Join Basil, Sybil and Manuel in Gisborne for a night of laughs at Faulty Towers dining event

The Faulty Towers Dining Experience immersive show, based on the hit British TV comedy series, is at Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club tomorrow night. The show was written and devised by a former Gisborne local.

Faulty Towers The Dining Experience comes to Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club tomorrow and it has a strong local connection.

This immersive tribute to the hit BBC TV series Fawlty Towers was devised and written by Alison Pollard-Mansergh, who is formerly of Gisborne.

The comedic culinary adventure is an improvised, interactive and fully immersive experience where audiences enjoy a 1970s-style three-course meal served up with five-star comedy.

They are not just audience members but highly esteemed guests of Basil, Sybil and Manuel.

“The inspiration to start Faulty Towers The Dining Experience came from work I was doing in New Zealand in the early 90s,” Pollard-Mansergh says.

“I’m incredibly proud of the show’s success and its connection to my homeland. I’m delighted that this tour includes both my hometown of Gisborne and my university city, Palmerston North.”

The show has collected many accolades since its humble beginnings in 1997.

It has been performed in 43 countries to well over one million people.

Last year saw the celebration of 15 years of touring Europe, and this year marks 27 years of worldwide touring.

It is also into its 12th year of residency in London’s West End. This show is the longest-running immersive production, the longest-running Fawlty Towers production in the West End and the longest-running show based on a TV series in the West End.

It is also the longest-running Fawlty Towers production of any kind worldwide.

This smash hit has been labelled “theatre at its startling best” (Best of Theatre, London West End) as the iconic trio brings the famous British BBC series to life in a dining experience like no other.

The cast for 2024 includes New Zealander Jed McKinney as Basil, Eilannin Harris-Black as Sybil and Michael Gonsalves as Manuel.

It is produced by Palmerston North local Jared Harford, who is from the only town to have named a rubbish dump (Mt Cleese) after the star of the Fawlty Towers TV series, John Cleese.