FAWLTY TOWERS (1975 - 1979)

 

Created by: John Cleese, Connie Booth

Starring: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth, Ballard Berkeley, Brian Hall, Renee Roberts, Gilly Flower, Michael Gwynn, Robin Ellis, David Kelly, Michael Cronin, Trevor Adams, Yvonne Gilan, Conrad Phillips, Bernard Cribbins, James Cossins, Andre Maranne, Steve Plytas, Allan Cuthbertson, Ann Way, Brenda Cowling, Louis Mahoney, Joan Sanderson, Basil Henson, Elspet Gray, Nicky Henson, Luan Peters, Bruce Boa, Claire Nielson, Norman Bird, Geoffrey Palmer, Derek Royle, Richard Davies, Ken Campbell, Una Stubbs, John Quarmby, Melody Lang

12 episodes

(TV-PG - mild language, adult themes, adult situations)

PLOT:

Inept and manic English hotel owner and manager, Basil Fawlty, isn't cut out for his job. He's intolerant, rude and paranoid. All hell frequently breaks loose as Basil tries to run the hotel, constantly under verbal attack (and sometime physical) from his unhelpful wife Sybil, and hindered by the incompetent, but easy target, Manuel, their Spanish waiter.

season 1 - 

As Basil tries to raise the tone of the hotel, the aristocratic Lord Melbury comes to stay at the hotel. Basil fawns over him at every opportunity, causing himself to neglect or annoy other guests, until Polly discovers Melbury is actually a confidence trickster. Meanwhile, Sybil orders Basil to hang a picture. Maintenance is made on the lobby while the Fawltys are out, but when a misreading causes the incompetent builders to mess it up spectacularly, Basil must try to remedy the situation before Sybil finds out. Basil gets annoyed when a young, flirtatious couple start "hanky-pankying" under his nose and tries to avoid the advances of a wealthy French antique dealer. Meanwhile, misfortune conspires to put him in compromising situations whenever the couple are around. When Basil hears of hotel inspectors roaming Torquay incognito, he realises with horror that guests he has been abusing could easily be among them. Basil becomes increasingly obsessed with trying to determine which guests are hotel inspectors, but his suspects turn out not to be, to his frustration. In an effort to climb another rung in the social ladder, Basil arranges a gourmet night. Unfortunately, thanks to the chef's alcoholism, Basil must try to get hold of a duck from his friend, André. This, combined with the Fawltys' faulty car and his social awkwardness leads Basil ever closer to a nervous breakdown. With Sybil in the hospital with an ingrowing toenail, a moose's head to hang up and some German guests arriving the next day, Basil has his work cut out for him. After an attempted fire drill goes wrong and Basil lands up in the hospital with concussion, he succeeds causing much offence to the German guests after finally escaping back to the hotel. This episode is the origin of the quote "Don't mention the war." 

season 2 - 

The arrival of the "guest from hell" — Mrs. Richards, a rather deaf, dotty and bad-tempered woman — interferes with Basil's attempts to prevent the money he won on a racehorse from being discovered by Sybil, who disapproves of gambling. A psychiatrist and his wife—also a doctor—come to the hotel for a weekend break and cannot help but notice the eccentricities of their host, who is perturbed when he discovers their professions. An attractive Australian girl also visits, who goes on to have certain awkward interactions with Fawlty as he seeks to catch a non-paying guest Mr Johnson has in his bedroom. Basil is not altogether keen on a loud and demanding American guest who demands a higher class of service—and food—than Fawlty Towers is accustomed to providing. Basil soon learns that the American guest will not tolerate any shenanigans. With no regard to Basil's blood pressure, a guest dies at the hotel and Basil and the staff are left with the unpleasant task of removing the body discreetly while the doctor staying at the hotel, Dr. Price, waits for his sausages. Also, Polly and Manuel feed an elderly woman's pampered pet dog some extra spicy sausages after it bites them both. Basil invites some friends for a surprise wedding anniversary party, but Sybil assumes he has forgotten their anniversary and storms off, leaving her husband and Polly, in disguise, desperately telling the others she is 'ill'. The local health inspector issues a long list of hygiene infractions which the staff must rectify before his next visit, or else face closure. After Manuel's pet rat escapes from his cage and runs loose in the hotel, the staff must catch it before the inspector sees it. At the same time, they must discern which veal cutlets are safe to eat after one covered in rat poison gets mixed up with the others.