24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Strictly Come Dancing star in hit show coming to Glasgow
Joanne Clifton, who won the BBC dancing show in 2016, will take on the role of Polly in Fawlty Towers - The Play.
The show will have its Scottish premiere at the King's Theatre in Glasgow from January 13 to 17, 2026.
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Tickets are on sale now.
For more information, visit the ATG Tickets website.
The play, created by comedy legend John Cleese, is based on the original TV episodes of the "greatest British sitcom of all time, according to the Radio Times.
John Cleese with the cast of 'Fawlty Towers: The Play' (Image: James Manning/PA Wire) It will embark on a 10-month tour across 2025 and 2026 after a successful West End run earlier this year.
The play features three of John Cleese's favourite original TV episodes - The Hotel Inspector, The Germans, and Communication Problems, adapted into a two-hour play with a new finale.
The production is directed by Caroline Jay Ranger and stars Danny Bayne as Basil Fawlty, Mia Austen as Sybil, Hemi Yeroham reprising his role as Manuel, Paul Nicholas reprising his role as The Major, and Jemma Churchill as Mrs Richards.
Other beloved characters from the original TV sitcom will also feature in the play.
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John Cleese said: "I'm thrilled with the top-class group of comedy actors that we've assembled for the UK tour of Fawlty Towers - The Play, which begins in September.
"September also marks exactly 50 years since the first ever TV episode was broadcast on the BBC.
"I never thought that all these years later, the stage show would get the reception that it has.
"But here we are, still making theatres rock with laughter."
The character Basil Fawlty was inspired by real-life hotel owner Donald Sinclair, whose rude behaviour fascinated John Cleese during his stay at Sinclair's Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay.
John Cleese with Joanne Clifton (Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
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The TV show won several awards, including two BAFTAS for Best Situation Comedy, and was voted the best British programme of all time in a British Film Institute poll in 2000.
The stage adaptation of the sitcom opened in May 2024 and received rave reviews.
Broadway World said: "If you loved the original TV series, you will adore this show."
