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T-Bag (Prison Break)

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Which Way to the War

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The Eggheads

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Comedy Playhouse

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Create a template containing all Comedy Playhouse-related articles (it could include series articles, Galton and Simpson, other writers, successful TV pilots, etc.).

A Touch of Class

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The Builders

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"Mr Sitcom/sandbox"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 1
Episode 2
Directed byJohn Howard Davies
Written by
Editing byBob Rymer
Original air date26 September 1975 (1975-09-26)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
  • David Kelly as Mr O'Reilly
  • James Appleby as Mr Stubbs
  • Michael Cronin as Mr Lurphy
  • Barney Dorman as Mr Kerr
  • Michael Halsey as Mr Jones
  • George Lee as Delivery Man
Episode chronology
← Previous
"A Touch of Class" 		Next →
"The Wedding Party"
List of episodes

"The Builders" is the second episode from the first series of the BBC television sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Plot

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As Fawlty Towers is undergoing renovations over the weekend, Basil informs Major Gowen, Miss Tibbs, and Miss Gatsby that they will have to have dinner at the Gleneagles Hotel. Basil and Sybil themselves are going on a golfing holiday in Paignton with friends, leaving Polly and Manuel in charge of the hotel. Before they leave, Basil reminds Polly that the workmen are to remove the drawing room door and build a door leading into the kitchen at the bottom of the stairs. Sybil believes the renovations will be carried out by workmen from the professional (albeit expensive) Stubbs, but Basil tells Polly that he has actually hired the cheaper O'Reilly, an Irish "cowboy builder" with very little understanding of his trade. Sybil warns Basil not to hire O'Reilly, as they hired him to build a wall a few months ago which has still not been built.

After the Fawltys leave, Polly goes to her room for a break and tells Manuel to wake her as soon as the builders arrive. As Manuel watches over the front desk, a delivery man arrives to deliver a garden gnome Sybil has ordered, but a confused Manuel thinks that he wants a room for it. When the builders arrive, confusion arises again when Manuel keeps asking them if they are "Orelly men." Manuel goes upstairs to wake Polly, but decides not to disturb her upon seeing her sleeping peacefully. He then answers a call from someone he believes is asking for Basil. Despite telling them that Basil is not available, the phone rings several times and eventually Manuel insults the caller out of anger, but drops the receiver in shock when he realises that the caller is Basil himself. In retaliation, Basil tricks Manuel into calling one of the builders "a hideous orangutan", resulting in Manuel getting punched in the face.

The next morning, Basil arrives early to check on the renovations, and discovers to his frustration that they haven't been carried out properly; the door intended for the kitchen has been placed in front of the stairs, the drawing room door is still in place, and the dining room door has been blocked instead. In a combination of fury at the poor workmanship and fear over Sybil's anticipated reaction, he scolds Polly and physically attacks Manuel before phoning O'Reilly and threatening to "insert a large garden gnome" in him if he does not return to rectify the work within 20 minutes. While imploring O'Reilly to fix the renovations, Basil notices that Sybil has returned early as well, having forgotten her golf shoes. Sybil, suspicious upon seeing O'Reilly's van outside, questions Basil, who blames the situation on Stubbs and falsely claims that O'Reilly has come to fix it. To Basil's relief, Sybil seems to believe him. Polly calls the front desk impersonating Stubbs' secretary, but is almost immediately caught by Sybil.

Furious that Basil hired O'Reilly and refusing to listen to anymore of his lies, Sybil vows to make him regret it for the rest of his life and, after hurling a cash box across the room, furiously reminds Basil of the previous jobs O'Reilly had been hired to do and the problems it caused. When O'Reilly walks into the room and tries to joke about his mistakes and smiles at Sybil (much to Basil's horror), this is the last straw and Sybil proceeds to assault both him and Basil with an umbrella, before telling O'Reilly to leave and never return. Sybil calls Stubbs to get him to do the work the next morning. As Sybil leaves, Basil convinces O'Reilly to stay and complete the work. The next morning, Sybil returns to find the renovations have been completed by O'Reilly, apparently with no problems. Stubbs arrives and is initially impressed with the job done. However, when Stubbs further confronts Basil about the work, he learns that O'Reilly had used a wooden lintel for the door to the kitchen instead of a concrete one or an RSJ. As the door is on a load-bearing wall, the supporting wall could give way at any moment and cause the entire building to collapse. As Stubbs telephones his company to commence emergency repair work, Sybil finds Basil marching down the driveway with the garden gnome in his arms. Basil calls back to Sybil that he is "going to see Mr. O'Reilly" before adding that he thinks he "might go to Canada" under his breath. - P142-145

Cast

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Guest

Home media releases

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In 1981, an LP record containing the episodes "The Builders" and "Basil the Rat" was released by BBC Records. Titled Fawlty Towers: Second Sitting, the LP was the second record released by the BBC. - P44, 192

