Vodafone signs up Basil Fawlty

Classic clips of Basil Fawlty whacking his temperamental car with branches and beating long-suffering waiter Manuel with a spoon will soon be seen on mobile phones.

They are among snippets of BBC comedy footage which can be played on handsets in a new deal with phone firm Vodafone.

It is the first deal of its kind for the corporation’s marketing wing, BBC Worldwide, and involved tying up deals stars, writers and other rights holders.

Licensing clips for phones is new area to allow old TV shows to be exploited but one which Worldwide “expects to grow rapidly”.

Users of the Vodafone Live! Service in the UK can download the Fawlty Towers excerpts and some other comedies directly to their handsets.

Fawlty Towers is one of the most internationally successful comedy programmes for the BBC, with sales to broadcasters in more than 70 countries, including India, Russia and Thailand.

It has also raked in cash through video and audio sales.

But introducing this potentially burgeoning new market area involved discussions with all contributors to ensure they were happy with the deal.

Eight 30-second clips will be available from the hotel comedy starring John Cleese, and other shows are expected to follow.

Jonathan Crane, director of commercial broadband & interactive television at BBC Worldwide said: “Licensing BBC comedy sequences to Vodafone Live! Is a genuinely groundbreaking deal for us.

“Accessing video via handsets is now a reality for us all, and as demand grows, BBC Worldwide is poised to provide a range of great video content to these new mobile services.”