John Cleese reunites with Monty Python members at Fawlty Towers West End show

Monty Python legends John Cleese, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam enjoyed a rare reunion at the press night for the Fawlty Towers West End show in London.

The beloved sitcom - created by Cleese and ex-wife Connie Booth - is getting a limited West End run after being redeveloped as a stage play. 

It followed the exploits of highly strung hotelier Basil Fawlty (Cleese) and his wife Sybil, played by Prunella Scales, with the late Andrew Sachs playing hapless Spanish waiter Manuel.

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

Cleese helped to fuse three classic episodes into a two-hour play, which opened at London’s Apollo Theatre on May 4, almost 50 years after the sitcom first aired.

He could be seen posing for photos with Palin and Gilliam who were there to lend their support to their former troupe member.

This time around, the role of Fawlty is being played by actor Adam Jackson-Smith, with Cleese recently telling the Standard that him reprising the role at 84 was never an option, claiming: “It would kill me.”

“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.”