John Cleese threatens to sue Fawlty Towers 'rip-off'

John Cleese has stated he may sue an Australian theatre company for its "shameless rip-off" of Fawlty Towers.

The Faulty Towers Dining Experience show is set for a run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, following stints in previous years; it's also one of nine international versions of the production, staged around the world by Interactive Theatre International. This includes an iteration which has featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 2008; and a London season which runs until September.

However, the actor has stated on Twitter that the show has not sought permission for its ties to the iconic BBC sitcom; neither has he nor co-writer Connie Booth received any royalties from the production, which is reported to make nearly A$2M (£1M) a year, with its recent season at the Sydney Opera House costing up to A$195 (£104) for dinner and a show.

"I had absolutely no idea this was going on until about a year ago," Cleese told Fairfax Media (via Sydney Morning Herald). "I think people will find that very hard to believe, but if people don't tell you, how do you know? If they've been going for 20 years without paying us a penny, they could well owe us a very significant amount."

He also stated that many student and amateur productions had both sought and been granted permission by the actor to stage shows directly inspired by Fawlty Towers; but that a show earning nearly £1M a year would be an entirely different matter.

"They didn't ask our permission and we didn't know it was happening on this scale," he continued. "If little groups are making some money that's not a problem, but this is entirely different."

Cleese is considering legal action in the face of his own stage version of the show, Fawlty Towers Live, which is set to debut in Sydney in August; "Now that Fawlty Towers is about to happen as a proper stage show and producers are investing money in what is a risky enterprise, we certainly don't want other shows out there confusing people."

Founder and artistic director of Interactive Theatre International, Alison Pollard-Mansergh, has responded to the accusations as being "misleading and inaccurate".

Ironically, the website for the Faulty Towers Dining Experience includes the following warning: "[We have] a genuine commercial interest to protect. [We] have successfully taken and will continue to take legal action when or if another company brands a similar show closely styled relative to [our] long-running show in such a way that any innocent party wishing to book/commission [our] services or purchase tickets for a show could be misled into thinking that the two outfits were one and the same."

Something certainly not lost on Cleese himself, who joked; "These people are shamelessly ripping off Connie Booth and myself, and they are publishing aggressive threats against anyone else who would seek to rip them off in the same way. It's absolutely wonderful!"