With the sad passing of Prunella Scales, I had to watch Fawlty Towers again. Scales played Sybil Fawlty, Basil’s long-suffering wife.
Fawlty Towers was made the same year I was born. 50 years later, it’s still hilarious. Being British, I was raised on the show and know almost every episode, word for word. Even though I’ve seen them a hundred times, it’s still laugh-out-loud funny.
The Cast
There are four main cast members in the show: Basil, played by John Cleese, Sybil, played by Scales, Polly, played by Connie Booth, and Manuel, played by Andrew Sachs.
There are other regulars, like the Major, played by Ballard Berkeley, and other residents of the hotel, who appeared in many episodes.
You also had people like Bruce Boa, who played an obnoxious American. Boa was in The Empire Strikes Back and Full Metal Jacket.
The Story
You know the story of Fawlty Towers. A small hotel in the South West of England, is run by Basil and Sybil Fawlty. Basil is, umm, typically British; he moans at everything, gets angry at the smallest of things, and is eccentric.
It’s a sitcom, so every week, Basil has to deal with perfectly nice customers that wind him up. I say nice, but not all of them are normal, you have the occasional stand-out character.
Like Mrs Richards, played by Joan Sanderson. She’s deaf and has a hearing aid. The deafness is one issue, the other is her complaints.
Basil’s sarcasm is turned up to 11, having to deal with such an awful woman.
Each One a Classic
There are only 12 episodes, only 30 minutes each. To me, that’s the brilliance of Fawlty Towers, instead of it dragging out to 10 seasons, you just have 12 episodes, each of which is classic.
If the series had dragged on, it would have lost all of its magic. Look at any franchise in Hollywood; the more they add, the less special it becomes.
As I said, I know Fawlty Towers very well, and I can list each episode. However, it’s difficult to pick a favourite. Each one has a moment of comic brilliance.
If I had a gun to my head, I’d have to say Waldorf Salad, with Boa, was my favourite.
There are a bunch of guests, none of whom are happy with the service. Then an American couple turns up, have to bribe Basil to keep the kitchen open, and it all goes wrong. It’s got one of the oddest lines ever.
The Yank wants a Waldorf Salad, which needs walnuts. Basil can’t find them, he says to Sybil:
“Walnuts! That’s a laugh! Easier to find a packet of sliced hippopotamus in suitcase sauce than a walnut in this bloody kitchen!”
Where did that even come from??? Then, when everyone has had a moan about the hotel, Basil comes out with this.
Yes, having a bunch of complaining hotel guests is exactly how Nazi Germany started!
The Germans
The episode with the German guests is again brilliant. Basil has a blow on the head and ends up in the hospital. When he comes back, there are people talking a strange language.
“Don’t mention the war!”
To people of a certain age, if you mention Germans, you say that line.
Some people found that episode of Fawlty Towers to be offensive, saying it was offensive to German people. Those people are stupid. It was about how British people react to German people.
I remember Cleese telling a story about how he was in a hotel, somewhere in the world. A large German got talking to him and said how he loved Monty Python and Fawlty Towers. As the German chap walked away, he stopped at the lobby, turned, and shouted:
“Hey John, don’t mention the war ! Hahahaha!”
He understood the joke.
Based on a True Story
The story of Fawlty Towers started in the South West of England. Python was shooting some scenes down there and stayed in a local hotel, the Gleneagles. The manager, Donald Sinclair, was a real person who was, umm, unusual.
All of the Pythons were staying at the hotel, and Donald threw out Eric Idle’s briefcase at one point because he thought it might be a bomb. This was in the 1960s, when bomb threats weren’t a big thing. When asked about it, Donald said he thought it might have been a bomb because of “staff problems”.
Cleese and Booth were married at the time, and stayed a few weeks longer, just to observe Donald. That’s how Basil was born.
Apparently, Donald didn’t like to talk about it and later retired to Miami. He was tracked down by a journalist, but still didn’t want to talk. The journalist found his daughter and showed her Fawlty Towers. After seeing it, she said that was Dad.
Overall
This wasn’t a planned review, but it was just a reminder of what pure comedy gold Fawlty Towers is. Basil is completely over the top, with the slapstick comedy, and lack of empathy for different cultures, and a supporting cast that just adds to it all. It’s so weird that Sachs went on to become a narrator for the BBC, speaking the King’s English. Growing up, I genuinely thought he was Spanish!
It’s sad to see Scales pass away. We didn’t do a full obituary, as she wasn’t really known for her movies, but it was nice to remember her from Fawlty Towers and think about what a brilliant series this was. Cleese and Python changed the face of comedy forever. Cleese and Booth, writing this series, did the same. There have been hundreds of British sitcoms over the years, but none of them stand up to the test of time quite like Fawlty Towers.
I love how Basil gives it to a count of three, but doesn’t even turn it over! If you haven’t seen Fawlty Towers, then I envy you, because I would love to watch it again for the first time. Also, go, watch it now…it’s the best British comedy you’ll ever see.
