John Cleese shares rejection letter for 'dire' Fawlty Towers branding it a ‘disaster'

John Cleese has stunned fans with his latest post on Instagram. The star shared a letter about Fawlty Towers, dated May 29th 1974, from Iain Main, who was the Light Entertainment Comedy Script Editor for the BBC. The note, which is quite scathing, was sent it to his superior the head of comedy and light entertainment.

In it he writes of the now beloved sitcom: "I'm afraid I thought this one as dire as its title. "It's a kind of 'Prince of Denmark' of the hotel world. A collection of cliches and stock characters which I can't see being anything but a disaster.

"READ MORE: Ola and James Jordan branded 'wrong' for letting toddler sleep in their bedOla and James Jordan branded 'wrong' for letting toddler sleep in their bedClearly the powers that be ignored his opinion and the show was commissioned and went on to be a huge hit. Commenting on the letter John wrote: "Fawlty Towers Rejection Letter. The man who commissioned the series told me, after the first episode 'You'll have to get them out of the hotel more'.

"After two shows, the Daily Mirror announced 'Long John short on jokes' and the Spectator went on and on hating it. . .

My greatest successes began with rejections. " (sic)Although only 12 episodes were made, with a gap of four years between series one in 1975 and series two in 1979, the show has become legendary. It made the number one spot on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000.

In February this year, it was announced that the beloved show would return for a reboot. John will return as the irascible hotelier Basil Fawlty alongside his real-life daughter Camilla Cleese. The new series is set to explore how Basil navigates the modern world before