And I think in the end, Terry Gilliam decided that he'd rather work on design and, uh, all that side of it, and let Terry actually be the man behind the cameras.

And then the opening shot, Judea AD 33, I think that's very good because it's a very authentic-looking shot.

It looks wonderfully dry and arid.

And then as the, um, superimposed information about teatime, immediately [laughs] we're puncturing the importance of it all.

And I remember the, there were some discussions about who we should get to play Jesus Christ, and although in retrospect I w- I was wrong, um, and it was absolutely right to have Ken Colley play Jesus Christ, I had originally suggested that we should have George Lazenby do it, because I thought that on the poster, to have the words, "And George Lazenby as Jesus Christ," would be something that people would treasure for at least the next millennium.

And it's very nice, 'cause right at the beginning, we've already established that there's a Christ next to Brian in a sort of adjacent stable, and then right at the beginning of the movie, there is Christ.

So there's no question of Brian being Christ.

[screams] [groans]

Um, I, I, I suppose I should start by asking you what inspired you to adapt Fawlty Towers for a stage version now after all these years?

Well, it's got a bit of a history, which I think people don't, don't know.

Years ago, um, my agent, Phil McIntyre, who's put a lot of shows on the West End, my agent at that time, bought the stage rights, and I was happy to have the money, and I didn't know what was going to happen with them.

And then he decided to put it on sort of trial in Australia with his wife, who's excellent.

CJ Ranger is going to direct it.

So I went out to Australia to help with the casting, and then I went out again later to, um...

And the script was already in good shape, and I don't remember being much involved in it.

... what do you think made Fawlty Towers such, not only a success, but something that has survived for as long as it has, especially when you consider there's only 12 episodes?

[laughs]

Everyone's saying that.

Yeah.

It's a tremendous compliment because years ago, I looked in The Oxford Book of Humorous Quotations, and I found a few of the funny things that Peter Cook had said, but almost nothing of other comedians at all.

Uh, it was all of quotes of literary humor, most of which wasn't that funny, and I, kind of irritated me.

Um, and then I realized that we, certain of our phrases had passed into the English-speaking language, and th- that makes me feel terrific.

I love the idea that people are still quoting lines that they find funny from the films.

Did, did you deliberately put that in to sort of defy your critics?

There was

really just one event and that was the Foot...

Sorry.

There was really only one event.

That was the Footlights Review in 1963.

I'd been in the Footlights Review the previous year.

I was wondering whether to do the show because I was behind and studying my exams.

Yeah.