Fawlty Towers

Come visit the worst-run hotel in the whole of western Europe (well, except for that place in Eastbourne...) In a field with many top contenders, 'Fawlty Towers' remains my favourite of all 'Britcoms' - situation comedies originating on British television. Fawlty Towers has a cult following decades after the originals aired; it is sometimes hard to believe that there are but 12 episodes, six hours total. The regular cast is led by John Cleese, veteran of the famous Monty Python comedy troupe, as the irrepressible Basil Fawlty, titular head of the hotel with dreams of class and glory; Prunella Scales is his long-suffering and hardworking wife, Sybil, who recognises that while Basil may think 'the sky's the limit!', in fact, '22 rooms is the limit'. Connie Booth (Cleese's real-life wife) played the level-headed and sensible, overworked maid Polly, and in a role matched only by Fawlty's own bizarre manner, Andrew Sachs plays the lovable and ever-incompetent Spanish waiter, Manuel (he's from Barcelona...). Ballard Berkeley makes Ballard Berkeley makes a regular appearance as the Major, a retired long-term resident at the hotel. Brian Hall joined the cast for the second season as the not-quite-gourmet chef, Terry.

From the very first episode (first aired in 1975) featured a social-climbing Fawlty as perhaps the most rude and insufferable hotel manager in existence, in the resort town of Torquay, on the Channel coast of Britain. Sybil tries to maintain a reasonable level of service, but Fawlty's snobbishness permits him to be gracious (indeed, excessively fawning) toward those he considers 'worthy', which in this episode turns out to be Lord Melbury, who ends up not being Lord Melbury, but rather a confidence trickster, and Fawlty's revenge scares away the real 'posh' guests, whom Fawlty sends off with the hilarious shout, 'Snobs!' In each of the episodes, there is a crisis - one gets the sense that the life of Fawlty is non-stop crisis, with his wife and Polly forever picking up the pieces, Manuel always complicating things, and the others wandering around in a state of disbelief (or, in the case of the Major, perpetual daze). The twelve episodes highlight all the things that could wrong at hotel in classic comedic fashion - the institution of a Gourmet Night falls flat when the not-quite-recovering alcoholic chef starts drinking the night of the main event; a guest dies in the middle of the night, and Fawlty tries to slip him out unnoticed; remodelers install and remove the wrong doors; the health inspector unexpected shows up and gets served a bit of rat with his cheese.

However, nothing quite matches the kinds of situations Basil can get himself into. When trying to plan a surprise anniversary dinner for his wife, she leaves the hotel thinking that Basil has forgotten again, and Basil dresses Polly up as a sick-bed-bound Sybil to fool the guests. When Polly's friends check in for a wedding over the weekend, Basil suspects the group of free sexual expression (highlighting his own repression); this theme is carried over to a glorious extreme in the episode about the visiting Psychiatrist.

'How does he make his living?' Basil protests. 'He makes his money by sticking his nose into others' private parts, er, details...' This is also the episode where Sybil finally confronts Basil about his double-sided hotel manner toward guests: 'You're either crawling all over them, licking their boots, or spitting poison at them like some Benzedrine puff adder,' she declares. He replies in perfect form, 'Just trying to enjoy myself, dear.' As the psychiatrist will comment near the end, there's enough material for an entire psychiatrist conference. Indeed there is, as this is slapstick humour with a difference. Intelligent and witty while utterly chaotic and beyond the pale, one is treated to the moose-head incident and the ingrowing toenail as well as Fawlty's unique form of automobile motivation (how many of us have ever been tempted to whack away at a stalled car with a stick!) and a nice performance of Brahms (his 'third racket', to be precise). One must not overlook the little details, either, including the ever-changing sign in front (the actual hotel used for the exteriors unfortunately burned down many years after the show), and the fact that the interior and exterior layouts of the building cannot correspond (shades of 'The Simpsons' whose furniture layout changes from scene to scene).

It is almost inconceivable that the two series, each of six episodes, were four years apart (1975 and 1979), as they flow rather seamlessly together. Popular on television networks worldwide, it can be seen variously on BBC America and local public television channels, often during the fund drives, when the most popular pieces are shown.

This is probably one of the best situational comedies ever made and in my opinion few other television programs compare to it. It is hard to say what is so good about this little show as the main character is a rude prick, the story lines are rather simplistic, and the characters pretty much cardboard cut outs of class stereotypes (this is a British show after all), but each episode is a nearly perfect choreographed dance of escalating frustration with an impeccable touch of absurdity.

From brick walls appearing in doorways to mishaps during fire drills, from guests dying overnight to getting the right food for a gourmet, from class issues to just plain old mayhem this show has got it all. It is all in a meager 12 episodes, but that is what makes each episode absolutely priceless with hardly a dull moment. A classic in every sense of the word. 10/10

Not rated, suitable for everyone.

Of all you'll ever see on the telly or the silver screen this has got to be the best. If you don't own this series you'll regret it - for if you rent it you'll be hard pressed to return it and everything you rent will be downhill afterwards.

Donald Sinclair goes into history as the most brilliantly rude hotelier ever and John Cleese and then spouse Connie Booth go into history as the best sitcom writer duo ever. The teleplays were meticulously written and rewritten and the acting is better than superb.

This series has been voted best television series of all time so many times now it's not funny. Odds are you will never laugh as hard as you do when you see this. And you won't tire of it quickly either.

One of my all time favorite comedy series. I must have seen those at least ten times and still I would watch it again. I know almost every line out of my head. Every character in this show fits perfectly to make this British comedy an old time classic. Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) is absolutely brilliant as the super nervous hotel manager that always tries to get the upper class in his establishment. Riff-Raff is not for him. Sybil (Prunella Scales) his wife on the other hand just wants to run the hotel normally. Her bossy attitude towards her husband Basil is hilarious. Polly the maid (Connie Booth) looks like the most normal person in this series. Manuel (Andrew Sachs) drives Basil completely bonkers, he's from Barcelona and doesn't get anything that Basil is trying to explain to him. Those four run the show but the other characters are all funny as well. I like every episode but "The Germans" must be my favorite one. If you never watched this show then I can only highly recommend it. You don't know what you are missing.

This is pure comedy. It is genius. It is hilarity that transcends the boundary of comedy. Fawlty Towers is the kind of comedy that has you on the floor gasping for air in a puddle of your own tears. John Cleese has created one of the defining characters of comedy in Basil Fawlty. Manuel Sachs is superb as Manuel, the confused waiter from Barcelona. Prunella Scales is brilliant as the tyrannical wife. Connie Booth is very good as Polly, the hassled waitress. Put it all together inside a small hotel in Torquay and you get one of the greatest, most alluring comedies ever to grace the screen. The only bad thing about Fawlty Towers is that they didn't make more.

Fawlty Towers will always be tearfully, heart stoppingly, deadly, and disasterously funny.