Fawlty Towers

There are certain series on television that just seem to strike a chord with the audience. The show may only be on for a brief time but in that period redefines its genre becoming an instant classic. One such series is an import from the brilliant folks over across the pond working for the BBC; Fawlty Towers’. The series featured one of the wickedly bizarre creators of ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’, John Cleese and in a mere dozen episodes is now widely regarded as one of the most innovative situation comedies on either side of the Atlantic. Typical of a ‘Brit-Com’ there have been several attempts to recreate this series in other countries including right here in the States. In an interview Cleese stated that none of the attempts succeeded but the one in Germany did come close. Over here the Americanized version used Bea Arthur in the lead completely removing the Basil Fawlty character. Needless to say the series was a dismal failure. There are many reasons why the series never made the journey to other countries but chef among them is the set of sensibilities and circumstances unique to British humor. Many of the situations involve class perception or the way the English enjoys staying at little family run hotels. It’s similar to our ‘Bed and Breakfast’ concept but the nuances make all the difference and provide a solid foundation for the wacky comedy of this show. Like many Americans I first came across this show almost thirty years ago on the then only PBS channel available in New "York City. My Wife and I instantly became fans often quoting from the show through the subsequent years; the episodes made that much of an impact on us. Originally I had copies of most of the episodes taped off the tube but then I cheerfully moved up to the VHS collection and finally the full series on DVD.

Creating this piece of television history was John Cleese and his then wife, American writer-actress Connie Booth. Another reason the series was so incredibly resistant to duplication is the inability of recreating the sheer comic genius of this pair of extremely gifted writers. The humor here is a rare perfect blend of classic British zany slapstick seasoned with a dollop of American hubris that set the show far above any claiming to be its peer. While the setting is very British the small hotel is populated by well established and easily identifiable character types. At the core of the lunacy is Basal Fawlty (Cleese) the owner-operator of the titular hotel. He is the typical glad handing sort of a man with aspirations of hobnobbing with a much higher social class. Fawlty will bend over backwards for anyone sporting a title, in the very first episode Fawlty is completely deceived by a ‘confidence trickster’ pretending to be of the peerage. Basil is not the type to keep his emotions in check. Actually, he is prone to complexly flying off the handle in a manic frenzy leaving reality a diminishing spot in the rear view mirror. The main foil in his life is his wife of fourteen years, Sybil (Prunella Scales). Unlike her husband very little can disrupt her routine which consists mostly of smoking a cigarette while gossiping on the phone with one of her friends. Most of her side of the conversation is her droning on saying ‘I know’ in nasal tone obnoxious to the ear.

The main worker for the hotel is a recent immigrant from Barcelona, Manuel (Andrew Sachs). He only speaks a few words of broken English but what he lacking in communication skills he tries his hardest to make up for with an eager to please attitude. He happily goes along cheerfully messing up every assignment no matter how simple. Frequently he is on the receiving end of not only verbal but physical abuse by Fawlty. The person closest to normalcy is Polly Shearman (Booth), an art student working part time ostensibly as the waitress but frequently charged with housekeeping and front desk chores. Of course the most difficult aspect of her job description is helping Basil out of the current state of insanity. Also in constant attendance are the elderly residents of the hotel; the mentally scrambled and bigoted Major (Ballard Berkeley) and a pair of doddering spinsters Miss Tibbs (Gilly Flower) and Miss Gatsby (Renee Roberts). You don’t have to be crazy to stay at this hotel but it certainly helps. Basil is constantly trying to improve the social status of his clientele but usually with disastrous results. One case in point is a gourmet dining night that goes awry when the alcoholic chef falls in love with Manuel. Some of television’s funniest moments on TV happened in these twelve episodes. One is about a rat getting loose during a visit by a hotel health inspector or trying to hide the body of a guest who died during the night. One of the most famous episodes is simply called ‘The Germans’. With Sybil in the hospital for a minor procedure Basil hits his head just as the hotel takes in a group of German tourists. Basil consistently brings up tacky remarks about the War while goose-stepping around the dining room.

The series has a feel of a small theater group manned by a dedicated troupe of actors. Almost all of the series is filmed within the confines of the hotel. It acts as a pressure cooker forcing eccentric characters to interact with hysterical results, in a list generated by the British Film Institute this show ranked the number one British series beating out Doctor Who and Monty Python. If you are not a fan that entire means is you’ve never seen it so get the DVD set and rectify that.

Posted 06/22/2010