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Fawlty Towers

  • TV Series
  • 1975–19791975–1979
  • TV-PGTV-PG
  • 30m
IMDb RATING
8.8/10
91K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,383
355
Episode guide
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
John Cleese, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs, and Prunella Scales in Fawlty Towers (1975)
Fawlty Towers
Play trailer1:45
5 Videos
99+ Photos
  • Comedy
Hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.Hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.Hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.
IMDb RATING
8.8/10
91K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,383
355
  • Stars
    • John Cleese
    • Prunella Scales
    • Andrew Sachs
Top credits
  • Stars
    • John Cleese
    • Prunella Scales
    • Andrew Sachs
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 189User reviews
    • 28Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Top rated TV #58
    • Won 3 BAFTA Awards
      • 5 wins & 2 nominations total

    Episodes12

    Browse episodes
    TopTop-rated

    Videos5

    John C. Reilly and Steven Coogan Show Us the Real 'Stan & Ollie'
    Clip 2:04
    John C. Reilly and Steven Coogan Show Us the Real 'Stan & Ollie'
    Fawlty Towers
    Trailer 1:45
    Fawlty Towers
    Don't Mention the War!
    Video 1:50
    Don't Mention the War!
    I Know Nothing!
    Video 1:45
    I Know Nothing!
    The Making of Fawlty Towers
    Video 7:19
    The Making of Fawlty Towers

    Photos320

    John Cleese, Norman Bird, Andrew Sachs, and Stella Tanner in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese, Trevor Adams, Prunella Scales, and April Walker in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    Steve Plytas and Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Joan Sanderson in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Connie Booth in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Bernard Cribbins in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Luan Peters in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    Brian Hall and Prunella Scales in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese, Robin Ellis, and Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers (1975)
    John Cleese and Andrew Sachs in Fawlty Towers (1975)

    Top cast

    Edit
    John Cleese
    John Cleese
    • Basil Fawltyas Basil Fawlty
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Prunella Scales
    Prunella Scales
    • Sybil Fawltyas Sybil Fawlty
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Andrew Sachs
    Andrew Sachs
    • Manuelas Manuel
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Connie Booth
    Connie Booth
    • Polly Shermanas Polly Sherman
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Ballard Berkeley
    Ballard Berkeley
    • Major Gowenas Major Gowen
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Gilly Flower
    • Miss Agatha Tibbsas Miss Agatha Tibbs
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Renee Roberts
    • Miss Ursula Gatsbyas Miss Ursula Gatsby
    12 episodes12 eps • 1975–1979
    Brian Hall
    Brian Hall
    • Terryas Terry
    6 episodes6 eps • 1979
    Terence Conoley
    • Mr. Johnstonas Mr. Johnston…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1975–1979
    Elizabeth Benson
    • Mrs. Heathas Mrs. Heath…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1975–1979
    George Lee
    • Delivery Manas Delivery Man…
    2 episodes2 eps • 1975–1979
    Bernard Cribbins
    Bernard Cribbins
    • Mr. Hutchinsonas Mr. Hutchinson
    1 episode1 ep • 1975
    Michael Gwynn
    Michael Gwynn
    • Lord Melburyas Lord Melbury
    1 episode1 ep • 1975
    André Maranne
    André Maranne
    • Andréas André
    1 episode1 ep • 1975
    Geoffrey Palmer
    Geoffrey Palmer
    • Dr. Priceas Dr. Price
    1 episode1 ep • 1979
    Nicky Henson
    Nicky Henson
    • Mr. Johnsonas Mr. Johnson
    1 episode1 ep • 1979
    Bruce Boa
    Bruce Boa
    • Mr. Harry Hamiltonas Mr. Harry Hamilton
    1 episode1 ep • 1979
    Joan Sanderson
    Joan Sanderson
    • Mrs. Alice Richardsas Mrs. Alice Richards
    1 episode1 ep • 1979
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Andrew Sachs (Manuel) was paid damages for his injuries by the BBC after a jacket was treated with acid by the special effects department to look as if it was on fire. It really did burn through to his skin and he bore the scars for a long time until they peeled off.
    • Goofs
      Many times through every episode, the walls wobble, revealing them as set walls.
    • Quotes

      Basil Fawlty: Where's Sybil?

