James Innes-Smith

The tragedy of Fawlty Towers

Why the reboot won't work

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John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers in 1975 [Alamy]
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The secret of any great sitcom is the delicate balance of sit and com. Mess the ‘sit’ bit up and you lose the ‘com’. Del Boy without Nelson Mandela House is as unthinkable as Alan Partridge without his ‘grief hole’ (aka the Linton Travel Tavern), which is why both of these characters eventually came unstuck. Sending

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