New BBC sitcom for John Cleese
- John Cleese is in talks to return to the BBC
- A new sitcom has been written specifically for the comedy star
- He had previously ruled out a return to television
John Cleese could return to the BBC to star in a brand new sitcom.
Shane Allen, the Controller of Comedy Commissioning for the broadcaster, has revealed that Cleese is in talks to star in a new sitcom that has been written specifically for him.
The Monty Python star has previously expressed disillusionment with modern British television comedy. In an interview with ShortList magazine last year, he said: "There's no way I want to work in TV, especially at the BBC. I have a nasty feeling a large proportion of the commissioning editors have no idea what they're doing."
However, speaking to The Daily Telegraph ahead of the BBC launching its Landmark Sitcom Season this weekend, Shane Allen said: "We're in discussions about a piece that he might be in. It's a sitcom and it's very early days. He's a comedy god, and the door is always open to him. There are certain people who have earned their badges, who have got the right to do what they want."
No further information is currently known about the project. If it progresses, the BBC will reveal additional details in due course.
Allen also told the newspaper that the BBC has until recently been guilty of neglecting older and established talent, instead focusing on an "obsession with the new." The Landmark Sitcom Season is intended to go part-way to addressing that balance, mixing old - including revivals of Porridge and Goodnight Sweetheart - with new pilots, such as We The Jury.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that John Cleese's fellow Monty Python member Eric Idle is to return to the corporation this Winter. He will star in a new Christmas comedy special based on his post-Python ITV spoof Rutland Weekend Television. The Entire Universe will see Idle teaming up with friend and a regular collaborator in recent years, Professor Brian Cox.
A special sitcom edition of quiz show Pointless welcomes in the Landmark Sitcom Season at 7:10pm on Saturday (27th August) on BBC One, with programming proper starting at 9pm on Sunday evening, with a new Are You Being Served? special and an updated take on Ronnie Barker classic Porridge.
British Comedy Guide spoke to Shane Allen at length last week about the new sitcoms and the genre as a whole. Read
John Cleese has been in Australia this month, where an official live stage version of his hit 1970s sitcom Fawlty Towers is being produced. Here is a brief promotional clip: