Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom about a Torquay hotel named Fawlty Towers. The hotel is owned and operated by the eccentric Basil and Sybil Fawlty, with maid Polly and porter Manuel rounding out the staff. Long-term guests were the semi-senile Major and the skittish old ladies Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby. Very few other guests ever stayed long.
The cast:
Basil Fawlty John Cleese Sybil Fawlty Prunella Scales Polly Connie Booth Manuel Andrew Sachs Major Gowen Ballard Berkeley
Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth.
Much of the comedy revolves around the following key facts:
- Basil is deperate to belong to a higher social class, and sees the successful running of the hotel as his means to this ("turn it into an establishment of class...")
- He is trapped in a job where he has to be pleasant to people he either despises or yearns to be above socially: people he would much rather snub
- He is terrified of his wife's sharp tongue, yet fiercely wishes to stand up to her
- Manuel is a well-meaning buffoon with a limited grasp of English
- Basil usually turns to Manuel or Polly to help him execute whatever scheme he has planned. It's, of course, imperative that Sybil not find out
- It's bound to go horribly wrong, with all the blame firmly on Basil
- Polly is the voice of sanity
It was first broadcast on BBC 2 on 19 September 1975. The episodes of the first series were:
- A Touch of Class
- The Builders
- The Wedding Party
- The Hotel Inspectors
- Gourmet Night
- The Germans
The second series was three and a half years later, with the episode being broadcast on 19 February 1979. They were:
- Communication Problems
- The Psychiatrist
- Waldorf Salad
- The Kipper and the Corpse
- The Anniversary
- Basil and the Rat
External links:
- http://www.btinternet.com/~c.tomlinson/fawlty1.html
- http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/fawlty/
- http://www.bbcamerica.com/programs/fawlty_towers.html