As Fawlty Towers celebrates its 40th anniversary, we look at where the famous cast are now... while the lesser-known stars recall what REALLY went on backstage

• John Cleese said show contributed to breakdown of his marriage  
• Robin Ellis who went on to find fame in Poldark 
• Nicky Henson played small part and royalties still top up his pension 

By Mary Greene and Martha Cliff

Published: 17:31 EST, 18 September 2015 | Updated: 02:04 EST, 19 September 2015

When John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth wrote Fawlty Towers – first shown 40 years ago today – they had no idea they were creating an anti-hero and a hotel that would become national institutions. For the first signs were that it would be a flop. 

When BBC executives read the scripts, they thought the jokes weren't funny, the characters stereotyped and the hotel setting was too boring. 

'I cannot see it as being anything other than a disaster,' one wrote. But they didn't want to reject it and risk upsetting Cleese, whose comedy talents they otherwise valued, so they hid it away on BBC2.

From left: Sybil (Prunella Scales), Manuel (Andrew Sachs), Basil (John Cleese) and Polly (Connie Booth), were the main characters of Fawlty Towers which became an unexpected hit

When the first show was aired on 19 September 1975, critics panned it and audiences were lukewarm, with viewing figures peaking at 2.5 million. However, it was repeated in January the following year and audiences grew to 7 million. By the time it was repeated again on BBC1 eight months later, Fawlty Towers had become a huge hit, pulling in more than 12 million viewers.

Only two series, each of six episodes, were ever written and while some of the stars like Cleese have remained household names, others stepped away from world of showbusiness. 

Here we reveal what happened to the cast after they checked out of the much-loved calamitous hotel...

JOHN CLEESE

John is easily the most recognisable face on the show having played the programme's front man, hotel owner and manager Basil Fawlty.

John and his ex-wife Connie Booth, who played waitress and maid Polly Sherman, were the brains behind the popular series, having co-written and starred in it together. 

Connie and John met in the 1960s, married in 1968 and had their daughter Cynthia three years later, but by the time the second and final series of Fawlty Towers began filming, the two were divorced but still good friends. 

John explained once that the show contributed to the breakdown of their marriage. 'The show took over. I had a perfectionist streak and got wound up over the smallest detail,' he said. 

John Cleese co-wrote Fawlty Towers with ex-wife Connie Booth and starred as Basil Fawlty (left). He has recently developed a game called The Silly Walk app

After his starring role John went on to enjoy a fruitful acting career taking roles in Harry Potter, Shrek 2 and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

His most recent venture is a slight departure, though, having launched an app called The Silly Walk - a 'walking game'. 

CONNIE BOOTH 

Connie Booth played Polly Sherman in the popular series but hasn't appeared on our screens for 15 years

Connie Played the long-suffering Polly Sherman alongside her then-husband in Fawlty Towers for the entirety of its airing. 

Despite their divorce she is said to have remained close friends with her former flame with whom she has one daughter Cynthia Cleese.

She too went on to enjoy a successful on-screen career taking on roles on TV shows including The Tomorrow People, Faith, and The Buccaneers.

However she has not appeared on TV since 2000, when she narrated the television series In Motion. 

Although she helped to create it Connie was hardly one to boast about the show. The actress refused to discuss the programme with anyone for thirty years until 2009.

PRUNELLA SCALES 

Prunella Scales played Basil's wife Sybil on the show, she has recently taken a step back from acting after suffering from advanced Alzheimer's

Prunella played John Cleese's on-screen spouse as Sybil Fawlty and continued to pursue an acting career up until last year, with her last project the film Sub Rosa.

You may also remember a string of Tesco adverts that featured the actress where she played a bossy elderly woman.  

However the 83-year-old has been taking it easy recently as it emerged that she is battling advanced Alzheimer's and can recall little of her 53-year marriage to husband, actor Timothy West. 

It is little more than a year since West disclosed she had a ‘mild’ form of the disease.

But she went ahead with TV series Great Canal Journeys in which her illness was addressed with gentle humour. 

ANDREW SACHS 

Andrew played the bumbling Spanish butler Manuel on the show. He hit headlines in 2008 after Johnathon Ross and Russell Brand left lewd messages on his answering machine concerning his granddaughter

Andrew played the bumbling butler Manuel on the popular sitcom and continued on with television playing Ramsay Clegg in Coronation Street as well as a three season stint in Casualty. 

Andrew is most recognised, however, after hitting the headlines in October 2008 when Russel Brand and Johnathon Ross left lewd messages on Andrew's answering machine.

The pair made the mostly sexual insults about Sachs’ granddaughter, Georgina, with whom Brand had had a relationship, and even cracked jokes about the young woman’s menstrual cycle.

These remarks aired on Brand’s Radio 2 show, provoking 42,000 complaints and devastating the Sachs family. 

BALLARD BERKELEY

Ballard played Major Gowen who viewers dubbed the shows most bigoted character he passed away in 1988

Ballard played Major Gowen who viewers dubbed the shows most bigoted character - 'to be laughed at not with'.

