While it lacks the fast pace of most of the other episodes, "A Touch of Class" was certainly a classy way to get the series started. We're introduced to all the characters, not in great depth, but even a reference is made to the fallible construction worker Mr. O'Reilly, who would later make an appearance in all his fouled-up glory. Sybil is at her peak, nagging Basil to get fifty things done while she spends the day trying to catch up on the fifty things that he was supposed to do the day before. We get a good idea of Polly's role at the hotel (that of straight-man and organizer) and Manuel's probable intelligence deficiency. In retrospect, it's a bit saddening that Michael Gwynne, who played the conartist Lord Melbury so superbly, died less than a year after this was shot. Basil Fawlty would fawn over many such guests, but nothing beats the treatment he gives Melbury...and the payoff of Basil realizing that he was "had" is screamingly funny ("YOU BASTAAAARD!!")
11 Reviews
Welcome to the Classy Fawlty Towers
claudio_carvalho17 December 2008
Basil Fawlty wants to upgrade his hotel giving a touch of class and spends 40 pounds in an expensive advertisement in the newspaper to attract the upper class under the protest of his wife Sybil. While having troubles for communicating with his Spanish employee Manuel and hanging a picture for Sybil, the aristocratic Lord Melbury checks in for the delight of Basil. Basil dedicates his full attention to the lord, ignoring his usual guests. When Lord Melbury asks to cash a 200 pound check and to evaluate his collection of coins, Basil's employee Polly Sherman goes to the bank and meets MI5 undercover agent Brown that tells her the truth about Lord Melbury, for the disappointment of Basil.
"A Touch of Class" is the opening of this hilarious series, where the characters and the Fawlty Towers are introduced. The jokes and gags flow in a fast pace, with John Cleese magnificent as usual performing a man that wants to be sophisticated. But Andrew Sachs is fantastic in the role of Manuel, a bellboy and waiter that can neither speak English nor communicate with Fawlty, who claims to know "Classic Spanish". This series was recommended by a friend of mine and I really liked this first show. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
"A Touch of Class" is the opening of this hilarious series, where the characters and the Fawlty Towers are introduced. The jokes and gags flow in a fast pace, with John Cleese magnificent as usual performing a man that wants to be sophisticated. But Andrew Sachs is fantastic in the role of Manuel, a bellboy and waiter that can neither speak English nor communicate with Fawlty, who claims to know "Classic Spanish". This series was recommended by a friend of mine and I really liked this first show. My vote is eight.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
A Legend Is Born
Theo Robertson11 July 2013
The words "Legend " and " Genius " are so over used they're in danger of becoming redundant , I mean we even get footballers being described as legends and geniuses which is a bit like awarding President Assad the Nobel peace prize but sometimes very occasionally these words are used correctly . FAWLTY TOWERS is a legendary situation comedy that is a work of genius
British comedy is reliant upon class differences . Class difference is a British value that thankfully isn't as bad as it was when I was a child which on the Island Of Bute was little different from the Hindu caste system with no social mobility allowed and this opening episode illustrates the British attitude to class perfectly
Basil Fawlty runs Fawlty Towers with his wife Sybil and a waitress called Polly and a Spanish waiter called Manuel helping - or is that hindering - them . Basil is hen pecked , brusque and is the worst kind of snob . When a Lord Melbury arrives sycophancy that borders on the brutal ensues
This episode is more than mere comedy involving sadistic cruelty such as Basil using Manuel as a literal and metaphorical punchbag or scathing sarcasm " Is there any part of the room you want us to stay away from " but also shows the real and dramatic consequences of jumping to conclusions of first impressions . It's comedy at its most sophisticated and still well regarded and as funny as it was nearly 40 years ago
British comedy is reliant upon class differences . Class difference is a British value that thankfully isn't as bad as it was when I was a child which on the Island Of Bute was little different from the Hindu caste system with no social mobility allowed and this opening episode illustrates the British attitude to class perfectly
Basil Fawlty runs Fawlty Towers with his wife Sybil and a waitress called Polly and a Spanish waiter called Manuel helping - or is that hindering - them . Basil is hen pecked , brusque and is the worst kind of snob . When a Lord Melbury arrives sycophancy that borders on the brutal ensues
This episode is more than mere comedy involving sadistic cruelty such as Basil using Manuel as a literal and metaphorical punchbag or scathing sarcasm " Is there any part of the room you want us to stay away from " but also shows the real and dramatic consequences of jumping to conclusions of first impressions . It's comedy at its most sophisticated and still well regarded and as funny as it was nearly 40 years ago
The writing was always on the wall, comedy gold!
