Inspired by a bizarre real-life hotel stay in Torquay by the Monty Python team, Python John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth found enough ammunition in that experience to create the 12-part TV sit-com series Fawlty Towers.

Three of those episodes – The Hotel Inspectors, Communication Problems and The Germans – have since been adapted and merged seamlessly by Cleese – who also originally played Basil – into Fawlty Towers – The Play which has transferred from the West End to The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.

There is nothing new in this production directed by Caroline Jay Ranger, but you sensed on opening night that is just what the audience – who knew all the punchlines – wanted.

Liz Ascroft’s detailed split-level set is as authentic as the wonky Fawlty Towers sign and the introductory music from the TV series.

All the cast seem to have graduated with honours from the Fawlty Towers School of Impersonations. Danny Bayne makes a perfect Basil – lanky, unhinged and volatile with moments of despair, while Mia Austen stars as his heavily coiffured and suitably venomous wife Sybil.

Hemi Yeroham plays the perpetually put-upon Spanish waiter Manuel with befuddled aplomb, and Paul Nicholas is every inch the bewildered Major with declining faculties, while Joanne Clifton as the waitress and maid Polly plays the desperately needed voice of sanity with conviction.

There is fine support too from the rest of the 18-strong cast, especially Jemma Churchill as Mrs Richards, who sets off one of Basil’s most famous rants when she complains about the view from her room.

The show itself begins at a slowish pace but picks up momentum as the various episodes and mishaps lead seamlessly to a gloriously chaotic conclusion – and there is plenty of slapstick and laugh-out-loud moments for all ages on the way.

While you could always stay at home and binge-watch the box set of the TV series, it is still worth spending an evening at this glorious stage production within an audience that appreciates nostalgic, like-minded humour.