Martin Clunes mocks Cleese criticism

Martin Clunes has laughed off John Cleese's claims that British comedy is not as good as it used to be in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Cleese criticised the standard of modern script-writing and complained about the lack of funding for new TV shows at the 30th anniversary of Fawlty Towers last week.

Responding to the Monty Python comic's remarks, Clunes said: "John Cleese certainly hasn't made any good comedy since the '80s!

"Isn't it curious how successful people think there's only success in their day? There's a lot of it about, unfortunately."

The Doc Martin star added: "There's been loads of good comedy. There's even loads at the moment. What about Lead Balloon, Outnumbered, Pulling and Free Agents? Sharon Horgan's a real talent and her fellow writer Chris Niel is amazing."