Sleepin_Dragon28 January 2019
I think they must have realised at the time they were on to a winner, I wonder if Cleese and Booth had imagined exactly what they'd created.
A Touch of Class is a truly magical episode, we're introduced to the lovable regulars, and some loathsome guests. Key Guest being Lord Melbury, who brings out Basil's inner snob. The dialogue between the two is a joy to behold, and the scene where Basil realises what Lord Melbury is doing is a moment of utter hilarity.
I'm reviewing this over forty years after it was transmitted, has there been a funnier sitcom? Don't think so. 10/10
A Touch of Class is a truly magical episode, we're introduced to the lovable regulars, and some loathsome guests. Key Guest being Lord Melbury, who brings out Basil's inner snob. The dialogue between the two is a joy to behold, and the scene where Basil realises what Lord Melbury is doing is a moment of utter hilarity.
I'm reviewing this over forty years after it was transmitted, has there been a funnier sitcom? Don't think so. 10/10
"I'm talking to Lord Melbury!"
ShadeGrenade6 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
It saddens me to have to admit I never saw this episode on its original broadcast. At the time, I was hooked on 'Beryl's Lot', an I.T.V. comedy drama starring Carmel McSharry. Such was its hold on me I missed not only this but the next two editions of the John Cleese and Connie Booth-scripted show ( no B.B.C. iPlayer then! ). My first proper encounter with Basil and co. came with 'The Hotel Inspectors'. Fortunately, the show was given a quick repeat on Tuesdays at 9 P.M.
There was some grumbling from Pythoniacs that Cleese had 'sold out'. By leaving their favourite show for this, they felt he'd somehow insulted them. It was an absurd view to take as Cleese had written episodes of the 'Doctor' series for L.W.T., and appeared in 'Sez Les' with Les Dawson. He was no stranger to more conventional humour.
'A Touch Of Class' is a wonderful opener. Basil, disillusioned with the hotel business, takes out an expensive ad in 'Country Life' in the hope of attracting a better class of customer. Nagging wife Sybil ( Prunella Scales ) berates him for having wasted forty pounds, and for failing to put up a painting in the foyer. Cockney Danny Brown ( Robin Ellis ) gets right up Basil's nose. Lord Melbury ( Michael Gwynn ) also moves in and Basil cannot do enough for him. His Lordship starts asking Basil to cash cheques and offers to get his coin collection valued. Polly Sherman ( Connie Booth ), an American art student working as a waitress at the hotel, learns from Brown that Melbury is a con man...
Basil's snobbery is firmly established here, as is his terror of wife Sybil. She only has to snap "Basil!" and he leaps ten feet into the air. Cleese said later that his real-life counterpart, the late Donald Sinclair, was a small man with a very large, henpecking wife. Unable to find anyone tall enough to tower over the ex-Python, they decided to make her short instead. In one scene, he has a telephone altercation with a useless builder named 'O'Reilly', setting up a plot line for the second episode. His inability to communicate with Spanish waiter Manuel ( Andrew Sachs ) also provides much humour.
Michael Gwynn, a veteran of stage and screen, sadly died of a heart attack mere months after this went out. Robin Ellis went on to take the lead in the fondly remembered B.B.C. costume drama 'Poldark'. Terence Conoley, who plays the angry 'Mr.Wareing', left waiting for drinks, was also sneezing commuter 'Peter Cartwright-Jones' in 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin'. He reappeared as another character in Season 2's 'Waldorf Salad'.
Funniest moment - Basil telling Manuel to throw away a grapefruit that has been on the floor. The waiter takes him at his word, and it lands on someone's table. Basil thumps him.
Second funniest moment - Basil both verbally ( "You bastard!" ) and physically assaulting the shyster Lord.
A comedy classic was born.
There was some grumbling from Pythoniacs that Cleese had 'sold out'. By leaving their favourite show for this, they felt he'd somehow insulted them. It was an absurd view to take as Cleese had written episodes of the 'Doctor' series for L.W.T., and appeared in 'Sez Les' with Les Dawson. He was no stranger to more conventional humour.
'A Touch Of Class' is a wonderful opener. Basil, disillusioned with the hotel business, takes out an expensive ad in 'Country Life' in the hope of attracting a better class of customer. Nagging wife Sybil ( Prunella Scales ) berates him for having wasted forty pounds, and for failing to put up a painting in the foyer. Cockney Danny Brown ( Robin Ellis ) gets right up Basil's nose. Lord Melbury ( Michael Gwynn ) also moves in and Basil cannot do enough for him. His Lordship starts asking Basil to cash cheques and offers to get his coin collection valued. Polly Sherman ( Connie Booth ), an American art student working as a waitress at the hotel, learns from Brown that Melbury is a con man...
