Two massive comebacks were proclaimed last week: Liz Truss and Fawlty Towers. Truss returned to the political fray and John Cleese announced that he and his daughter will be making a new series of the renowned hotel sitcom. Exciting times! But both developments raise the same nagging question: can it be as funny the second time round?
Can the intensity of hysterical chaos be matched? Could such fast-moving and unexpected, cringeworthy yet compulsively watchable farcical consequences be brought about again? Both Truss and Cleese have been criticised for the brevity of their masterpieces – though, in running for two series of six weeks, Fawlty Towers long outlasted Truss’s tenure of power – but is it a mistake to try to add to something perfect? They may be the finest artists of calamity in their respective genres but are they unwise to compete with their former selves?
