Fawlty Towers has been named as the greatest British sitcom of all time, as its creators attribute its success to an era where BBC commissioning “decisions were taken by people who had actually made programmes”.

The sitcom, which starred John Cleese, topped a Radio Times list of the 20 best British sitcoms despite running for only 12 episodes.

It beat other series including Father Ted, Blackadder, I'm Alan Partridge and Only Fools And Horses, winning a special place in viewers’ hearts for its combination of “farce” and “precision”, experts said.

Fawlty Towers, a BBC series, ran for just two series of six episodes each in the 1970s.

Speaking to the Radio Times, the show's co-writer and star Connie Booth said: "Fawlty Towers succeeds, I think, because it allows infantile rage and aggression a field day in a buttoned down, well-mannered English society.

"It's unique in being a farce, with all the plot surprises and precision that the style requires. And it doesn't hurt that the star of the show is a six-foot-five comic genius. If he was shorter I can't imagine how it would have worked."