Basil's snobbery is firmly established here, as is his terror of wife Sybil. She only has to snap "Basil!" and he leaps ten feet into the air. Cleese said later that his real-life counterpart, the late Donald Sinclair, was a small man with a very large, henpecking wife. Unable to find anyone tall enough to tower over the ex-Python, they decided to make her short instead. In one scene, he has a telephone altercation with a useless builder named 'O'Reilly', setting up a plot line for the second episode. His inability to communicate with Spanish waiter Manuel ( Andrew Sachs ) also provides much humour.
Michael Gwynn, a veteran of stage and screen, sadly died of a heart attack mere months after this went out. Robin Ellis went on to take the lead in the fondly remembered B.B.C. costume drama 'Poldark'. Terence Conoley, who plays the angry 'Mr.Wareing', left waiting for drinks, was also sneezing commuter 'Peter Cartwright-Jones' in 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin'. He reappeared as another character in Season 2's 'Waldorf Salad'.
Funniest moment - Basil telling Manuel to throw away a grapefruit that has been on the floor. The waiter takes him at his word, and it lands on someone's table. Basil thumps him.
Second funniest moment - Basil both verbally ( "You bastard!" ) and physically assaulting the shyster Lord.
A comedy classic was born.
Toff
bevo-136789 April 2020
An insane laugh riot that begins one of the most acclaimed television series and my journey into it!
SLionsCricketreviews14 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The prospect of watching FAWLTY TOWERS for the first time was one that was both exciting and intimidating. I had heard countless praise for this show that is widely regarded as one of the greatest and coupled with the fact that it is forty plus years old and humour can become dated very easily, I was a little nervous. Five minutes into FAWLTY TOWERS's first episode, "A Touch of Class", I was absorbed.
What a remarkably hysterical and absurdly frenetic burst of life this show is. At this point, I'm only two episodes in but completely enamored with every aspect of the show, whether it be the acting, the characters, the script, the storytelling or this quirky little world that is established.
"A Touch of Class" is just magnificent. Within two minutes, so much of what I already love about the show is on full display. John Cleese as Basil Fawlty is just absolute perfection here, with both his displays of more subdued acting and his over-the-top maniacal turns as Basil. What makes Basil work as brilliantly as he does is the almost equal turn of Prunella Scales as his wife, Sybil. The chemistry between the two is flawless and the dynamic of a dysfunctional couple is portrayed with remarkable attention.
Take for example, Sybil pestering her husband to hang up a picture frame that she has seemingly been begging him to do while still managing to unnerve him by whining about every single thing that he has yet to do. There's an incredibly subtle moment of humour at the very opening of the episode that is sure to be missed if careful attention is not diverted onto the screen and that's Sybil taking the coaster from the reception desk and putting it behind the desk. It's almost the first interaction we see of the two and for me at least, spoke volumes about their relationship and even the tone of the series to follow.
This episode was a laugh riot, simple as that! So much so that I found myself constantly in need of rewinding the episode to catch lines of dialogue that were drowned out by chest-aching volumes of laughter. If there's any issues I have with the episode, they are so minute in comparison to the overall sense of hilarity and joy I felt watching the episode that they are almost entirely negated here. If there's any criticism I had, it's the development of the plot that finds the Lord Melbury character a con artist which I felt was a tad clunky in how it was handled. While I don't think its an invalid criticism even for a sitcom, it's largely negated by the hilarious turns that the episode manages to pull off.
"A Touch of Class" completely disproves any fears I may have had of being disappointed with FAWLTY TOWERS. It bursts to the seams with life in such a way that few shows ever have for me and virtually every aspect of this episode binds me for its half hour duration. A perfectly solid storyline that allows the characters and the actors portraying these wonderful characters from exercising all their potential. This truly is a laugh riot and a fantastic pilot for a show that I cannot wait to fully explore.
What a remarkably hysterical and absurdly frenetic burst of life this show is. At this point, I'm only two episodes in but completely enamored with every aspect of the show, whether it be the acting, the characters, the script, the storytelling or this quirky little world that is established.
"A Touch of Class" is just magnificent. Within two minutes, so much of what I already love about the show is on full display. John Cleese as Basil Fawlty is just absolute perfection here, with both his displays of more subdued acting and his over-the-top maniacal turns as Basil. What makes Basil work as brilliantly as he does is the almost equal turn of Prunella Scales as his wife, Sybil. The chemistry between the two is flawless and the dynamic of a dysfunctional couple is portrayed with remarkable attention.
