"The Psychiatrist" is a brilliant, brilliant farce. Basil Fawlty is probably the world's greatest ass-kisser, and this story features his fawning over the two (or three??) Dr. Abbott's, who are down in Torquay for a holiday out of London. Meanwhile, a hippie man named Johnson is staying at the hotel, and sneaks his girlfriend into his room (sign of the times, eh?), making for a highly entertaining subplot as Basil tries to catch sight of her and throw them both out. But there's yet another subplot - the appearance of a beautiful lady named Raylene Miles from Australia who shows up, and Basil can't help but become infatuated with her (or so Sybil thinks.) Sybil's hair is at its beehive-best in this one, complete with Basil's reference to it: "the dormant organ you keep hidden in that rat's maze of yours!" The two 'hand on boob' scenes and Basil's breaking into guest rooms "just to check the walls"' are side-splittingly funny, as is the entire episode. Definitely one of the best-written ones in the series.
11 Reviews
The Three Doctors. So funny it hurts.
Sleepin_Dragon28 January 2019
The Psychiatrist must be one of the best episodes from Fawlty Towers, and in turn one of the funniest comedies ever made. The sheer quality of this episode is phenomenal, the script is sublime, and the physical humour, genuinely off the scale.
The content is so rich, it goes beyond being purely farce, we are treated to mistaken identity, half heard conversations, and misunderstandings, everything going on in that Hotel seems destined to cause mayhem for poor Basil.
Once again there are too many side splitting moments to mention, but for me, the two best scenes feature the Doctors. The initial moment where Basil meets them, Three Doctors, and the second being where poor Basil misunderstands the conversation about holidays.
Why can't comedies be this funny. 10/10
The content is so rich, it goes beyond being purely farce, we are treated to mistaken identity, half heard conversations, and misunderstandings, everything going on in that Hotel seems destined to cause mayhem for poor Basil.
Once again there are too many side splitting moments to mention, but for me, the two best scenes feature the Doctors. The initial moment where Basil meets them, Three Doctors, and the second being where poor Basil misunderstands the conversation about holidays.
Why can't comedies be this funny. 10/10
"I'll get you, you Piltdown Ponce!"
ShadeGrenade6 February 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A new guest - Mr.Johnson ( Nicky Henson ) - is staying at Fawlty Towers. He is very much The Medallion Man - shirt open to the waist, leather trousers, identity bracelets, and a habit of repeating a joke that ends with "Pretentious? Moi?". Basil hates him on sight, and likens him constantly to an ape.
Also at the hotel is a psychiatrist - Dr.Abbott ( Basil Henson ) and his paediatrician wife ( Elspet Gray ). The first half of this episode has Basil plainly terrified that Abbott is trying to psychoanalyse him, while the second concentrates on his attempts to prove Johnson has broken a rule ( no guests after ten p.m. ) by smuggling a young woman into his room for sex. Basil's efforts are hindered by a stunningly beautiful Australian, Raylene Miles ( Luan Peters ), whom he always manages to look as though he is groping...
The best Season 2 episode in my view, this is fabulous from start to finish, full of great lines and situations. Cleese had worked with Nicky Henson ten years earlier on 'The Frost Report', and asked specially for him to play the role of the gum-chewing, swaggering 'Johnson'. Elspet Gray is the wife of farce maestro Brian Rix, and was 'The Queen' in 'The Black Adder' in 1984.
As the episode begins, you can see someone rearranging the letters on the sign to read 'Watery Fowls'.
Funniest moment - Basil placing a hand on Raylene's left breast just as Sybil enters the room.
Second funniest moment - Basil climbing a ladder to peer through a window, hoping to catch Johnson 'on the job'. It turns out to be the Abbott's room! No wonder the psychiatrist later says to his wife: "Enough material here for a whole conference!".
Also at the hotel is a psychiatrist - Dr.Abbott ( Basil Henson ) and his paediatrician wife ( Elspet Gray ). The first half of this episode has Basil plainly terrified that Abbott is trying to psychoanalyse him, while the second concentrates on his attempts to prove Johnson has broken a rule ( no guests after ten p.m. ) by smuggling a young woman into his room for sex. Basil's efforts are hindered by a stunningly beautiful Australian, Raylene Miles ( Luan Peters ), whom he always manages to look as though he is groping...
The best Season 2 episode in my view, this is fabulous from start to finish, full of great lines and situations. Cleese had worked with Nicky Henson ten years earlier on 'The Frost Report', and asked specially for him to play the role of the gum-chewing, swaggering 'Johnson'. Elspet Gray is the wife of farce maestro Brian Rix, and was 'The Queen' in 'The Black Adder' in 1984.
As the episode begins, you can see someone rearranging the letters on the sign to read 'Watery Fowls'.
Funniest moment - Basil placing a hand on Raylene's left breast just as Sybil enters the room.
Second funniest moment - Basil climbing a ladder to peer through a window, hoping to catch Johnson 'on the job'. It turns out to be the Abbott's room! No wonder the psychiatrist later says to his wife: "Enough material here for a whole conference!".