Trivia

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  • Interior scenes of this episode were recorded on 3 August 1975 in Studio TC3 of the BBC Television Centre before a live audience.[1]
  • Basil tells his guests that they must go to "Gleneagles" for their dinners - this is a reference to the Gleneagles Hotel which Donald Sinclair, the hotel manager on which John Cleese based Basil Fawlty, ran in Torquay, the town where Fawlty Towers is set, and where the Monty Python team had stayed in 1971 when Cleese gained his inspiration for Fawlty Towers. P-10
  • The man who delivers the garden gnome to Fawlty Towers asks Manuel where the "Generalissimo" (his boss) is, to which Manuel (believing that he is talking about Francisco Franco) responds "in Madrid!"; this episode airs less than two months before Franco's death - in the Catalan dubbed version, broadcast in 1986 (eleven years after Franco's death), Manuel replies "Dead!", a reference to this death that takes place between the episode's first original language airing and the airing of the Catalan dub.
  • Bright and Ross praised David Kelly's performance as Mr O'Reilly, writing that "his performances have enriched and enlivened numerous shows. None, however, comes close to his single appearance in Fawlty Towers." - P122 Because of his performance in this episode, Kelly was cast in Cowboys in 1980, about a pair of dodgy builders. - P122
  • George Lee is the only actor in the series to have returned as the same character in a subsequent episode. In "The Builders", he plays a nameless delivery man, while in "Communication Problems", Lee plays Mr Kerr, who is presumably the same delivery man from the previous series. - P123
  • Mr Stubbs, the builder Sybil wishes to employ for the hotel, was named after actress Imogen Stubbs's father, who was a builder. Mr Stubbs assisted with technical advice on door RSJs. Cleese recalled: "Those little bits of research are very good if you can get them right. It helps to make the comedy all that more real." - P142
  • This episode was first broadcast on BBC2 on 26 September 1975. - P142

Criticism

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David Stubbs has rated The Builders as the weakest Fawlty Towers episode due to its reliance on stereotypes such as "the battleaxe wife, the feckless Irish labourer, and, of course, the dimwitted Spaniard".[1]

John Cleese believed "The Builders" to be "unsatisfactory" and judged his performance as "poor". This view was owing to a general lack of laughter in the studio on recording day. He recalls that members of the Icelandic Broadcasting Corporation were visiting the studio that day and many of them were in the front row seats, "being very pleasant and charming and Icelandic and not laughing at all". Cleese recalled: "It was a tough recording and it needed quite a lot of editing to tighten it up. I still think it's the least good of the 12 shows we did." - P145

The Wedding Party

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"Mr Sitcom/sandbox"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 1
Episode 3
Directed byJohn Howard Davies
Written by
Original air date3 October 1975 (1975-10-03)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Builders" 		Next →
"The Hotel Inspectors"
List of episodes

"The Wedding Party" is the third episode of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

In the episode, Basil is disgusted when two young lovers, Alan and Jean, begin 'hanky-pankying' under his very nose while checking in. He becomes convinced that they and two other guests (a couple called the Lloyds) are engaged in group sexual misbehaviour, somehow also involving Polly. Meanwhile, another guest, Mrs Peignoir, has become attracted to Basil, and circumstances conspire to put him in apparently compromising situations whenever any of the aforementioned are around.

Plot

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A heatwave has hit Torquay, making Basil even more lazy and impatient than ever. When he realises that the two young lovers Alan and Jean, who are checking in, aren't married,[note 1] he tries to force them into single rooms on separate floors. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peignoir, an attractive French antique dealer, seems to be attracted to Basil, much to Sybil's disgust. Alan returns to the lobby and asks Basil if he knows whether any chemists are still open. Basil initially assumes he wants to buy condoms, then when Alan says he wants batteries, Basil – still assuming it must be sex-related – tells him that is "disgusting". When Alan explains that he wanted batteries for his electric razor, Basil tries to save the situation. Later that evening, Mrs. Peignoir arrives home and drunkenly trips over Basil as he crouches on the floor picking up her purse that she has dropped, ending up sitting on him. At that moment Alan and Jean also arrive, witnessing what appears to them to be a very sexual situation. Later that same night Manuel, who had been out celebrating his birthday, returns home drunk with his umbrella (a birthday gift from Basil) outside Basil and Sybil's door and accidentally hits Basil over the head with the umbrella. As Basil crumples to the floor in pain, Manuel drunkenly sits over him, saying "Mr Fawlty, I love you, I love you ...." and once more Alan walks in on the situation.

Jean's mother and stepfather Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd arrive next morning. Basil soon notices strange activities between the Lloyds, Jean, Alan, and Polly. For example, Basil accidentally walks in on Jean hugging Mr. Lloyd, and not realising that they are family he tries to keep Mrs. Lloyd from the room where he saw them embracing. He shows her the kitchen, where Manuel is sleeping off his hangover in the linen basket. Finally he lets her up to the room, only to discover Polly (a family friend of the Lloyds) is now hugging Mr. Lloyd. He again distracts the now very suspicious Mrs. Lloyd by showing her another room, explaining that the Lloyds' room is not as nice. When Mrs. Lloyd enters the room, she realises that it is exactly the same as the one Basil showed her. As he is leaving the room, Basil hears loud moaning noises from Alan and Jean's room and Polly hurries out, dressing herself (she has been trying on a dress Jean made for her and the moaning was because Jean had been massaging Alan's shoulders). Thinking the worst, Basil prepares to fire Polly and tells the Lloyds to leave. Sybil explains that they are one family and that Polly went to school with Jean, and has known them for years. Basil, feeling humiliated and regretful for his actions, argues with Sybil about apologising to them, saying sarcastically "No, no, I suppose it's all my fault, isn't it?" But Sybil insists and advises him to "Tell them you made a mistake." So he rehearses the apology (to Sybil, to Polly, to himself and to empty space) "I'm so sorry, I made a mistake", but by the time he reaches the guests' room, the sentence has become "I'm so sorry, but my wife has made a mistake!"

