# Fawlty Towers and John Cleese's (In)sanity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 7, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766 "2011-01-07T18:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/1 "2011-01-07T18:34:28Z")
I started watching my new Fawlty Towers Christmas present last night, and forgot how absolutely wonderful this show was. John Cleese is magnificent and plays Basil right on the edge of completely losing all control. Which brings me to my point. I heard that only 12 episodes were made because John’s sanity was slipping. Actually I think I heard “he was going insane” and, so production stopped. What, if any, truth is there to this rumour? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/2 "2011-01-07T18:38:06Z")
Doesn’t make much sense. Two complete seasons were taped, _four years apart_. It’s not like they were cranking 'em out and suddenly had to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/3 "2011-01-07T18:41:49Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Doesn’t make much sense. Two complete seasons were taped, _four years apart_. It’s not like they were cranking 'em out and suddenly had to stop. Yeah. I actually just read that on Wikipedia. I had ALWAYS heard that only one season (what do the Brits call it again?) was made. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/4 "2011-01-07T18:43:23Z")
Just because Basil Fawlty was insane doesn’t mean that the actor playing him was too. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/5 "2011-01-07T18:44:02Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I started watching my new Fawlty Towers Christmas present last night, and forgot how absolutely wonderful this show was. John Cleese is magnificent and plays Basil right on the edge of completely losing all control. > > Which brings me to my point. I heard that only 12 episodes were made because John’s sanity was slipping. Actually I think I heard “he was going insane” and, so production stopped. > > What, if any, truth is there to this rumour? Never heard this, seems highly unlikely to be true as 6 episodes was the standard for a BBC sitcom series (i.e. season) all the way up until the late 1990’s. Therefore two complete seasons of the show were produced. ---
**Author:** ![mckall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mckall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mckall)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/6 "2011-01-07T18:45:22Z")
I haven’t heard that particular rumor. Cleese has said that they stopped after two series because he and Connie didn’t want the show to get stale. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/7 "2011-01-07T18:56:52Z")
I was a bit surprised to find the long gap between series, but apparently his marriage to series collaborator Connie Booth broke up sometime after the first series, so this may have contributed to the delay. In any event, there seems to be a particularly British tradition of abbreviated seasons for TV series. IIRC, the individual _Blackadder_ series were only six episodes each as well. Cleese is really a fairly fascinating character; for decades following _Python_, he had a parallel academic career intertwined with the showbiz stuff. Cleese likewise seems to have had a very active career post-_FT_, so although I don’t have anything definitive on his sanity or lack of same, it doesn’t appear to have been a factor in the duration of the series or his life in general. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/8 "2011-01-07T19:04:49Z")
I think the fact that John Cleese and Connie Booth got divorced in 1978, and that Booth only reluctantly helped out with the second series and then totally withdrew from public life afterwards, is rather a large reason there wasn’t a third series. Cleese’s comments about the show potentially getting stale somewhat ignores the elephant in the corner…in fact, Cleese wanted to write a _Fawlty Towers_ TV movie in the mid-90’s but simply couldn’t come up with a compelling enough plot line, so it’s not as if he wanted the show to be dead forever. It’s likely that even Cleese understood that, without Booth as a co-writer and main character, _Fawlty Towers_ was not going to be the same. It’s kind of sad that his cover story about the show “going stale in the third season” has stopped a lot of other British shows like _The Office_ and _The Young Ones_ from going to a third season because their respective creators Gervais and Mayall/Elton thought _Fawlty Towers_ was some kind of ideal. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/9 "2011-01-07T19:13:33Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I don’t have anything definitive on his sanity or lack of same He has been very forthcoming about receiving psychiatric treatment, and he has a keen interest in how the human mind works (and malfunctions), so I’m sure he has occasionally exaggerated his own unexceptional neuroses and self-doubt into “insanity.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/10 "2011-01-07T19:15:18Z")
The comments by Cleese were not referring to **Fawlty Towers** specifically. He evidently stressed out on writing and performing comedy in general, and in TV in particular. He switched to doing [corporate training films](http://www.johncleesetraining.com/) and has said the switch helped him keep his sanity. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/11 "2011-01-07T19:16:35Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > It’s kind of sad that his cover story about the show “going stale in the third season” has stopped a lot of other British shows like _The Office_ and _The Young Ones_ from going to a third season because their respective creators Gervais and Mayall/Elton thought _Fawlty Towers_ was some kind of ideal. Was that a factor with _The Office_? I haven’t heard Gervais et al say anything like this (not that this means they didn’t, obviously). I thought that the original two series had a story, and told it. The Christmas Specials were due to pressure and desire to perhaps round things off in a little bit more of an optimistic manner. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/12 "2011-01-07T19:17:29Z")
Just don’t mention the war! ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/13 "2011-01-07T19:26:46Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just don’t mention the war! You started it! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/14 "2011-01-07T19:29:38Z")
Connie Booth became a psychologist and refuses to talk about her show business past except in 1 recent interview. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/15 "2011-01-07T19:59:09Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > In any event, there seems to be a particularly British tradition of abbreviated seasons for TV series. IIRC, the individual _Blackadder_ series were only six episodes each as well. It’s not a tradition as such, it’s simply that it was standard BBC practice to comission sitcoms in series of 6 episodes. Fawlty Towers, Black Adder, Red Dwarf series 1-6, The Young Ones, Absolutely Fabulous series 1-4, Dads Army series 1-2, The Office to mention a few all had runs of 6 episodes. There was some variation, some series lasted 5, 7 or 8 episodes, but any longer than this was extremely rare. The difference in size between US seasons and UK series has a lot to do with the way that series were commissioned. You’ve got to remember that if the BBC commissioned a sitcom by the time it came to be broadcast all the episodes would be completed and there was no prospect of dropping a series once it aired (it is an extremely rare occurence for a prgram to be dropped mid-series in the UK and I think the BBC have actually never dropped a sitcom mid-series). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/16 "2011-01-07T20:18:40Z")
I remember John Cleese’s words at the time he walked away from the series: “Shakespeare only got about 4 hours out of Hamlet, so I think 6 hours of Basil Fawlty is quite enough.” There was nothing wrong with Cleese’s physical or mental health. He’d just gotten tired of the character, and was ready to move on to something else. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/17 "2011-01-07T20:32:06Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Just because Basil Fawlty was insane doesn’t mean that the actor playing him was too. What if John Cleese is a method actor? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/18 "2011-01-07T20:36:01Z")
I seem to recall that there was a BBC union strike that also contributed to the long gap between series. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/19 "2011-01-07T20:46:05Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just don’t mention the war! > [@StusBlues](#): > > You started it! No we didn’t! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766/20 "2011-01-07T20:50:25Z")
“Yes you did! You invaded Poland!” Possibly my favorite line in the whole series. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fawlty-towers-and-john-cleeses-in-sanity/566766.md?page=2)