Probably The Greatest Comedy Half Hour Britain Has Produced
Theo Robertson14 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Basil becomes suspicious that a male guest has sneaked his girlfriend in to the hotel and vows to catch them . After all they're breaking the house rules . In the mean time a pair of psychiatrists come to stay
This is it , probably the greatest comedy Britain has produced . It's high farce , very high farce that could have degenerated in to embarrassing silliness yet is so well written by the writing of Cleese and Booth is constantly funny no matter how many times you watch it
There's some slight suspension of disbelief needed as someone has to be in the right place at the right time , or Basil forgetting the layout of the hotel as he and Manuel get a pair of ladders which will prove that Basil is right in his suspicions . Do I honestly need to go in to detail as to the brilliance of the show in general and this episode in particular ? It's not often I give a ten out of ten to something on this site but when you've got the funniest episode of the funnies sit-com full marks are deserved
This is it , probably the greatest comedy Britain has produced . It's high farce , very high farce that could have degenerated in to embarrassing silliness yet is so well written by the writing of Cleese and Booth is constantly funny no matter how many times you watch it
There's some slight suspension of disbelief needed as someone has to be in the right place at the right time , or Basil forgetting the layout of the hotel as he and Manuel get a pair of ladders which will prove that Basil is right in his suspicions . Do I honestly need to go in to detail as to the brilliance of the show in general and this episode in particular ? It's not often I give a ten out of ten to something on this site but when you've got the funniest episode of the funnies sit-com full marks are deserved
Can it ever be bettered? I'm not hopeful.
Jellybeansucker11 July 2017
The best episode in the best series of the best sitcom ever put on TV. The Germans may be the most famous but as brilliant as it is, The Psychiatrist surpasses it. It's better written and produced with 4 years to perfect episodes and get them even tighter and funnier than series 1. There is so much going on in this great episode it makes me dizzy still.
Pure farce as busy as it comes with cripplingly funny scene after scene, it is relentlessly funny from start to finish with hardly a wasted line. Inspired with possibly even a hint that Cleese himself was in need of psychiatric assessment. Everything ties together make the funniest half hour of comedy I've ever witnessed. A classical lesson of what can be achieved in a half hour sitcom if you really try. But you probably need a genius at the helm to do it.
Pure farce as busy as it comes with cripplingly funny scene after scene, it is relentlessly funny from start to finish with hardly a wasted line. Inspired with possibly even a hint that Cleese himself was in need of psychiatric assessment. Everything ties together make the funniest half hour of comedy I've ever witnessed. A classical lesson of what can be achieved in a half hour sitcom if you really try. But you probably need a genius at the helm to do it.
Absolutely Wonderful.
Hotwok201314 September 2017
I agree with the reviews of both Jellybeansucker & Theo Robertson. This is not only the very best of the 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers, it is the funniest half hour of comedy that has ever been written, in my opinion. John Cleese & Connie Booth packed so much into it that it is really quite incredible. A married couple of doctors (the Abbotts) check in to the hotel & Basil Fawlty does his his usual fawning routine, that is until he finds out that the male doctor (played by Basil Henson) is a psychiatrist. This knowledge turns Basil into a nervous wreck suggesting that he is in dire need of help from Dr. Abbott himself!. A handsome & personable playboy type of young man (Mr. Johnson played by Nicky Henson) also checks in. Basil's wife Sybil takes a shine to him & tries chatting him up. He is wearing a shirt with the buttons undone flashing his hairy chest & the medallion he is wearing. Basil takes an instant dislike to him & suggests he is an ape calling him a "Piltdown ponce". Basil gets wind of the fact Mr. Johnson has also smuggled a girl into his room & becomes obsessed with trying to catch her. A beautiful young Australian lady called Raylene also checks in to the hotel. When she bends down to sign the register she flashes her ample cleavage & Basil can hardly divert his gaze away. She is played by Luan Peters & whilst trying to prove that Mr. Johnson has indeed smuggled a girl in he inadvertently ends up in Raylene's room. Sybil naturally gets the wrong idea & thinks he is infatuated with the beautiful Aussie lady. To fully appreciate this utterly hilarious episode of Fawlty Towers it simply has to be seen because anything I write can hardly do it justice. It is just the most fabulous piece of situation comedy I have ever seen. 10/10 with five gold stars!!!.
My favourite Fawlty Towers episode
glenn-aylett16 May 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Repeated recently on BBC One, the brilliance of Fawlty Towers and the timeless humour( a badly run hotel owned by a snobbish, short tempered buffoon) has me in stitches every time. Amazing for a show that first aired in 1975, when many others from the seventies have dated badly.
The Psychiatrists is my favourite episode because it is a classic bedroom farce. Basil takes an immediate dislike to a playboy type in classic seventies disco clothing( medallion, open necked shirt, tight pants) who strikes up a rapport with his wife and manages to smuggle his girl into his room. Also Basil is put on edge when a pair of psychiatrists book into the hotel and is terrified they start analysing him.
