Cheryl JFawlty Towers
September 29th 2006 04:14
Fawlty Towers was a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Only twelve episodes were produced, but the series has had a lasting and powerful influence on later shows.
The show is set in a fictional hotel named Fawlty Towers in the Devon town of Torquay on "The English Riviera". The series was written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, both of whom played main characters, and was broadcast in two series: The first, in 1975, was produced and directed by John Howard Davies, and the second, in 1979, was produced by Douglas Argent and directed by Bob Spiers.
In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Fawlty Towers was placed first. It was also voted fifth in the BBC's "Britain's Best Sitcom" poll in 2004.
Fawlty Towers was inspired by the Monty Python team's stay in the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. Cleese and Booth stayed on at the hotel after filming for the Python show had finished. The owner, Mr. Donald Sinclair, was very rude, throwing a bus timetable at a guest who asked when the next bus to town would arrive and placing Eric Idle's suitcase behind a wall in the garden on the suspicion that it contained a bomb (it actually contained a ticking alarm clock). He also criticised the American-born Terry Gilliam's table manners for being too American (he had the fork in "the wrong hand" while eating), possibly inspiring Basil's treatment of an American visitor in the episode "Waldorf Salad".
The episodes typically revolve around Basil Fawlty's efforts to succeed, and his frustration at mistakes, both his own and those of others, which prevent him from doing so.
In "The Germans" below, Basil Fawlty tries to serve lunch to four Germans. Despite his advice to Polly to not mention the war, he does so repeatedly himself. It ends with him goosestepping out of the dining hall in an impression of Hitler. The phrase "Don't mention the war" and the goosestep have both become synonymous with Fawlty Towers.
This next clip is from the fire drill at Fawlty Towers, perhaps most memorable for Basil yelling "thank you god! thank you so bloody much!"
Finally, here are some out-takes.
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Fawlty Towers.
The show is set in a fictional hotel named Fawlty Towers in the Devon town of Torquay on "The English Riviera". The series was written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, both of whom played main characters, and was broadcast in two series: The first, in 1975, was produced and directed by John Howard Davies, and the second, in 1979, was produced by Douglas Argent and directed by Bob Spiers.
Fawlty Towers was inspired by the Monty Python team's stay in the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. Cleese and Booth stayed on at the hotel after filming for the Python show had finished. The owner, Mr. Donald Sinclair, was very rude, throwing a bus timetable at a guest who asked when the next bus to town would arrive and placing Eric Idle's suitcase behind a wall in the garden on the suspicion that it contained a bomb (it actually contained a ticking alarm clock). He also criticised the American-born Terry Gilliam's table manners for being too American (he had the fork in "the wrong hand" while eating), possibly inspiring Basil's treatment of an American visitor in the episode "Waldorf Salad".
The episodes typically revolve around Basil Fawlty's efforts to succeed, and his frustration at mistakes, both his own and those of others, which prevent him from doing so.
In "The Germans" below, Basil Fawlty tries to serve lunch to four Germans. Despite his advice to Polly to not mention the war, he does so repeatedly himself. It ends with him goosestepping out of the dining hall in an impression of Hitler. The phrase "Don't mention the war" and the goosestep have both become synonymous with Fawlty Towers.
This next clip is from the fire drill at Fawlty Towers, perhaps most memorable for Basil yelling "thank you god! thank you so bloody much!"
Finally, here are some out-takes.
* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation Licence. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Fawlty Towers.
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