Take for example, Sybil pestering her husband to hang up a picture frame that she has seemingly been begging him to do while still managing to unnerve him by whining about every single thing that he has yet to do. There's an incredibly subtle moment of humour at the very opening of the episode that is sure to be missed if careful attention is not diverted onto the screen and that's Sybil taking the coaster from the reception desk and putting it behind the desk. It's almost the first interaction we see of the two and for me at least, spoke volumes about their relationship and even the tone of the series to follow.
This episode was a laugh riot, simple as that! So much so that I found myself constantly in need of rewinding the episode to catch lines of dialogue that were drowned out by chest-aching volumes of laughter. If there's any issues I have with the episode, they are so minute in comparison to the overall sense of hilarity and joy I felt watching the episode that they are almost entirely negated here. If there's any criticism I had, it's the development of the plot that finds the Lord Melbury character a con artist which I felt was a tad clunky in how it was handled. While I don't think its an invalid criticism even for a sitcom, it's largely negated by the hilarious turns that the episode manages to pull off.
"A Touch of Class" completely disproves any fears I may have had of being disappointed with FAWLTY TOWERS. It bursts to the seams with life in such a way that few shows ever have for me and virtually every aspect of this episode binds me for its half hour duration. A perfectly solid storyline that allows the characters and the actors portraying these wonderful characters from exercising all their potential. This truly is a laugh riot and a fantastic pilot for a show that I cannot wait to fully explore.
Towers above most '70s comedy TV shows.
BA_Harrison6 December 2017
In this first episode of the classic '70s BBC series, obsequious hotel owner Basil (John Cleese) is taken in by a confidence trickster (Michael Gwynn) posing as Lord Melbury, a member of the aristocracy. As Basil kowtows to his eminent guest, snubbing the other customers, his wife Sybil (Prunella Scales) wishes that her fawning husband would get on with the many jobs that need doing around the hotel.
A Touch of Class is far from the funniest episode of Fawlty Towers, but what it does brilliantly is to get the viewer acquainted with the characters and establish their particular quirks and foibles in readiness for the rest of the series. We immediately understand the dynamic between Basil and Sybil (neurotic henpecked husband and efficient harridan), realise that Polly (Connie Booth) is the sane one, and see that waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) is the whipping boy on whom Basil vents his frustration. It's a wonderful set up that, in future episodes, would pay off in spades.
A Touch of Class is far from the funniest episode of Fawlty Towers, but what it does brilliantly is to get the viewer acquainted with the characters and establish their particular quirks and foibles in readiness for the rest of the series. We immediately understand the dynamic between Basil and Sybil (neurotic henpecked husband and efficient harridan), realise that Polly (Connie Booth) is the sane one, and see that waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) is the whipping boy on whom Basil vents his frustration. It's a wonderful set up that, in future episodes, would pay off in spades.
Best Of Fawlty Towers
jonjonat13 July 2009
To me this is the best start to any show out there and it owns mr bean and the simpsons etc i like this episode because of the very fine acting and comedy from john cleese aka basil fawlty and also starring his wife sybil fawlty and the helpers polly and manual a french waiter from barcelona and of course lord malbury the talented conman who owns a couple of prisoners. Basil Fawlty is the greatest comedian or John Cleese as such out there for me that's the only reason this show is so good John Cleese Basil Fawlty although the Spanish waiter Manual does a great job well. This show owns everything on planet earth especially justice and freedom and hope
Great start to a very funny series.
snoozejonc21 October 2020
Basil advertises the hotel in Country Life magazine in an attempt to attract a higher class of guest.
Appearances are deceptive in this series opener as Basil longs for a higher standard of clientele in his establishment. We have the series formula set with a fairly intricately plotted series of disasters and Basil slowly unraveling towards a complete emotional meltdown.
This has plenty of witty lines from Basil as he blunders through everything whilst Cybil and Manuel hinder him at every turn. My favourite is the line regarding Brahms.
I love comedy that's makes fun of the class system and in particular characters who try to be a cut above and fail miserably.
All performances are great but as with most episodes it is all about John Cleese and he is fantastic in every scene.
Appearances are deceptive in this series opener as Basil longs for a higher standard of clientele in his establishment. We have the series formula set with a fairly intricately plotted series of disasters and Basil slowly unraveling towards a complete emotional meltdown.
This has plenty of witty lines from Basil as he blunders through everything whilst Cybil and Manuel hinder him at every turn. My favourite is the line regarding Brahms.
I love comedy that's makes fun of the class system and in particular characters who try to be a cut above and fail miserably.
All performances are great but as with most episodes it is all about John Cleese and he is fantastic in every scene.
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