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JAN MOIR: Is Basil goose stepping in front of Germans still funny? Of course it bloody is! - As John Cleese's Fawlty Towers play packs out a West End theatre
JAN MOIR: Just behind me in row K, a man is watching a football match on his mobile phone. 'Shocking free kick,' he murmurs to his luckless date.
Five minutes before Fawlty Towers: The Play begins, my neighbour must be the only punter in this West End theatre who is not totally Fawlty-focused; who is not completely bedazzled by the prospect of a fresh chiffonade of Basil being sprinkled upon the bland pizza of popular culture. John Cleese himself has adapted the iconic 1970s television series he co-wrote with his then-wife Connie Booth into this production, melding three of his favourite episodes - The Hotel Inspectors, The Germans and Communication Problems - into one 90-minute play. From Dad's Army (Captain Mainwaring) to Rising Damp (Mr Rigsby) to Only Fools And Horses (Del Boy) to The Office (David Brent), there is no character we love more than the small man trying to act big.
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