The Pyschiatrists is hilarious from start to finish, with the most memorable scenes being Basil getting confused when the psychiatrists mention holidays and he thinks they are talking about sex, the scene where he falls off the ladder while trying to spy on the playboy, and where he accidentally gropes an Australian guest to the disgust of Sybil. No wonder the psychiatrists say there is enough for a conference when they see Basil running around, a very upset Australian girl and Sybil in a state of fury.
While all the Fawlty Towers episodes are comedy gold, except maybe the slightly slower The Anniversary, The Psychiatrists is outstanding as it is hilarious from start to finish and Sybil finally gives Basil the perfect insult after being referred to as a nest of vipers and a bouffanted puff adder in previous episodes when she calls him a brilliantined stick insect.
The Psychiatrists is my favourite episode because it is a classic bedroom farce. Basil takes an immediate dislike to a playboy type in classic seventies disco clothing( medallion, open necked shirt, tight pants) who strikes up a rapport with his wife and manages to smuggle his girl into his room. Also Basil is put on edge when a pair of psychiatrists book into the hotel and is terrified they start analysing him.
The Pyschiatrists is hilarious from start to finish, with the most memorable scenes being Basil getting confused when the psychiatrists mention holidays and he thinks they are talking about sex, the scene where he falls off the ladder while trying to spy on the playboy, and where he accidentally gropes an Australian guest to the disgust of Sybil. No wonder the psychiatrists say there is enough for a conference when they see Basil running around, a very upset Australian girl and Sybil in a state of fury.
While all the Fawlty Towers episodes are comedy gold, except maybe the slightly slower The Anniversary, The Psychiatrists is outstanding as it is hilarious from start to finish and Sybil finally gives Basil the perfect insult after being referred to as a nest of vipers and a bouffanted puff adder in previous episodes when she calls him a brilliantined stick insect.
The second Fawlty sex comedy
snoozejonc31 October 2020
Basil tries to catch an unmarried guest with a girl in his room whilst avoiding appearing mad in front of a psychiatrist.
Another great episode with Basil doing everything he can to enforce his puritanical values on someone else whilst simultaneously making himself appear to be a sexual deviant.
John Cleese is as madcap as ever but this is a particularly strong episode for Prunella Scales as Cybil dealing with Basil's behaviour whilst doing some outrageous flirting herself.
My favourite parts of the episode involve Basil's interaction with the two doctors which are all extremely funny and at the same time make me feel mortified ever time he opens his mouth.
Another great episode with Basil doing everything he can to enforce his puritanical values on someone else whilst simultaneously making himself appear to be a sexual deviant.
John Cleese is as madcap as ever but this is a particularly strong episode for Prunella Scales as Cybil dealing with Basil's behaviour whilst doing some outrageous flirting herself.
My favourite parts of the episode involve Basil's interaction with the two doctors which are all extremely funny and at the same time make me feel mortified ever time he opens his mouth.
Great farce.
BA_Harrison9 December 2017
I wouldn't say that The Psychiatrist has got the strongest of plots, but it doesn't matter much because there are so many great jokes and brilliant moments of physical humour that the story-line itself is of little consequence. On gags alone, this is one of the best.
For what it's worth, the episode sees hotel owner Basil in serious fawning mode when a married couple, both doctors, book a room; when he's not being obsequious, he's trying to catch another guest, ladies' man Mr. Richards (Nicky Henson), with a woman in his room after hours. The introduction of another customer, sexy Australian Raylene Miles, only adds to Basil's problems, as he seemingly cannot avoid being caught by Sybil in compromising situations with the Antipodean babe.
Best moments: Basil mistakenly looking in the wrong window while up a ladder, and Basil reaching round a doorway to find a light switch only to grab Miss Miles' breast.
For what it's worth, the episode sees hotel owner Basil in serious fawning mode when a married couple, both doctors, book a room; when he's not being obsequious, he's trying to catch another guest, ladies' man Mr. Richards (Nicky Henson), with a woman in his room after hours. The introduction of another customer, sexy Australian Raylene Miles, only adds to Basil's problems, as he seemingly cannot avoid being caught by Sybil in compromising situations with the Antipodean babe.
Best moments: Basil mistakenly looking in the wrong window while up a ladder, and Basil reaching round a doorway to find a light switch only to grab Miss Miles' breast.
Sex
bevo-136789 April 2020
Episode 202
bobcobb3018 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The Psychiatrist does highlight a lot of what is always so successful about Fawlty Towers in that they take a very simple premise and capitalize on it by having a bunch of misunderstandings going on, mainly at the expense of Basil.
But it just missed the mark a bit too much. Too much involvement from the other guests and it just seemed to run on and on and repeat the same bit too often.
This show does go to the same kind of joke well a bit too much, but it almost always delivers. This was still an episode that had me laughing, but just not up to par with a lot of what we have seen from the show previously.
But it just missed the mark a bit too much. Too much involvement from the other guests and it just seemed to run on and on and repeat the same bit too often.
This show does go to the same kind of joke well a bit too much, but it almost always delivers. This was still an episode that had me laughing, but just not up to par with a lot of what we have seen from the show previously.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
