Legendary comedian John Cleese is reportedly in talks with the BBC to star in a sitcom which has been written for him.
The Fawlty Towers and Monty Python star told Shortlist.com last November that he would never work for the BBC again, saying its commissioning editors had "no idea" what they were doing.
"There’s no way I want to work in TV, especially at the BBC," he said at the time. "I have a nasty feeling a large proportion of the commissioning editors have no idea what they’re doing."
However, Cleese's attitude to the BBC has apparently changed. "We're in discussions about a piece that he might be in,“ BBC head of comedy Shane Allen told the Daily Telegraph. “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."
Cleese co-wrote the hugely successful sitcom Fawlty Towers with his then wife, Connie Booth, the American actress who also starred in the series as hotel chambermaid Polly.
The series ran to a mere 12 episodes and was aired by the BBC between 1975 and 1979. Prior to that he was a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Cleese also appeared in the well-received movie, A Fish Called Wanda, a well-deserved box office success, as well as Clockwise. He was seen in two Harry Potter films and two James Bond movies.
Following his expensive divorce from third wife Alyce Eichelberger in 2008, Cleese embarked on a comedy tour to enable him pay the £12 million alimony payments.
In 2014, he teamed up again with his Monty Python co-stars for a tour to address a £800,000 legal bill. The Monty Python outfit lost the case against the producer of their second film Monty Python And The Holy Grail in a dispute concerning royalties from the musical version, Spamalot.
Mark Forstater won, having argued that under a deal to produce Monty Python and the Holy Grail, he was entitled to a greater share of royalties from the musical spin-off.
Cleese also told Shortlist.com that he did have some genuine regrets. "Frank Oz wanted me to make Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with Steve Martin. I would loved to have done that. But my second marriage was in such a parlous state I didn’t think I could disappear for three months." He also mentioned that he had been offered the lead in The Remains Of The Day, a role which Anthony Hopkins subsequently took.
"That I turned down on artistic grounds because Harold Pinter did the last draft and took all the jokes out. I thought the only justification for a film about depression was the wonderful humour that Ishiguro brought to the book. Of course, I was wrong. Not that I’m shedding tears."
He also addressed the matter of ageing. "One of the things about getting old is that you lose touch with the contemporary scene. I find it rather amusing that I’m still managing to earn a living despite the fact that I have no idea why anybody would use Facebook.
John Cleese as Basil Fawlty, with co-stars Connie Booth and Andrew Sachs
