Top 10 Fawlty Towers Moments

Perhaps the greatest comedy series ever made, Fawlty Towers is the benchmark for which all other British comedies would have to measure against. Thanks to its clever writing, memorable characters and fantastic performances, the series has been adored since its inception in the late 1970's. Fawlty Towers chronicles just how many ways running a hotel can go wrong for Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), his wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), staff Manuel (Andrew Sachs) and Polly (Connie Booth), and just about every guest that stays there. What better way to highlight this than to offer up my personal 10 favourite moments of the show:

10. Mr. Hutchinson (from "The Hotel Inspectors")

Basil is on red alert after being informed that hotel inspectors are in town. But old habits resurface quickly, as he is rude and uncooperative with a guest, Mr Hutchinson (portrayed superbly by Bernard Cribbins). Upon thinking Hutchinson is the hotel inspector, Basil must quickly recover and ensure his stay at the hotel is absolutely perfect. Upon realising Hutchinson isn't the real inspector, Basil once again clashes with him, leading to a hilarious physical altercation between the two. What makes the whole thing work is that Hutchinson at no point hints that he is an inspector, only saying that he has "a wide experience of hotels", and seeing Basil let his paranoia get the better of him is absolute gold.

9. C.K. What (from "Communication Problems")

Manuel's native Spanish dialect often winds Basil up, so when he is tasked to see to the needs of hard-of-hearing guest Mrs. Richards (Joan Sanderson), there is bound to be confusion. His use of the Spanish words si (yes) and que (what) leads Mrs. Richards to believe he is talking about someone called C.K. What. Believing this to be Basil, she constantly refers to him as What in two of the best dialogue exchanges of the series:

Basil: I'm the manager as well.

Mrs. Richards: Ah, you're What.

Basil: I'm the manager!

Mrs. Richards: What?

Basil: (louder) I'm the manager!

Mrs. Richards: Yes, I know, you've just told me. What's the matter with you?!

The next instance is her simply wanting to speak with Basil as he makes a phone call, with Basil still oblivious to the fact that she thinks his name is What:

Mrs. Richards: What!

Basil: I didn't say anything.

8. The Rat Poison Veil (from "Basil the Rat")

When a health check is initiated, everyone must pull together to ensure the hotel passes with flying colours. However, Manuel's pet rat is loose, and so Basil concocts a plan to catch him before the inspector knows anything about it. Basil intends to use a slice of veil laced with rat poison to draw him out, but alarm bells quickly ring when he realises he may have occidentally served that very slice to the inspector for his meal! What follows is a desperate attempt to discover the truth, leading to chaos in the kitchen, believing they may have poisoned their cat in the process, and all with the rat still not caught...  

7. "You bastard!" (from "A Touch of Class")

Yet another instance where Basil discovers a guest isn't who he thought they were. This time, however, he has been conned by the guest into thinking he holds the title of Lord. When "Lord Melbury" is exposed as a confidence trickster, the police show up to arrest him. Basil, with so much anger now pent up inside of him, completely disregards that two important guests are stood right in front of him and proceeds to scorn Melbury with a hilarious cry of "you bastard!". He loses his cool again within mere seconds as Melbury runs past, pounding his fist on the desk, complete with another shout of "bastard!". This is the angriest Basil has ever been at a guest, and its just as hilarious now as it ever was.

6. "A damn good thrashing!" (from "Gourmet Night")

One of the most iconic moments of the series, and deservedly so. The frustrations of the day pile up for Basil throughout this episode, with him trying to organise a gourmet night for important guests. When his car dies on him when desperately trying to make it back to the hotel with the food, Basil takes out all his anger on the car. Fuming at the car having "tried it on just once too often", he runs off camera to exact his revenge. Quickly returning armed with a twig, he proceeds to thrash his car repeatedly, and thus television magic was made.

5. A room with a view (from "Communication Problems")

Following on from being mistakenly called "What", the room offered to Mrs. Richards is given a harsh review as Basil tries his best to convince her otherwise. She claims the bath "isn't big enough to drown a mouse" and that she specifically asked for "a room with a view", amongst other things. When Basil tells her that the view is simply Torquay, she brilliantly responds with "well it's not good enough!". Add in a segment of Basil trying to fix the room's radio, featuring the brilliant line "the radio works, you don't", and you have the standout moment from a fantastic episode.

4. "Don't mention the war" (from "The Germans")

The most famous moment of the entire show had to be included on this list. After suffering a blow to the head, Basil returns to the hotel to greet a group of German guests. His advice to Polly is not to mention the Second World War, which of course he brings up several times. How ever many times he tries to spin it, he becomes more and more obvious with his references. It famously leads to him doing an impression of Adolf Hitler and doing "the funny walk" in an attempt to make up for upsetting them in the first place. It's a tough scene to do justice, but chances are you've seen this moment already.

3. "Right, the game's up!" (from "The Psychiatrist")

This was the first episode I ever saw, and couldn't stop laughing at this particular scene. Basil is convinced that a guest is hiding a young woman in his room, something which goes against his morals. He tries desperately to convince Sybil this is the case, but this leads her to think he is crazy. In a last ditch effort to catch the guest in the act, he hides away in the cupboard opposite his room. When someone emerges from the room, Basil quickly appears from the cupboard armed with a brush. Of course, there is yet another case of mistaken identity when he emerges, but what's hilarious is his cry of "right, the game's up" complete with him attempting to threaten with a brush. The best quick laugh in the show's history.

2. "They're going" (from "The Wedding Party")

One of my favourite rants from any character happens here, when Basil believes a group of guests (members of a family including a couple and parents) are having secret relationships with one another. To make matters worse, he is convinced Polly (who is in actual fact an old friend of the family) is participating too. When he feels he's seen enough, he simply tells Sybil "they're going" and proceeds to barge into the guest's room. There, he scolds them for having "a good time at our expense" and tells them all to leave, including Polly. When Sybil tells him the truth, he is forced to go back and apologise to them, but hilariously drops Sybil's name into the mess, blaming her for the mistake.

1. The Fire Drill (from "The Germans")

To describe this scene simply, everything that could go wrong, goes wrong. With many guests confused as to how the hotel's fire drill procedure works and Manuel causing a real fire, all hell breaks loose at Fawlty Towers. Basil is caught in the middle of his guest's incompetence and Manuel's attempts to warn him of the real fire, leading to the best outburst Basil has ever had. When the phone rings after seemingly getting the situation under control, Basil believes Sybil is calling to inform him of more work that needs to be done. In response, he quickly answers the phone, screams down the line, and slams it back down again. The scene ends perfectly with Basil attempting to put out the fire, and the madness comes to an end when the fire extinguisher only works when he has it facing him directly! This is my favourite moment of Fawlty Towers because it sums up everything wonderful about the show, and is one of the best moments in any series ever made.