JOHN CLEESE returns to TV for the first time in nearly 40 years with new BBC sitcom

14 February 2018

Monty Python alum John Cleese created one of the most iconic sitcom characters of all time with Fawlty Towers’ Basil Fawlty. Now, the legendary British actor is returning to the small screen for Hold the Sunset, a BBC One comedy that premieres this weekend.

In it, Cleese plays Phil, an aging suburbanite who pines for his ex-girlfriend, Edith (Alison Steadman), who lives next door. After their relationship is rekindled, Edith’s son, Roger (Jason Watkins), complicates their romance by showing up on the doorstep with a mid-life crisis in tow. It’s a standard setup — pesky family member interferes with a new romance — but distinguished by the fact that everybody’s a few decades older than they usually are in such a scenario.

Watch a trailer for it below.

Joining Cleese is Oscar-nominated screenwriter Charles McKeown, who has co-written scripts like Brazil and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus for Cleese’s one-time Monty Python cohort Terry Gilliam. McKeown penned all six scripts in the series’ first season, which debuts this Sunday, February 18th.