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The only Manuel for the job! John Cleese's threat to stop writing Fawlty Towers scripts unless he could sign up Andrew Sachs as beloved clumsy waiter
So sure was the Monty Python star that Andrew Sachs would make the 'perfect' Manuel, that he threatened to stop writing until the actor signed on the dotted line.
Documents in the BBC archives reveal executives’ concerns that securing Sachs was holding up the scripts, which Cleese was writing with his then-wife Connie Booth, who went on to play chambermaid Polly in the series. The pivotal role of Mr Hutchinson in the The Hotel Inspectors episode, eventually played by Bernard Cribbins, was originally offered to The Good Life star Richard Briers. Documents in the BBC archives reveal executives’ concerns that securing Sachs was holding up the scripts, which Cleese was writing with his then-wife Connie Booth, who went on to play chambermaid Polly in the series
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