Sybil's good friend Audrey has split from her husband, much to Basil's irritation as she's constantly on the phone and repeating the phrase 'Ooh, I know'. She goes to visit Audrey the following day and, as Major Gowen puts it, "listen to all that rubbish" while consoling her friend. A flirtatious Mrs. Peignoir tries to charm Basil that night while Sybil is away, and he is very nervous in the evening. As he tries to undress someone keeps knocking at his door, and he believes it to be Mrs. Peignoir trying to seduce him again. However, when he realises it is actually Sybil returned early, he opens the door and unconvincingly says "Oh, what a terrible dream," trying to explain his previous whispers to Mrs. Peignoir (as he thought) to go away. Sybil, however, doesn't notice his odd behaviour, as she tells Basil that she has heard a burglar downstairs. Both are unaware that it is actually Manuel, who has awakened from the linen basket, still drunk. Basil quietly creeps downstairs in his underwear and hits 'the burglar' over the head with a frying pan. Manuel is revealed unconscious, and Basil crouches over him in the foyer. Just as Basil realises who it is, Alan, Jean and the Lloyds walk into the hotel, where they are confronted by the sight of Basil apparently lying on top of Manuel with no trousers on. They creep past, amused by his behaviour, and Mr Lloyd, slightly drunk, says to Basil "We've been to a wedding". In anger and despair, Basil draws back the frying pan for a final vengeful strike. - P 146-149

Cast

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Episode-credited cast:

With:

Production

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  • Interior scenes of this episode were recorded on 10 August 1975, in Studio TC8 of the BBC Television Centre, before a live audience.[2]
  • In the scene where Cleese hits Sachs over the head with a pan, the prop designer installed heavy padding in one of the pans. But during filming, Cleese couldn't see in the dark and grabbed the wrong pan—one that was totally unpadded. Sachs was hit so hard he could not lift himself back up.[3] Cleese claimed that they were using a real saucepan all along: "I was trying to hit Andrew a sliding blow and just as I started, he straightened up and I caught him a terrible one." - P85
  • John Cleese: "It's always struck me that people who aren't getting enough sex are fascinated by it and those people who get it." Basil, who is rarely involved in any sexual activities with his wife, is "very, very cross that other people are getting some. [...] And the essence of this episode was all about how disapproving he is." - P147
  • John Cleese believes that Basil, though flattered by Mrs Peignoir, is "never really interested". Although he could go into a "slightly sophisticated attitude of trying to play along with it", Cleese believes that he would be "terrified if it actually became a reality". Cleese speculates that "a little graceful, old-fashioned flirtation", something Basil could manage "quite well", was the thing that attracted Sybil to him in the first place. - P148

Notes

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  1. ^ It is later revealed that Jean is a successful couturier and other dialog among the guest cast strongly suggests that she and Alan are, in fact, married. So, while the script leaves it somewhat ambiguous, it may be that Basil's confusion was caused solely by a letter addressing Jean by her maiden name.

The Hotel Inspectors

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"The Hotel Inspectors"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 1
Episode 4
Directed byJohn Howard Davies
Written by
Original air date10 October 1975 (1975-10-10)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Wedding Party" 		Next →
"Gourmet Night"
List of episodes

"The Hotel Inspectors" is the fourth episode of the first series of the British television sitcom Fawlty Towers. Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth and directed by John Howard Davies, it was first broadcast on BBC2 on 10 October 1975.

In the episode, Basil hears of hotel inspectors roaming Torquay incognito and realises with horror that a guest he has been verbally abusing could easily be one of them.

The episode appears to have drawn some inspiration from Nikolai Gogol's similarly themed The Government Inspector.[4]

Plot

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Two guests, Mr Walt and Mr Hutchinson, arrive separately at reception. Whilst Mr Walt is quiet and reserved, Mr Hutchinson immediately irritates Basil by making several awkward requests and asks for specific directions to a meeting. As Mr Hutchinson leaves for the dining area, Sybil enters the lobby and informs Basil that, whilst on the phone, a friend of Audrey's told her about the presence of three hotel inspectors in the area. Suddenly anxious, Basil becomes determined to work out who the inspectors are. He realises with horror that any of the guests he has been serving could be one of them.

Returning to the lobby, Mr Hutchinson makes a request to reserve the television to watch a documentary, explaining that he is in constant contact with hotels, causing Basil to believe that Mr Hutchinson is the hotel inspector. Basil thus changes his attitude towards Hutchinson, fawning over him. He escorts him to the dining room, where lunch is about to be served. Basil ends up neglecting Mr Walt, who is forced to wait after his bottle of Aloxe-Corton wine proves to be corked.[5] Meanwhile, Sybil quietly reveals to Basil that she overhead a telephone conversation held by Mr Hutchinson, and discovered that Mr Hutchinson is not an inspector but a cutlery salesman. Feeling conned, Basil swears revenge on Hutchinson. However, during a conversation with Basil, Mr Walt casually mentions that he is in Torquay "on business with two colleagues". This convinces Basil that Walt is the inspector. In order to avoid making a poor impression on Walt, Basil attempts to pacify Hutchinson, who is annoyed after several instances of table-switching had caused confusion in the kitchen and led to Hutchinson being served several dishes he did not order. To stifle Hutchinson's complaining, Basil gags him and then subtly punches him, rendering him unconscious.

Hutchinson regains consciousness and begins punching Basil at the reception desk. As they are in the presence of Mr Walt, Basil accepts the assault without retaliation. Hutchinson leaves in anger to collect his bags. Basil attempts to bribe Mr Walt from mentioning the recent chain of events in his review. However, Mr Walt reveals he is actually an outboard motors salesman and consoles Basil. Basil thanks Walt and runs to the kitchen with Manuel. They prevent Mr Hutchinson from leaving, and assault him with pies to Mr Hutchinson's face and crotch, and cream poured into his briefcase. Basil frogmarches Mr Hutchinson to the door and forcibly ejects him from the hotel. Returning to the reception desk, Basil welcomes three smartly-dressed businessmen who have witnessed the assault on Hutchinson, and, realising who they are, screams in terror.[6]

Cast

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Main

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Guest

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  • Bernard Cribbins as Mr Hutchinson
  • James Cossins as Mr Walt
  • Peter Brett as Brian, the hotel inspector
  • Geoffrey Morris as John, the hotel inspector
  • Alexander Lewis as Chris, the hotel inspector (uncredited)

