John Cleese Slams British Television

John Cleese

When it comes to modern television, it’s all sour grapes for English actor John Cleese. The Daily Telegraph reports that the 71-year-old Monty Python and Fawlty Towers comedian detests how British television has taken shape over the years.

“When I was growing up, we had the best television in the world,” Cleese said. “Now it’s as bad as it is everywhere else, and I don’t particularly want to participate in that.”

He added: “I don’t really watch TV these days, except live sport. There’s nothing much that appeals to me and I would rather read a book.”

When it comes to reality TV, don’t count on Cleese to throw his hat in the ring for a huge chunk of change. He recently turned down a near $320,000 (£200,000) deal to star on the widely-popular UK version of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here. He confessed that taking part would only lead to the “collapse of western civilization” and defy his self-imposed “filter.”

“There is always a filter when it comes to accepting work,” he said. “I call it the EQ – the embarrassment quota. I will only do embarrassing things if there is a lot of money involved and people won’t really know about it.”