The Kipper and the Corpse (12 Mar. 1979)

One of the guests has died in his sleep, but Basil thinks it's due to serving him spoiled food.

Director:

Bob Spiers

Writers:

John Cleese (by), Connie Booth (by)

Stars:

John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
John Cleese	...	Basil Fawlty
Prunella Scales	...	Sybil Fawlty
Andrew Sachs	...	Manuel
Connie Booth	...	Polly Sherman
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Dr. Price
Mavis Pugh	...	Mrs. Chase
Richard Davies	...	Mr. White
Elizabeth Benson	...	Mrs. White
Ballard Berkeley	...	Major Gowen
Gilly Flower	...	Miss Agatha Tibbs
Renee Roberts	...	Miss Ursula Gatsby
Brian Hall	...	Terry
Derek Royle	...	Mr. Leeman
Robert McBain	...	Mr. Xerxes
Pamela Buchner	...	Miss Young

Storyline

One of the hotel's guests dies in his sleep but Basil doesn't really notice and just goes about his business, delivering the man's breakfast to his room and then complaining that he was rude and didn't thank him. Polly soon realizes he is dead and Sybil asks another guest, Dr. Price, to attend to the situation. Basil thinks the out of date kippers were the cause, but he's been dead most of the night. Pandemonium sets in when they try to remove the body without any of the guests knowing what has happened. It doesn't quite go as planned.

---

Plot Keywords:

hotel | kipper | doctor | traumatic shock | car accident | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 March 1979 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

32 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The hotel guest who was seen blowing up a sex doll in his room was named after a newspaper critic who disliked the series.

---

Goofs

Not only do the room numbers change from episode to episode, the whole upstairs layout changes. For instance in the episodes "The Kipper and the Corpse" and "Communication Problems", at the top of the stairs there are three rooms on the right and a room on the left. Yet in "The Psychiatrist" the room on the left seems to become a broom cupboard where Basil spends the night after Sybil locks him out.

---

Quotes

Mrs. Chase: [Manuel is checking the window for a draft that is disturbing Mrs. Chase's dog] We have to be very careful, Mr. Fawlty. He's not very strong.
Basil Fawlty: Indeed, yes. A rapid movement of air could damage him irreparably! If, um, if only one could keep him in air-tight containers.

---

Connections

Featured in The 70s: Goodbye Great Britain, 75-77 (2012)

User Reviews

All About Sausages

Fawlty Towers was notorious for rotten customer service, and this episode is a dissertation on it. It complements "Waldorf Salad" and "Basil the Rat" (the final episode) quite well - this time, dead bodies with a subplot involving ill-prepared kippers (and sausages) are brought into the mix. A group of executives drop off Mr. Leeman at the hotel - he dies during the night, but the hotel staff think it's a result of food poisoning of that morning's breakfast. Painstaking efforts are made by Basil, Manuel, and Polly to hide the body - carting the corpse up and down stairs, eventually depositing it first in one of the closets in a guest room and then in the kitchen. As Andrew Sachs has mentioned, they cast the Leeman character with a small man (Derek Royle) so as to make all the hauling a bit easier. The supporting cast in this one are especially good (Geoffrey Palmer as the snobby sausage-loving Dr. Price, and Mavis Pugh as Mrs. Chase, owner of the sausage-loving shi-tzu dog). Gilly Flower, who plays Ms. Tibbs, got a fairly big part in this episode after many episodes with one and two-liners, and she did it very well.

This is the episode with the well-known 'Basil pokes Manuel in the eye' scene and a bit where Basil walks in on a guest preparing to have his way with an inflatable sex doll. By episode's end, it seems like just about everyone has 'had it' with the lousy hotel - even Manuel belts out a firm, "Meeester Fawlty, I no wan' to work here anymore! I on strike!" But in the end, Basil is the one who gets the respite and once again, leaves Sybil to solve the day's problems. Personally, I think this would've been a good episode to end the series. Although unintentionally, it rounds out the other episodes nicely and pretty much drives home the fact that Fawlty Towers is a hotel that's beyond help.