Production

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Interior scenes for this episode were recorded on 27 August 1975, in Studio TC8 of the BBC Television Centre, before a live audience.[7]

Co-writer John Cleese claimed that, in this episode, the viewer "really see[s] what an awful man Basil is".[8] Cleese explained: "[This is] because he has no interest at all in other human beings as human beings."[8] In being "painfully aware" that he must have a successful hotel recommendation, yet not knowing who the hotel inspector may be, this "really created an opportunity for the character to switch from one way of addressing a guest to another and back again without any kind of consistency".[8]

Home media releases

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In 1979, an LP record containing the episodes "Communication Problems" (retitled "Mrs Richards" on the release) and "The Hotel Inspectors" was released by BBC Records. Titled Fawlty Towers, the LP was the first record released by the BBC. Producer and director John Howard Davies had spent six months persuading the BBC to release audio versions of the series. At first, the BBC believed that it was a "very bad idea" and that the record would not sell. Eventually, the BBC decided to produce the record, hiring John Lloyd as the record's producer. Davies wrote the sleeve notes and Andrew Sachs wrote and performed linking narration for the episodes, in character as Manuel. Upon release, the record earned a profit of £100,000 and, according to authors Morris Bright and Robert Ross, "remains something of a collector's item".[9][10]

in 1981, We Are Most Amused, a compilation LP record containing classic comedy moments, was released to raise money for the Prince's Trust. The record featured a brief scene from "The Hotel Inspectors".[9]

Trivia

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  • "Bill Morton", whose friend overheard the hotel inspectors in a bar, was named after the vision mixer for the series; he is the only member of the crew mentioned in the series.
  • Mr. Hutchinson asks if the hotel has a table tennis table, to which Basil replies, “Indeed we do. It is not ... in absolutely mint condition. But it certainly could be used in an emergency”. John Cleese has stated this is among his favourite lines in the entire series.
  • The scene in which the wine is 'corked' involved improvisation on the actors' parts. John Cleese and James Cossins were unaware of which way the wine would go, if at all. Loosely scripted dialogue was therefore at hand.
  • A merger between the plot of this episode and the plot of "Gourmet Night" was the basis for the pilot episode of Payne, a 1999 American remake of Fawlty Towers.
  • This episode, along with "The Germans" and "Communication Problems", was adapted into a stage play by John Cleese and director Caroline Jay Ranger.[11] Titled Fawlty Towers Live, the stage play went on tour in Australia in 2016.[11] The three episodes's plot were merged into one storyline.[11] In 2024, the play, retitled Fawlty Towers: The Play, made its debut in the West End.[12]

Reception

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Bernard Cribbins's performance as Mr Hutchinson has been praised as being one of the greatest guest performances in the series.[13] Morris Bright and Robert Ross praised Cribbins's performance, writing that "his insistence on every imaginable extra, his yearning for a particular 'televisual feast' and his complaints about shoddy treatment in the dining room, provide some of the best moments in the series".[14] Bright and Ross believe that Cribbins's performance as Mr Hutchinson is the actor's "best remembered small-screen character".[15]

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Gourmet Night

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"Mr Sitcom/sandbox"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 1
Episode 5
Directed byJohn Howard Davies
Written by
Editing byBob Rymer
Original air date17 October 1975 (1975-10-17)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Hotel Inspectors" 		Next →
"The Germans"
List of episodes

"Gourmet Night" is the fifth episode in the first series of the BBC TV sitcom Fawlty Towers.[16]

Plot

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Basil Fawlty is having trouble with his Austin 1100 car. Despite Sybil's insistence that he take the car to a garage for repairs, miserly Basil tries to fix the car himself.

Meanwhile, Fawlty Towers has a new Greek chef named Kurt who has been found for them by André, Kurt's culinary trainer and a friend of the Fawltys. Basil and Sybil are intending to host a gourmet night at the hotel. After a rude, pampered boy calls the hotel a "dump" simply because the chips weren't the shape he preferred and there is no salad cream, Basil – ever eager to attract the upper crust of clientele in Torquay – includes a "no riff-raff" notice in his advertisement for the gourmet night. Only four people turn up for the occasion: Colonel and Mrs Hall, both JPs; and Lionel Twitchen, one of Torquay's leading rotarians, along with his wife, Lotte. A party of four, the Coosters, were forced to cancel at the last minute due to one of them getting ill, to which Basil remarks "Let's hope it's nothing trivial."

Kurt has taken a liking to Manuel. Manuel is not interested, so Kurt seeks solace in alcohol and ends up drunk to the point of being unable to cook, leading the remaining staff to panic as the dinner guests arrive.

Basil becomes oversensitive to Colonel Hall's introduction to the other guests. The Colonel has a nervous twitch which causes his neck and head to convulse violently. When Fawlty attempts to introduce the two couples he gets hung up on the name of "Lionel Twitchen", so as not to offend the Colonel, and is unable to introduce them, thereby causing maximum embarrassment for himself. Mr. Twitchen introduces himself, revealing his surname is pronounced "Twychen". Furthermore, Basil's efforts to socialise with the Colonel only succeed in offending him.Basil is horrified to find Kurt has passed out and vomited, so there is now no chef. However, André, who was aware of Kurt's alcoholism, is on hand to help. However, as André's restaurant has a restricted availability, the 'gourmet' menu ends up with only three possible dishes for Basil's guests to choose from – all consisting of various forms of duck: duck with orange, duck with cherries, or "duck surprise" (duck without oranges or cherries). When Colonel Hall asks what happens if they don't like duck, Basil responds "If you don't like duck... then you're rather stuck!"

