N. F. Simpson which no episodes survive. His final series for television was the unsuccessful "Charley’s Grants" (1970), co-written with John Fortune and John Wells, starring Hattie Jacques, and produced by Ian MacNaughton (who produced "Monty Python’s Flying Circus"), which is also entirely lost. Plays followed, including a satire on advertising, "Thank You Very Much" (1971), and an effective three-hander for ITV, "Silver Wedding" (1974), directed by Mike Newell. Simpson’s highest-profile production for television was "Elementary, My Dear Watson" (1973), a Sherlock Holmes parody for BBC One’s "Comedy Playhouse" starring John Cleese and Willie Rushton. It has been screened several times at the
John Cleese in the comedy "Rat Race" as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the name of the Torquay hotel owner on whom he had based the character of Basil Fawlty. In 2002, Cleese made a cameo appearance in the film "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" in which he played "James", a computerised chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy). The vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase, leaving the chauffeur stranded in a remote place on the moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the US sitcom "Will & Grace". His