Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

This past week in the UK, we had Bank Holiday Monday in August 2025. This is what I did on Bank Holiday Monday. I cooked a lasagne for me and my parents for lunch. Later on, we saw the 1986 comedy film ‘Clockwise’, starring John Cleese, via Amazon Prime Video.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of ‘Clockwise’ over the years, particularly the climax when my parents and I were at my Nana and Bamp’s house many years ago. I’m pleased that I’ve seen the whole film from beginning to end, finding it very entertaining and funny indeed.

For many of you, John Cleese is well-known for being in ‘Monty Python’. For me, I know him best for playing Basil Fawlty in ‘Fawlty Towers’. In some respects, this film could easily be a ‘Fawlty Towers’ film, as John Cleese’s character has the same mannerisms. 🙂

There are also familiar cast members who’ve been in ‘Fawlty Towers’ making an appearance in this film too. I’m surprised this film wasn’t rewritten to be a ‘Fawlty Towers’ film, since John Cleese could still be a hotel manager instead of a school headmaster. 😀

‘Clockwise’ is the story about John Cleese as Brian Stimpson, a school headmaster obsessed with punctuality. Unfortunately, things go awry when he misses the train for an important speech he’s going to make at an annual Headmasters’ Conference in Norwich.

It was funny to see the chaos going on for Brian Stimpson when he ends up having to getting a lift in the car of one of his sixth-form students, Sharon Maiden as Laura Wisely. The road trip leads him to ending up in a countryside field and ending up in a nearby monastery.

It’s like one of those farces you see in a ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode where things get worse as the day goes on by the time the story comes to an end. John Cleese delivers the story’s comedy in spades, especially when he as Brian Stimpson gets increasingly frustrated. 🙂

As well as John Cleese and Sharon Maiden, the film’s cast also includes Penelope Wilton as Pat, an old friend of Mr. Stimpson’s who ends up driving the car for him and Laura for a bit. It’s nice to see Penelope Wilton in this film after seeing her in ‘Ever Decreasing Circles’.

There’s Alison Steadman (who I’ve seen in 1995’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’) as Gwenda, Mr. Stimpson’s wife, and there’s Stephen Moore (who voiced Marvin the Paranoid Android in ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’) as Mr. Jolly, a teacher who has secretly been dating Laura.

Benjamin Whitrow (who’s also been in 1995’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’) plays one of the headmasters at the conference in the film. There’s Geoffrey Palmer (who was in the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode ‘The Kipper and the Corpse’) playing another headmaster in the film.

Peter Cellier (who’s been in ‘Keeping Up Appearances’) plays another headmaster in the film. And there’s Nicholas Le Prevost (who’s been in three episodes of Series 1 of ‘The Larkins’, would you believe?) as another headmaster attending the conference in the film.

There are three senile ladies in the film, including Joan Hickson (who played Miss Marple in the BBC TV series) as Mrs. Trellis, Constance Chapman as Mrs. Wheel, and Ann Way (who played Mrs. Hall in the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode called ‘Gourmet Night’) as Mrs. Way.

Laura’s parents are in the film, played Geoffrey Hutchings and Pat Keen. Pat Keen was in the ‘Fawlty Towers’ episode ‘The Anniversary’. There’s Tony Haygarth as Ivan, the farmer with the tractor, and there’s John Bardon as the ticket collector at a train station.

Michael Aldridge plays the Prior at the monastery, Sheila Keith plays Pat’s (Penelope Wilton) mother, Mark Burdis as Glen Scully, Nadia Sawalha as Mandy Kostakis, Richard Ridings as a policeman at a crash, and Alan Parnaby as a policeman at a phone box.

There’s Leslie Schofield as a policeman who arrests Pat. Incidentally, in terms of behind-the-scenes crew, the production designer happens to be Roger Murray-Leech, who was the production designer on many ‘Doctor Who’ stories during Tom Baker’s era.

And one of the film’s executive producers happens to be Verity Lambert, the first producer of ‘Doctor Who’ back in 1963 with William Hartnell. I was amazed to see those two ‘Doctor Who’ alumni’s names in the opening credits of a film starring John Cleese.

‘Clockwise’ has been a very enjoyable and entertaining film for me to check out on Amazon Prime Video. I’m glad my parents and I saw this film recently for August Bank Holiday Monday this year. We had a good time enjoying the comedy featured throughout.

It was easy to see elements of Basil Fawlty in John Cleese’s character of Brian Stimpson. Had this been a ‘Fawlty Towers’ feature film instead, I think the plot would have suited it well if you swapped the Headmasters’ Conference with a Hotels’ Conference instead. 😀

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