Basil's attempts to obtain the food are complicated. The first duck is ruined when Basil accidentally drops the tray and Manuel's foot gets lodged in it, so Sybil calls André asking for another. The second attempt is hampered by Basil's car, which finally breaks down on his way back with the food; the scene ends with Basil screaming at the "vicious bastard" of a car and giving the vehicle fair warning, followed by a "damn good thrashing" with a tree branch.

The staff try to stall for time while waiting for Basil to return with the duck: Manuel struggles through some flamenco tunes on his guitar, Polly sings "I Cain't Say No", off key, from the musical Oklahoma!, and Sybil drunkenly recounts an anecdote about "Uncle Ted and his crate of brown ale." The guests are obviously unappreciative.

Basil manages to get back to the hotel on foot and the guests are finally presented with the "duck" which they have so eagerly awaited, only to discover that, due to a mix-up in Andre's kitchen, it has turned into a Bombe Surprise when Basil removes the cloche. Basil is so surprised that he searches through the trifle with his hands to see if there is a hidden duck. When asked to explain this, Basil deadpans, "Duck's off, sorry." - P154-157

Cast

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Episode-credited cast:

With:

Awards

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A 1999 poll for NatWest car insurance voted the scene in this episode where Basil attacks his car with a tree branch as "most momentous motoring moment".[17]

Production

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Interior scenes of this episode were recorded on 7 September 1975, in Studio TC8 of the BBC Television Centre, before a live audience.[18]

Elizabeth Benson, who plays Mrs. Heath, would go on to appear in the second series as Mrs. White in "The Kipper and the Corpse". She is one of three guest performers to appear in both series with the other two being;

Cleese appeared as Basil in a 2016 advertisement for Specsavers, in which, in a reference to the car thrashing scene from this episode, Basil accidentally attacks an adjacent police car.[19]

Andrew Sachs, André Maranne and Steve Plytas would later co-star again in 1978 in Revenge of the Pink Panther, though none shared any scenes together.

  • The thrashing scene was filmed at Mentmore Close in Kenton, north London. Cleese: "It took a very long time to find a branch that was right." Cleese tried beating the car with a rigid branch and "it wasn't funny at all". He then tried with a floppy branch but that "didn't work". Finally, Cleese found a which was flexible enough and "it became terribly funny". - P155 Additionally, the sound of Basil yelling within his car, "as though it's coming from inside a goldfish bowl", was specifically designed to improve the humour of that scene. - P157
  • Andre's restuarant is located at 294 Preston Road in Harrow. - P33
  • This episode was used for staff training at the London Hilton and British Holiday Inns, as an example of what not to do within the kitchen. - P45
  • John Cleese: Basil is "at his fawning worst" in this episode. "He thinks [...] that with the right sort of people he can improve his professional chances and perhaps get invited to dinner with some of these people." - P154
  • Cleese believes the final sequence of this episode is the best final sequence of an episode that he has written. - P157

Goofs

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There are a number of production goofs during the episode: while Basil is wrestling with the drunken Kurt, he pushes Kurt against the set wall, causing it to partially give way. The studio rigging equipment can be seen through the gap in the set wall, and remains so for the rest of the episode.

Additionally, when Basil attempts to carry the duck through to the dining room from the kitchen, a stagehand can be clearly seen kneeling on the floor behind the swing door.

During the tree branch scene, the car moves position significantly, despite it being broken down.

Reception

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Andre Maranne: "A.M. gives a controlled supporting performance that contrasts beautifully with Basil's spiralling anxiety." - P124

Further reading

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  • Fawlty Towers: A Worshipper's Companion, Leo Publishing, ISBN 91-973661-8-8
  • The Complete Fawlty Towers by John Cleese & Connie Booth (1988, Methuen, London) ISBN 0-413-18390-4 (the complete text)

Communication Problems

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The Psychiatrist

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"Mr Sitcom/sandbox"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 2
Episode 2
Directed byBob Spiers
Written by
Editing by
  • Neil Pittaway (studio)
  • Susan Imrie (film)
Original air date26 February 1979 (1979-02-26)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Communication Problems" 		Next →
"Waldorf Salad"
List of episodes

"The Psychiatrist" is the second episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

In this episode, Sybil flirts with a young male guest named Mr. Johnson (who Basil believes resembles an orangutan). Meanwhile, two doctors arrive at the hotel, and Basil becomes concerned when he realises one is a psychiatrist. He becomes obsessed with finding a woman that Johnson has sneaked into his room, but instead stumbles into several compromising situations with a beautiful young female guest. His maniacal behaviour infuriates his wife and alarms the psychiatrist.

Plot

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"The Psychiatrist" begins in the foyer of the hotel with Basil and Sybil at the front desk engaged in separate conversations on the phone. When Mr Johnson, a swaggering young playboy-type with an open shirt and gold chains comes down, however, Sybil immediately launches into flirtatious banter with him, much to Basil's annoyance. He makes several snide remarks to the effect that Johnson resembles some kind of ape. Basil also mocks Johnson's medallions.

The Abbotts arrive, unfortunately for Basil, while he is beating his chest and scratching his armpits in further mockery of Johnson. Upon hearing the word doctor, Basil instantly assumes that the husband is Dr Abbott because he is a man, whereas in fact his wife is also a doctor, which Basil ascertains after much "hole-digging" and misunderstanding. Thrilled to have doctors staying at the hotel (Basil having aspired to be one himself), Basil fawns over the Abbotts and personally escorts them to their rooms. In the meantime, Mr Johnson inquires of Sybil about a room for his mother, who is arriving the following day, but the hotel is full, so he agrees to have her stay in his room.