      Manuel: ¿Que?

      Basil Fawlty: Where's Sybil?

      Manuel: Where's... the bill?

      Basil Fawlty: No, not a bill! I own the place!

    • Crazy credits
      The Fawlty Towers hotel sign has its letters missing, or scrambled up to make new words. The sign presents a different error with each episode.
    • Alternate versions
      For German TV-runs the main-theme was changed to "funnier" music.
    • Connections
      Featured in The Pythons (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      Fawlty Towers
      Written by Dennis Wilson

      Performed by Dennis Wilson Quartet

      [series theme tune]

    User reviews189

    Review
    Top review
    Still funny after all these years
    Just saw again the first four episodes of John Cleese's wonderful, wonderful Fawlty Towers, the dysfunctional hotel run by the inimitable Basil Fawlty (Cleese), and his battle-wagon wife, Sybil (Prunella Scales). Amazing how many belly laughs and guffaws the show can still inspire, and this is probably my third or fourth viewing (still, it's been years).

    Even more amazing is the short documentary on the realBasil Fawlty--Donald Sinclair, manager and owner of the Gleneagle, an ex Navy commander who (as Ray Marks, present manager of the Gleneagle puts it) thought running the Gleneagle "would have been a wonderful job, if it wasn't for the guests. The guests spoiled his job."

    According to legend, the Monty Python troupe once booked rooms at the Gleneagle, in the seaside town of Torquay; they still remember some of the things Sinclair did to them there. Pythoner Eric Idle carried an alarm clock inside his briefcase at the hotel reception; when Sinclair heard the ticking he said "My God, there's a bomb in there!" and threw it off a cliff. Later, Pythoner Terry Gilliam sat down to a meal and ate American style, cutting up the food first before picking up the pieces with his fork; Sinclair, passing by, picked up Gilliam's knife and snapped "we don't eat like that here!"

    Eventually the entire Python troupe moved to another hotel--all except Cleese, who stayed. Apparently, he thought there was an idea for a TV show here somewhere.

    It wasn't only the Pythoners that suffered; one guest asked for a drink at the bar, to which Sinclair replied by slamming down the grill and saying "the bar's closed." When his friend invited him to a nearby hotel to drink, Sinclair informed him that if he isn't back by 11 pm, the front door will be locked. He comes back late, and just as Sinclair threatened, the front door was locked. "This is ridiculous," he said, "my wife and daughter are in there," and started banging on the door; a light turned on in a window, and Sinclair popped his head out and said "I told you I'd lock the doors by 11!" The guest replied: "If you don't open the doors I'm going to knock them down!" Three or four minutes later, Sinclair opens the door, lets him in, bangs the door behind him loud enough to, as the guest put it, wake everyone in the hotel, and yells "Don't let that happen again!"

    Sinclair was also hard on the hired help. He hated builders, and would yell and curse at them; one Greek waiter was so fed up with Sinclair's treatment of him he jumped into a taxi and demanded to be driven to London. Rosemary Harrison, who once worked for Sinclair, describes how when one waiter, tired of waiting for Sinclair to make the tea, took a teapot meant for another table. Sinclair stopped the serving of breakfast and "went up and down the tables like a policeman, questioning the guests. He came across a set of teapots at a table for two. He realised because of their size they were meant for a table for four, and he asked the guests for a description of the waiter."

    Sinclair was apparently so appalling that when his wife had to go out shopping, she would lock him up in their room, and say to the staff "don't let him out, he's only going to upset you." Ian Jones, owner of the nearby Coppice Hotel, said "fugitives from the Gleneagle used to come knocking on our door, pleading accommodations."

    He was, as Cleese would put it, "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met."
    helpful•95
    9
    • noelbotevera
    • May 14, 2004

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 19, 1975 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • Spanish
    • Also known as
      • Das verrückte Hotel - Fawlty Towers
    • Filming locations
      • Wooburn Grange Country Club, Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, England, UK
    • Production company
      • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      30 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 4:3

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