John Cleese to make GB News debut with The Dinosaur Hour

Fawlty Towers star John Cleese is set to present his first show on GB News, kicking off at 9pm this Sunday.

The comedy actor, 84, will present The Dinosaur Hour from 12th century Hedingham Castle in Essex where he will speak to a variety of guests.

On Saturday, Cleese expressed shock at the news channel’s decision to give a platform to prime minister Boris Johnson, the latest Conservative politician to join the channel.

The actor reposted an image of Boris Johnson to X, formerly Twitter, and wrote that he could not believe GB News had hired a “serial liar”.

“I can hardly believe that GB News will give this proven serial liar his own programme,” he wrote.

GB News and Mr Johnson have been approached for comment.

For his new 10-part series, Cleese has recreated a famous Monty Python film scene, reprising the role of the French Taunter who mocked King Arthur and his knights when they stopped at a castle controlled by French forces.

In The Dinosaur Hour the character is brought back to life by Cleese as he asks to be let into the castle playing host to his new series.

A preview clip from the show has teased upcoming guests who include comedian and actor Stephen Fry, media personality Caitlyn Jenner and journalist Sir Trevor McDonald.

Cleese will also be in conversation with former Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? host Chris Tarrant for the first episode of the show.

On The Dinosaur Hour Tarrant speaks about his experience with phone hacking saying: “I just thought it was a rubbish phone that I was using. But then when I split from my wife, I mean it became just open season.

“They were everywhere. They were trying to get at my children. They were obviously trying to talk to my ex…

“It was only later that I began to realise this hacking lark was actually taking place on my phone.

“I had never heard of it. I thought it was something that happens to somebody else, and that happens in Hollywood.”

Cleese also speaks to retired private investigator Daniel Portley-Hanks who will discuss how he has previously investigated the Fawlty Towers actor for newspapers.

“I was a private investigator and whenever a story was breaking I had to track that person down so they (the UK newspapers) could go and interview them or contact them,” Mr Portley-Hanks claims.

“I never advertised at all, journalists in London started calling me and asking me to locate people and do background checks on them and to find out everything.”

When asked by Cleese what he found out about him, Mr Portley-Hanks says: “You’re actually kind of boring, John.

“They (the media) were very interested in one of your wives down in Texas.”

GB News was launched in June 2021, with former BBC political broadcaster Andrew Neil as chairman and host of a primetime show before he stepped down in the September.

Cleese joins the channel’s on-air talent which includes former This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage and Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Last year, following the announcement that Cleese would be joining the broadcaster, the comedian and actor spoke to journalist Amol Rajan on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about his move and said he no longer knew a lot about English TV but had met two people for dinner who described GB News “a free speech channel”.

Cleese is most well known for his role as the preposterous Basil Fawlty in the hit TV series Fawlty Towers.

He was also one of the “originals” in Monty Python’s Flying Circus and was renowned as the man who epitomised the Ministry of Silly Walks.