Soon afterwards, an attractive young Australian girl named Raylene Miles arrives at the hotel, which creates a similar situation for Basil to that which Johnson created for Sybil. Basil handles his attractive character quite differently, however. While Sybil openly flirts with Johnson, Basil tries too hard to ensure he appears uninterested, such as looking at her and then glancing away when she looks up. This makes him nervous and he begins to act as though he does fancy her, via Freudian slips or luckless accidents. One such accident occurs while repairing Raylene's bathroom light: he reaches around a corner for the switch and, as Raylene is stretching beside the door, instead accidentally tweaks her nipple rather than the switch. Of course, Sybil steps in and sees this, leading her to believe Basil is softly groping her. Sybil does not react by insulting Raylene as Basil had with Johnson, but rather to berate Basil, and to apologise to her afterwards.

While the Abbotts are dining, Basil enquires as to the branches of medicine in which they work – Mrs Abbott is a paediatrician (which Basil initially believes means a foot doctor). Upon discovering that Mr Abbott is a psychiatrist, Basil becomes paranoid about being observed, and dismisses psychiatry as being obsessed with sexual behaviour. Thus when Basil, not privy to the entire context of a conversation between the Abbotts and Sybil about how often middle-aged hotel owners can get away on holiday, is asked by the Abbotts how often Basil and Sybil "manage it", he indignantly claims "... average... two or three times a week" and is stunned, both by the question and the Abbotts' subsequent wondering "how you could manage it at all", until Sybil tells him they were in fact referring to holidays, and the difficulty in taking them while running a hotel. Basil returns to the dining room and abominably attempts to explain the situation, resulting only in digging for himself another sizable "hole" via Freudian slips such as "I thought you were talking about sex... I mean walks".

Meanwhile, Johnson has smuggled an attractive young woman into his room against hotel rules. Basil realises her presence when he walks past Johnson's room after the incident with Raylene and hears a woman's voice laughing at Johnson's "Pretentious...moi?" joke. Basil becomes determined to catch her, as he cannot prove it to anyone else. After failing to see the girl while delivering a bottle of champagne to Johnson, he goes into the room next to Johnson's to listen, but is disturbed by the Abbotts who, he thought, were out on a walk. He weakly pretends to be "checking the walls". He then sneaks into the room on the other side, frightening a sleeping Raylene. He uses the same excuse for his presence.

Basil then enlists Manuel to assist with a ladder outside the hotel so he can look through Johnson's window, but instead positions the ladder inaccurately and finds himself facing the Abbotts, who stare back bemused. After a lame attempt to act as though he is merely "checking" the windows, he falls backwards, frozen in shock, on the hastily placed and precarious ladder (in a possible tribute to a very similarly acted and shot ladder fall by John Belushi while trying to peep in National Lampoon's Animal House). Manuel unwisely fetches Sybil, and Manuel's poor grasp of English lands Basil in further trouble. Manuel says that "Mr. Fawlty – he crazy about the girl" (meaning that Mr Johnson's having an illicit companion has made Basil cross). Sybil, for once, takes Manuel seriously and believes that he is referring to Basil's supposed crush on Raylene. Her jealousy incited, she marches outside, slaps Basil, and locks him out of their room for the night. Furious, Basil takes his anger out on Manuel.

In the morning, Basil explains to Sybil that he was looking in the window because he wanted to catch the extra guest in Johnson's room. She doesn't believe him, but, determined to prove himself right, Basil hides in a broom closet to catch the guest. He hears laughter coming from Johnson's room, and when he hears a door open, emerges with a broom in hand exclaiming, "The game's up!" Basil discovers that it is the Abbotts in the hall and tries to explain the broom as the means to clean up some game pie stuck on the ceiling. The Abbotts go downstairs with the husband making a professional remark on Basil's behaviour: "There's enough material there for an entire conference." Basil returns the broom to the closet and in the process he soils his hand on some cleaning product. Again, he hears a door open and jumps on someone he thinks is the woman, only to discover he has accosted Raylene and left large handprints on her top over her breasts. Of course, Sybil emerges at that very moment. Basil panics and puts his hand all over Raylene's chest in an attempt to hide the handprints. He then hopelessly tries to explain his mistake to Sybil, who remains unconvinced.

Soon afterwards, Basil visits Raylene's room to tell her to leave, only to find her changing her top and, terrified at being caught again, he hides in the wardrobe. Sybil then arrives to apologise on Basil's behalf and, of course, finds him in the wardrobe, whereupon she lectures him on how Raylene could not possibly be interested in the attentions of an "... ageing, brilliantined stick insect like [Basil]". He is desperate to prove to her that his interest has been in exposing Johnson's extra guest, but she refuses to listen, still believing that he is besotted with Raylene.

Finally, Basil loses his temper and snaps at Sybil, angrily calling her a "... rancorous, coiffured old sow" and telling her to "syringe the donuts out of [her] ears and get some sense into the 'dormant organ' [i.e. her brain] she keeps hidden in that 'rat's maze' [i.e. hairdo] of [hers]," and he physically drags a shocked Sybil outside Johnson's room. He challenges Johnson about an extra guest of the "... contradictory gender...". Johnson agrees that there is indeed another person in his room: Mrs Johnson, his mother. Basil mocks this disbelievingly, until Johnson's elderly mother appears and he greets her in a sudden burst of politeness. When everyone has left, he crouches, pulls his jacket up over his head in total frustration and embarrassment, and moans while making small, frog-like hops. The Abbotts, typically on the scene at the wrong time, encounter him, but Mr Abbott sighs, "I'm on holiday" and they ignore him. - P170-173

Cast

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Episode-credited cast:

With:

