and the Corpse' being my favourite episode, I also love moments from others, like the end of 'The Psychiatrist', where Basil, so embarrassed and frustrated by his own mistakes and ineptitude, is hopping about the lobby while squatting with his head under his jacket and between his arms and hands, just as the two psychiatrists happen by, who had already concluded that he was slightly insane! John describes this in the book, as a beetle/cockroach impression, but for me, I've always thought it looked more amphibious like, and described it as hopping about like a frog! Regardless, it’s side splittingly funny, and I’ll always remember my father, literally crying with laughter at this scene, treasured memories indeed.
Obviously, I've watched the show, hundreds of times. But the last time I watched it, a few months ago, in the episode, 'Waldorf Salad', when curmudgeonly American guest, Mr. Hamilton (actually played by Canadian Bruce Boa!), asks for a Waldorf Salad for his starter, and a puzzled Basil Fawlty replies, "I'm sorry, but we seem to have run out of waldorfs!" I absolutely ended myself, haha! I near fell off my sofa with laughter, and considering how many times I'd seen the episode, my mirth was truly amazing!

Unfortunately, the book was let down when John Cleese started to try and defend the show’s racism, and compounded things, with a short rant against ’woke’ culture, dearie, dearie me. I wish I could say that the show was 'of its time' in certain segments, and just cringe, but ostensibly be able to move on quietly. And as uncomfortable as certain scenes are, with 'dago' this, and 'dago' that, directed at Manuel, and his perceived stupidty. Where just because he couldn't speak English to much degree, apart from one or two other characters, his pigeon English was certainly better than their Spanish! But an inability to speak another language, definitely doesn't make one an idiot, but as I say, all that could certainly be brushed off as, 'of its time', up and to a point.
And unforgivably, that point IS reached, in the episode 'The Germans'. Not the scenes with the Germans themeselves, no, that's actually hilarious, with Basil gone full Colonel Kurtz! Goose stepping in complete Ministry of Silly Walks style, with the finger toothbrush moustache, Eva Prawn, ‘Don’t mention the war!’ and all that, superb! No, it's the scene when the Major, played by Ballard Berkeley, is describing the difference between the Indian cricket team and the West Indies cricket team. I'll not go over the lines from the script again specifically here, it's just too offensive, if you are unaware of it however, I'll just say that it uses, many times, two of the worst derogatory terms for Black and Asian people possible, in the worst context possible! Jeezo! That would have been controversial even back in the day, let alone how shocking it sounds now, and for John to defend it, just beggars belief! His reasoning being, that they were laughing AT the Major’s views, not WITH them. He used the example of Alf Garnett to back up his point, but unfortunately, that's a bad example, because, as is often the case with this argument, the racist, homophobic, sexist and whatnot views and more specifically, language, expressed by these types of so called 'comedy' characters, just like Alf Garnett, quickly become a parody of themselves, and audiences start to laugh WITH them, and they quickly become endearing. In the cases of Garnett and the Major, they even become national bloody treasures! The absolute opposite of what is claimed by Cleese here. A good example of this, is the show ’Happy Days’. Where originally the character of the Fonze, played by Henry Winkler, was correctly portrayed as a ’d*ck head’, which he indeed was. But after the show had been running for a while, the egregious, ’d*ck head’ unfortunately, began to be lauded and eventually hero worshiped, sadly becoming the epitome of cool. Thus proving my point, that these odious people and their abhorrent views are being propagated and promoted rather than denigrated and shunned. Surely John should have just held up his hand and perhaps, even apologized to some degree, and agree that that awful segment should just be cut from any future reruns or releases, because, to quote Mark Corrigan from ’Peep Show’, when he tries out some racist terminology on Jez, in the hope of maybe keeping a new and rare friend, Daryl, whom unfortunately, turned out to be a racist, and Jez asks him, what the hell is he doing? Replies, "Yes, it’s just not on, is it?!"

