The highly-strung and snobbish hotelier Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) presides over his Torquay establishment with a unique blend of rage and panic. His attempts to attract a higher calibre of guest are perpetually undermined by his domineering wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the well-meaning but hopelessly inept Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs), and a relentless stream of calamitous situations. Only the competent chambermaid Polly (Connie Booth) offers any semblance of order, frequently tasked with cleaning up the diplomatic and literal messes Basil leaves in his wake.
Written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, the serial is less a sitcom and more a collection of twelve perfectly engineered farces. Its premise was famously drawn from the Monty Python team’s real-life stay at a Torquay hotel run by a singularly inhospitable proprietor. Each script, reportedly taking months to complete, constructs an intricate machine of escalating panic, misunderstanding, and social embarrassment. The production’s meticulousness was matched by its misfortune; a BBC strike delayed the final episode’s broadcast after its master tape was misplaced, a chaotic footnote for a series that elevated chaos to an art form.
Broadcast: BBC Two, 12 Episodes, 1975, 1979
Written by: John Cleese, Connie Booth
Directors: John Howard Davies (Series 1), Bob Spiers (Series 2)
Producers: John Howard Davies (Series 1), Douglas Argent (Series 2)
Main Cast: John Cleese (Basil Fawlty), Prunella Scales (Sybil Fawlty), Andrew Sachs (Manuel), Connie Booth (Polly Sherman), Ballard Berkeley (Major Gowen), Gilly Flower (Miss Tibbs), Renee Roberts (Miss Gatsby), Brian Hall (Terry)