Trivia

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  • Interior scenes of this episode were recorded on 28 January 1979, in Studio TC8 of the BBC Television Centre, before a live audience.[20]
  • This episode resurrects similar themes and attitudes from the episode "The Wedding Party". It similarly deals with Basil's distaste for sexual activity, and it is hinted that he and Sybil are no longer in an intimate relationship. - P170
  • This is the only episode where the viewers see the paperboy rearranging the letters on the "Fawlty Towers" sign in the opening shot.
  • "The Psychiatrist" is the longest Fawlty Towers episode, with a running time of 36:16. The other episodes have a running time of approximately 30 minutes.
  • When the final episode of the series was delayed and was broadcast during an ITV strike, the series rose in popularity, resulting in a Christmas Day 1979 repeat of "The Psychiatrist" reaching number one in the top ten viewing figures chart; it was the first time an episode from the series had reached the number one viewing position. - P42
  • This episode was first broadcast on 26 February 1979 - P170
  • John Cleese: "This episode is all about Basil's dislike of any kind of sexual behaviour." Basil is opposed to Mr Johnson and his medallions. Cleese noted that the episode features some "very good lines" at the beginning, where Sybil claims that Basil's idea of an attractive man is someone like Earl Haig, who, like Mr Johnson, wore medallions. "It's quite an interesting line because she's right. Basil doesn't mind his heroes wearing decoration when it involved killing people and the army." Cleese stated that the medallions Mr Johnson wears in this episode are "exactly the same [...] really". P - 170-171
  • John Cleese cites one scene regarding Basil's thoughts on psychiatrists as "the key to the episode". After Mr Abbott reveals himself to Basil to being a psychiatrist, Basil becomes agitated, believing that his every move is being observed. Preoccupied, Basil misunderstands the Abbott's questions about how often he and Sybil have a holiday, believing the Abbotts have asked him about how often they have sex. Intimidated by Mr Abbott's status as a psychiatrist, Basil claims to "manage it" two to three times a week. Cleese stated that the scene is "all about Basil's utter embarrassment about any kind of talk of emotions, and his ill-informed assumptions about what psychotherapy is about". Cleese went on: "Most people are pretty uncomfortable about [psychiatry] , and the prescene of the psychiatrist brings out all Basil's fears." - P172

Analysis

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Bright and Ross wrote about Nicky Henson's character Mr Johnson: "Sybil's all-too-apparent fascination with Henson's Mr Johnson echoes Basil's own weakness for Mrs Peignoir, but he is blissfully unaware of any parallel." "The spiritual meaning of his collection of medallions - decoration to him, mystic charms to [Sybil] - reveals his fundamental shallowness." - P121

Reception

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Bright and Ross: "Henson's patent lack of interest in Sybil's inane banter about her mother's phobias is inspired." "The medallion man is a satisfying awful stereotype, played to perfection by Henson." - P121

The Kipper and the Corpse

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The Anniversary

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"Mr Sitcom/sandbox"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.Series 2
Episode 5
Directed byBob Spiers
Written by
Editing by
  • Howard Dell (studio)
  • Susan Imrie (film)
Original air date26 March 1979 (1979-03-26)
Running time35 minutes
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"The Kipper and the Corpse" 		Next →
"Basil the Rat"
List of episodes

"The Anniversary" is the fifth episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.[21] - P182

Opening scene

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As in other episodes, the letters of the sign for Fawlty Towers are shown rearranged in the opening sequence. In this episode, it says "Flowery Twats". The use of the obscene word has caused this to be given a 12 certificate by the BBFC, which is the only episode in the series to have a more restrictive rating than PG.[22]

Plot

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On the morning of their wedding anniversary, Sybil recalls how Basil forgot last year. Basil has secretly invited their closest friends to Fawlty Towers for the occasion. Before they arrive, he pretends to have forgotten again in order to maintain the surprise. When Sybil asks him if the date reminds him of anything, he guesses random anniversaries, such as the battle of Agincourt, the battle of Trafalgar and Yom Kippur (none of which actually happened on 17 April).

Meanwhile, Basil has allowed Manuel to cook a seafood paella from his mother's famous recipe, something he has wanted to do ever since arriving at the hotel. Their chef, Terry, complains that he is more than capable of making paella himself. While Basil tries to placate Terry, Sybil leaves in a huff, frustrated and angry believing Basil really has forgotten their anniversary again. Basil realises only too late as he chases after her car, just before the first of their friends pull into the driveway.

Polly comes up with the idea of saying that Sybil is ill and resting in bed upstairs: Basil tells them she has developed what sound like horrific symptoms – she has lost her voice and has puffy eyes, but Polly mishears him and says she has "puffy thighs". Their friends are keen to see Sybil nonetheless, and Basil struggles to keep them downstairs. Virginia reminds Basil that she is a qualified nurse and becomes determined to see Sybil in order to diagnose her illness. Kitty and Reg arrive saying they saw Sybil driving in the town, but Basil assures them that it was another "northern woman" who resembles her. Alice tries to rein in her wisecracking husband, Roger, who suspects Basil is covering up for having a row with Sybil. Basil tries reverse psychology insisting the group disturb Sybil: "I'll just pop upstairs and tell her to stop dying so that you can all come up and identify her." This naturally makes the guests feel very uncomfortable and reluctant, but Roger is not so easily dissuaded.

Basil now tries to force Polly to dress up as Sybil and get into her bed in order to create the illusion that his wife is indeed incapacitated. Polly initially refuses to play any further part in the charade, annoyed at being undervalued for all the work she does for the hotel beyond her waitressing duties. She eventually relents provided Basil gives her money she needs to buy a new car, which Basil had previously avoided making a decision to loan her, but he now readily agrees.

Basil stalls the guests while allowing time for Polly to get ready. When they are finally allowed in the bedroom, the lights are turned out so the guests cannot recognise Polly in disguise. Reg and Kitty trip in the dark, injuring themselves. Basil opens the curtains to provide light, revealing Polly tucked up in bed wearing Sybil's wig and sunglasses, but also with "foam" in her mouth. Through the window, Basil sees Sybil returning to the hotel, and he rushes downstairs to prevent her spoiling the deception.