The actor hit headlines two years ago after a repeat of the show in which the scene where Ballard making derogatory racist remarks was edited out. 

Before his death in 1988 the actor appeared in several TV series including Hi-de-Hi! and To The Manor Born and his last role was a voice in the animated film The BFG. 

Ahead of his acting career, Ballard worked as a Special Constable during the Second World War and witnessed the Blitz first hand while on the job.  

So what was Cleese like to work with all those years ago? Here, five actors who appeared in the show give a unique insight into what went on backstage...

Nicky Henson, now 70, played a hotel guest who incurred Basil's wrath by trying to sneak a girl into his room...

'I've known John for 50 years, since we shared a dressing room for The Frost Report,' says Nicky. 'He'd never done TV then and was nervous so I took him under my wing.

Nicky Henson, now 70,  pictured with Prunella Scales as Basil's wife Sybil), played a hotel guest who incurred Basil's wrath by trying to sneak a girl into his room

'When he was writing Fawlty Towers he rang me and said, "I've got a real problem. I've never been so rude to any character in any show I've ever written. And if it's somebody I don't know, I'll be too embarrassed. Would you mind...?" So I said, "Of course!" I played a flash guy, a medallion man in leather trousers and a chamois shirt. Basil was dreadfully nasty to me. 

'After the final rehearsal, before it was recorded in front of a studio audience, I said to John, "How can I stop myself laughing?" And he said, "You'll see the fear in my eyes!" He'd always been a nervous performer and a perfectionist. But he's a wonderfully funny man, he's a great big baby. Not like Basil; John's a nice baby, Basil was a horrible baby.

'We didn't realise what a huge hit the show was. John did say to me, "I can probably guarantee 100 per cent of your original fee in repeats." My fee was £150 - and Fawlty Towers is still topping up my pension!'

Bernard Cribbins, now 86, played a demanding guest who Basil was convinced was a hotel inspector. He recalls... 

'I played a spoon salesman and when Basil finally realised that I wasn't an inspector, I got a custard pie in the crutch, one in the face – and waiter Manuel [played by Andrew Sachs] poured a jug of cream into my briefcase. 

Bernard Cribbins, now 86, played a demanding guest who Basil was convinced was a hotel inspector, pictured

'The pie was harmless, you could eat it. But there's a scene at the table when Basil grabs me round the neck and karate chops me – John's a big bloke and I had to ask him to restrain himself. 

'But I enjoyed the big punch-up with Basil at the end. I'd done fights in films with a stunt man before. But my knee in the groin went nowhere near his groin... I couldn't reach. He's too tall!

Robin Ellis, 73, appeared in the first ever episode of Fawlty Towers shortly before he became famous as TV's Ross Poldark

Robin Ellis, 73, appeared in the first ever episode of Fawlty Towers – A Touch Of Class – shortly before he became famous as TV's Ross Poldark. He played an undercover cockney policeman who arrests a guest, Lord Melbury, who unknown to Basil – who's fawning over him – is a confidence trickster... 

'This show was something new for John – so there was a lot riding on it. I remember I had to check into Fawlty Towers wearing a dreadful 70s faux-leather jacket that was probably plastic.

'I also remember the trauma of acting to a studio audience, I'd never done it before. My character had to speak fluent Spanish to Manuel and Basil was taken aback that this idiot could speak Spanish when he couldn't. I had to learn it by rote because I don't speak Spanish, either. 

I was word perfect on the take – even if my nails were digging into my palms trying to relax myself – and then the floor manager said, "Sorry, but there was a camera in shot and we have to do it all again." 

'Then later I had to go back, mid-Poldark, and do the dinner scene again because there'd been a slight change in the plot.'

Melody Sachs is the wife of Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel

Melody Sachs, 82 and the wife of Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel, recalls how she turned up on set one day to meet her husband, when Connie came rushing out in a panic because an actor hadn't turned up...

'Connie said to me, "Quickly, go to make-up and get on the set." 

'They were serving veal for lunch and Basil had to snatch my plate away because Manuel's pet rat had escaped. 

'It was a good laugh and like working with family. 

'John and Connie were fine together. It was very sad when they split, and sad they only wrote two series, but maybe that was a good thing because now they've got this precious little bundle of 12 episodes that'll go on forever.'

Tony Page, 55, played an obnoxious child guest who told Basil his food was 'pigs' garbage'

Tony Page, 55, played an obnoxious child guest who told Basil his food was 'pigs' garbage'. Tony went on to work in catering...

'I was at stage school and Fawlty Towers was my first speaking part. I was 15 – but only looked 12 – and got paid £90, not bad considering I got £66 a week when I enlisted in the Navy two years later. I wore a tank top from M&S, but I didn't get to keep it. 

'The biggest shock was meeting Manuel: I wasn't expecting a posh guy, I thought he really was Spanish. 

'John was supposed to cuff me round the head, but my reflexes were so fast, every time he went to hit me, I ducked. 

'In the end he had to knock me with his elbow so I wasn't expecting it. I sometimes get Fawlty Towers out and watch it to cheer myself up.'

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