[Will Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many in the UK, I grew up watching and re-watching Fawlty Towers more times than I care to remember. I have also read books associated with the programme, such as Graham McCann’s brilliant, comprehensive book on the sitcom. So, I’m not sure if I expected to learn anything new from reading this, and I’m not sure I did.
This book is presented by its title as John Cleese’s favourite moments. Yet, I found it a more technical book on Cleese’s take on why comedy works in general and why certain comedic scenes and episodes in Fawlty Towers work. He often does this by describing his writing process (with Connie Booth). Even if that’s right up my street, I’m not sure it will be to everyone’s taste.
It covers all twelve episodes, providing a recap of each one and highlighting certain scenes. It gives notes on the actors who appeared and some background information on each episode. As I said, there wasn't much I learned that was new, but it was still interesting to hear Cleese’s take on each episode.
As with his brilliant autobiography, I always find that John Cleese puts in a lot of time and effort into anything he does. A simple reason he’s successful. This book is no different. As for negatives, a few times strong swear words were used, which I found unnecessary, and the chapter on the stage show was a little over-fawning in my opinion. I would also have liked more of Connie Booth’s insights, rather than just a couple of pages at the end. However, those are relatively small negatives, and if you’re a fan of Fawlty Towers, I mean, who isn’t, I think this book is worth your time.

[Colin Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Cleese brings his memories and behind the scenes look at the making of the classic comedy Fawlty Towers, it looks at how it came to be written by himself and ex wife Connie Booth and looks into each of the twelve episodes. It's lavishly illustrated and is a beautiful book. His insights are interesting if not altogether new, if you've heard him speak about Fawlty Towers you've probably heard many of them before

Cleese has written some classic comedies in his time but his output isn't vast yet when he's been good he's been brilliant. There may be a sense in which he's relying on old material for this book but it is interesting for Fawlty Towers fans.

In recent days he's come across as a bit of a grumpy old man and there's some if that here. He does get a bit tiresome complaining about "woke" so often. I think he does protest a little too much at how modern audiences have reacted to the now infamous scene in the "Germans" episode where the character of The Major makes a couple of very controversial racial slurs. A sitcom that has such a wide family audience written today wouldn't get that passed today. Even though he rightly says the Major is portrayed as the idiot he fails to understand how it comes across to those who have heard the words used against them as a form of abuse all their lives.

However an interesting enough read with some great pictures and memories of what is still one of the all time great sitcoms.

[Melissa Chugg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant!! Ive been a huge fan of Fawlty Towers for a few years now, so when I saw this book was out I needed it. It’s so insightful not just into how the show was made but also into comedy in general and the details of making the show. It was so interesting!! As an acting student, I loved how much detail there was on script writing and the whole filming process in general. John Cleese is such a naturally funny person, even the way he writes a book is so funny. He critiques his work and production choices at times and praises the full cast, which makes the book feel so honest and interesting. I highly recommend reading!!!

[PJ Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fawlty Towers is my favourite comedy ever. Period.
I know every line, every movement and it still makes me laugh as hard as the first time I saw it.
This book is perfect and you can easily read it in the voice of John Cleese himself
Well worth it and a contender for best Christmas gift I've ever received

[Ray Smillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Working backwards, my favourite 90s sitcom was Father Ted, 80s Blackadder and 70s Fawlty Towers, so I had to buy this. After finishing it, I will have to find my DVD boxset. This was a joy and an education to read. So many memories flooding back. Great stuff.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A terrific Saturday afternoon read. Provides the reader with the creative and technical process of putting the series together. All in a tight, light package. Lots side bits on the other players and people who made the show come to life.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a great deal, but it wasn’t the detailed behind the scenes account I was hoping for. I guess when you’re looking back from a distance of 50 years, you might not remember it in that level of detail.

[Martin De jong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars, despite the 'fawlt' on page 224 where it says about Cleese, 'his young ears would became attuned to...'

[A.J. Pekaar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fawlty explanations

Fawlty Towers needs no elaborate - read boring- explanations. Cleese must know that. So why take the trouble? He must be getting old....oh he is, sorry.
.

[Donald Stevenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a big fan of Fawlty Towers since it first aired. This is a great companion book. If you love the series you will love this book.

[Druss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Analysis and context to the tv show.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved Fawlty Towers, you'll love this book.

[Mat Greener · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Fawlty towers fan so it was very interesting to know how various episodes were done. But if you are just listening to one Fawlty towers book listen to the complete soundtrack

[SheMac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh ... was looking for more anecdotes about the filming. Instead Cleese has produced a meditation on farce and how each episode did and did not achieve the title of farce. I've read that Andrew Sachs was seriously burned in the Germans episode but no mention of that. the last chapter about the show's afterlife was interesting.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a celebration of the classic TV show Fawlty Towers 50th Anniversary! Filled with photos, sketches, floor plans and interviews/information about the different characters throughout the show. I love Fawlty Towers and have watched it so many times, so the information in the book was interesting, some of it though I had read or heard before. I liked that John Cleese wrote it and you were able to get first hand accounts of what happened on set. Would make a good book for a Fawlty Towers fan.