Sybil says she has only returned to retrieve her golf clubs and won't be staying. Rather than try to persuade her to stay, Basil says "I'm sure you know best, dear." Convinced there is no hope for their marriage, she returns to her car where Audrey is waiting for them to play golf and forget about the drama. Then Sybil realises she has forgotten to collect her clubs.

Back upstairs, Virginia insists on examining Polly, who is still impersonating Sybil upstairs. In an attempt to keep her away, Polly lashes out and hits her in the face.

The guests return downstairs, many harbouring injuries, as Basil prepares to wish them goodbye. When Sybil enters the lobby, the partygoers are bewildered and confused; Basil pretends she is the "northern woman" they mentioned previously, before rushing her into the kitchen – where Manuel and Terry are wrestling furiously amidst the mess they have made arguing over the paella – and locks her in a cupboard. After ushering the guests out, Basil declares "Piece of cake. Now comes the tricky bit," as he returns to the kitchen to explain everything to Sybil. - P182-185

Cast

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With:

Connections and errors

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  • This episode is unique among all of the Fawlty Towers episodes, in that its guest stars are not featured as guests. "The Builders" almost qualifies, but one guest checks out during the first few seconds. As Major Gowen, Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby are permanent residents, they do not count.
  • This episode contains the only on-screen appearance of Sybil's friend Audrey.
  • Una Stubbs was once married to Nicky Henson, who appeared as Mr Johnson in the episode "The Psychiatrist".
  • This is the only episode where the catchphrases '¿Que?' and 'He's from Barcelona' are not used in any context.
  • Basil and Sybil's wedding anniversary is on 17 April.
  • This is the only episode in which Basil directly expresses signs of his love for Sybil, although, ironically, it is the only episode in which he brings her out in tears because of his behaviour.
  • Roger makes reference to Basil Brush.
  • In the Spanish version of the series, Manuel is an Italian named Paolo, and so in the episode's Spanish version, he attempts to make a Lasagna instead of Paella.
  • Approximately 11:38 into the episode the boom microphone can be seen entering the picture in the upper left hand corner
  • Basil's Austin 1100 from the first series has now been replaced by an Austin Maxi
  • Prunella Scales and Ken Campbell would later appear in Agatha Christie's Marple.

Production

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Cleese considered this episode to be one his favourites, since it allowed him and Connie Booth to explore character more than in other episodes: "Basil is actually thinking of someone else for a short period of time before the panic overtakes him. And you get the impression that there is something positive underneath all the other stuff between him and Sybil." Cleese also noted that the episode was similar to Alan Ayckbourn's works, being "a little less farcical than usual". - P185

Strike

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Julian Holloway was originally cast to play Roger, but a BBC strike, caused from an argument between a BBC executive and a rigger, - P39 delayed filming by a week and he had to be replaced by Ken Campbell. - P39[23] The extra rehearsal time that was afforded due to the strike has led Cleese to list it as one of his favourite episodes.[23] "Everyone was able to get familiar with the show and then bring little things to it. Also the extra time allowed us to unintentionally think up lots of visual business. [...] [We] got more chance and more chance to work out visual gags which ran parallel with the dialogue and simply made the mix richer." - P185

Reception

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Bright and Ross praised Ken Campbell's portrayal of the "sarcastic and annoying" Roger, claiming that "Campbell's non-stop cracks and stage-whispered observations created one of the most memorable characterizations in the series". - P109

Basil the Rat

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References

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  1. ^ Kempton, Martin. "An unreliable and wholly unofficial history of BBC Television Centre..." An incomplete history of London's television studios. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  2. ^ Kempton, Martin. "An unreliable and wholly unofficial history of BBC Television Centre..." An incomplete history of London's television studios. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  3. ^ "Andrew Sachs remembers filming Fawlty Towers in 1975". The Daily Telegraph. 14 March 2014.
  4. ^ "The Government Inspector". Wimborne Drama Productions. Archived from the original on 22 May 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  5. ^ Gilberti, Ben (26 June 2002). "Waiter, There's Cork in My Wine". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  6. ^ Bright & Ross 2001, p. 150–153.
  7. ^ Kempton, Martin. "An unreliable and wholly unofficial history of BBC Television Centre..." An incomplete history of London's television studios. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  8. ^ a b c Bright & Ross 2001, p. 150.
  9. ^ a b Bright & Ross 2001, p. 44.
  10. ^ Bright & Ross 2001, p. 192.
  11. ^ a b c Tongue, Cassie (21 August 2016). "Fawlty Towers Live review – a fun but pointless adaptation from screen to stage". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  12. ^ McIntosh, Steven (2 February 2024). "Fawlty Towers stage show heads to London's West End". BBC. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Fawlty Towers". BBC. 28 October 2014. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  14. ^ Bright & Ross 2001, p. 113–114.
  15. ^ Bright & Ross 2001, p. 113.
  16. ^ Berman, Garry (2011). Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 18. ISBN 9781589795662.
  17. ^ "Basil's road rage tops poll". BBC News. 21 October 1999. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  18. ^ Kempton, Martin. "An unreliable and wholly unofficial history of BBC Television Centre..." An incomplete history of London's television studios. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  19. ^ Specsavers Fawlty Car, featuring John Cleese #shouldve
  20. ^ Kempton, Martin. "An unreliable and wholly unofficial history of BBC Television Centre..." An incomplete history of London's television studios. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  21. ^ Berman, Garry (2011). Best of the Britcoms: From Fawlty Towers to The Office. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 19. ISBN 9781589795662.
  22. ^ BBFC certificate for The Anniversary
  23. ^ a b "We Used to ache with laughter!". www.modernandmature.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 10 January 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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