John Cleese has signed on to star in his first BBC sitcom since Fawlty Towers. According to Variety, Cleese will star alongside Alison Steadman in a six-episode comedy for the network called Edith. Created by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Charles McKeown (Brazil), the show centers on Steadman’s character as “a widow who enjoys daily visits from an old boyfriend, Phil (Cleese), who now lives across the street. Just as Phil finally convinces Edith to marry him and move abroad to a sunnier climate, her 50-year-old son (Jason Watkins) announces that he’s moving back home after having left his job and family, which puts Edith and Phil’s dreams on hold.†Here’s Cleese’s statement on the project:
These are the most enjoyable scripts I’ve been sent in the last 100 years. It will also be particularly nice to work with Alison again since we joined forces in Clockwise all that time ago.
Read our interview with Cleese from back in January here.