"Whatever you do, don't mention the war!"

As a youngster, my parents hated this comedy. I chose i different path though. Flicking through the world of Digital TV, i came across this program, and i have never looked back.

John Cleese (Basil Fawlty), stars as a eccentric hotel owner in Torquay married to one Sibil Fawlty (Prunella Scales). Polly (Connie Booth - Cleeses wife up to beginning/ending of the second series) plays the part of a waitress along with Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs).

The series throughout contains numerous jokes and other gags as Basil's life seems to just disappear in front of him, through the daily running of a hotel. His marriage to Sybil is not one of love, (we can see this through the non-verbal/verbal messages given out to the audience through the characters actions), but through our own perceiving view that parents had a large part to play in the role of these 2 getting married.
The marital stress is made worse through the Spanish waiter "Manuel", who tends to just make things worse for Cleese who uses the excuse that "Don't mind him, he's from Barcelona", one of the great comedic lines from the century, taking out his stress physically by hitting the Spaniard when he makes mistakes. This could be considered cruel, but the way it is acted is so light-hearted you almost burst into tears of laughter just watching it!

The crew only ever filmed 12 episodes, which make the 12 they did film worth their weight in gold, as everyone is just as good as the last and they never lose their laughter by straining even more laughs I could imagine by filming more.
The 12 episodes were:-


SERIES 1

A Touch Of Class: An confidence trickster comes to stay at the hotel, just after Basil has taken an ad in a posh magazine to attract a better class of clientele...

The Builders: The Fawltys take a holiday and leave Polly and Manuel to run (or should that be ruin?) the place just as O'Reilly's builders come to redo the lobby.

The Wedding Party: Basil wants `none of that' going on in his rooms and suspects some guests and Polly of carrying on.

The Hotel Inspectors: Some inspectors are in town and Basil's paranoia causes him to alternately fawn over and offend his guests.

Gourmet Night: To bring the right type of crowd into the hotel, Basil establishes a Gourmet Night but when the Rotarians arrive there are a few problems with the chef refusing to stop sampling too much wine from the cellar and the car refusing to go any further.

The Germans: Sybil goes into the hospital for toe surgery, leaving Basil to cope with a fire drill single-handed. After a couple of blows on the head, Basil forgets not to mention the war and tells some German guests where Germany went wrong in WWII.... The most famous,funniest episode in comedy history!

SERIES 2

Communication Problems: A slightly deaf woman named Mrs Richards insists that she has had a large amount of money stolen at the hotel, and against Sybil's wishes Basil unwisely puts a fiver on a horse called Dragonfly. Even more unwisely he gives the winning to the Major and tells Manuel to keep it quiet...

The Psychiatrist: A psychiatrist and his wife come to stay and Basil thinks Sybil is telling them all about his life.

Waldorf Salad: An American and his wife get unsatisfactory service at Fawlty Towers when he has the temerity to order a Waldorf salad after the kitchen has closed.

The Kipper and the Corpse: Unknown to Basil, a guest dies in the night while an obnoxious woman insists on VIP service for her dog.

The Anniversary: Sybil storms out of Fawlty Towers just before Basil's surprise anniversary party leaving Polly to impersonate her while Basil spends the evening trying to convince their friends she's simply ill.

Basil the Rat: The health inspector is coming and Basil tells Manuel to get rid of his pet rat (which is not a pedigree Siberian hamster!), later to discover it has been named Basil...

Bringing these glorious episodes to DVD in one neat box set was a success, and value for money. At £20 from your nearest DVD store, its money well spent. To be able to own a legendery comedy from many a year ago is something we are all proud to hold.

The 2/3 discs hold Series 1 & 2, while the 3rd disc has a few features of never seen before material.
There are a 3 interviews with John Cleese, Prunella Scales and Andrew Sachs. These are very entertaining to listen to and provide alot of information about the filming/background to Fawlty Towers which isnt on the commentary track. One of the best features on the disc, just for the information about the series from those directly involved in its production for the die-hard Fawlty Towers fan.
Also included on the disc are the filmographies and biographies of the main cast, in which you can have read out to you on Audio form as you read, as don't you just hate reading thousands of words on a TV screen…. Interesting addition that certainly helps ease the strain on the eyes usually created by the usual boring nature of cast/crew filmographies. There is also Torquay tourist guide that tells how the birth of the series came about and how it was based on an actual hotel. Very worthwhile.
The last addition to the disc is a series of outtakes which basically shows the usual images of actors messing up their lines etc. Extremely funny, as all outtake reels tend to be and this one isn't staged!

Overall, This is a must have for all fans of Fawlty Towers and for £20 it's a must buy, just remember one thing, "Whatever you do, don't mention the war!".

It will keep you laughing for years to come and is a great comedic writing from Cleese and Booth, in their last series they wrote together. Modern comedys just dont do the same......and not to add, a catchy classical theme tune.
*ORGINALLY SUBMITTED ON "CIAO" ON THE October 26th, 2005 UNDER USERNAME STEVEKING5000.*