JOHN CLEESE - CLEESE: 'FAWLTY TOWERS WAS REJECTED'

CLEESE: 'FAWLTY TOWERS WAS REJECTED'

British funnyman JOHN CLEESE had to fight to get his legendary sitcom FAWLTY TOWERS commissioned by the BBC - because bosses at the company initially turned the show down.
The veteran comic has kept a 1974 rejection letter from a BBC script editor who made a raft of scathing criticisms about the "dire" show - which nearly persuaded Cleese to abandon the project.
The note read, "It's a collection of cliches and stock characters which I can't see as being anything but a disaster."
But the star refused to give up and his plans were eventually accepted by TV bosses. The series aired in 1975 and went on to become one of Britain's all-time classic comedy programmes.
Cleese says, "It just shows you people have no idea what they are doing."