Playing deaf Mrs Richards on stage

Helen Lederer is joining the cast of the Fawlty Towers play when it returns to the West End this summer.

The comedian and author – best known for her roles in Ab Fab and Bottom – will be playing Mrs Richards, the hard-of-hearing guest who stubbornly refuses to turn her hearing aid on,.

It was also announced today that Danny Bayne will be playing Basil Fawlty with Mia Austen as Sybil and Joanne Clifton as Polly, while Hemi Yeroham and Paul Nicholas will be reprising their roles as Manuel as The Major respectively.

The show – fully titled John Cleese’s Fawlty Towers – The Play – will be back at the Apollo Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue  from June 24 to September 13

Cleese said: "I’m thrilled with the top-class group of comedy actors that we've assembled for Fawlty Towers' return to the West End stage this June. 

‘September this year marks exactly 50 years since the first ever episode was broadcast on the BBC and here we are, all these years later, still making theatres rock with laughter.’ 

Following the West End summer season, the comedy – essentially three episodes of the sitcom Cleese created with Connie Booth smashed together – will tour major theatres across the country until July next year.

Read our review of the original London run here.

Published: 15 Apr 2025