Fawlty Towers Re Opened

lessons they don't pick up on insuring zabita Kennedy dodge question thirty years since it left our TV screens Fawlty Towers is still acknowledged as the benchmark by which all other sitcoms are measured funnily enough the people who seem to find it hardest to enjoy our hotel youth and they sit down thinking they're going to enjoy it now after three minutes they think oh no does that you see what's gonna happen the popularity of Fawlty Towers I think today's is a lot to do this job the ordinary situations because there's something that our kind of timeless people can relate to these two boosts subjects tonight for the very first time John Cleese and Connie boobs the show's writers and co-stars are both breaking their silence to share their secrets of how this classic comedy was made including an insight into their strained manual it didn't save our March but I think Fawlty Towers became a kind of refuge for our demons and angels the true cost of manuals comedy stunts I thought I was going down I could hear the angels singing I thought thank heavens it's the last shot of the show cause a car gotta and how the BBC almost met this comedy crown jewels slipped through their fingers heads something right entertainment I'm afraid I thought this one as dire as its title which I can't see be anything better divorced there were just 12 half-hour episodes of Fawlty Towers screen between 1975 and 1979 yet it remains a timeless classic Fawlty Towers survived because it's brilliantly made brilliantly written immaculately performed precision comedy I must say it always feels to me as though there were many many many more episodes and I think that's because the richness of the stories and the characters it was beautifully written and dutifully directed them John and Connie and Andrew are wonderful people to work with and I'm proud and grateful for that the man skin it's funny if it's not happen to you she does in as can return T you could describe Fawlty Towers as a tragedy with laughs okay if the good Lord went to once more I shall move you closer to him now please I've been in the some of the worst sitcoms and will again ever produced and from the first moment and Fawlty Towers yet this is the best the best bit about working on voltages was the show itself when it went out and the reaction from everybody and the fact that it's still being shown all over the world and they keep sending us little checks I'm sitting here he's no lunch no breakfast it's finished all gone breakfast kaput I'm having sausages he's not allowed look I'm a doctor and a doctor and I want my Fosters it's nice to have that in the CV I did a faulty TAS you know when I work with Ralph fritz and Porsha go field long-sleeve a drop you and Ron please to ten twenty five to go John Cleese unleashed the rudest man in sitcom the daddy of the dysfunctional the characters so tragic so flawed and yet so hilariously fine John has created a wonderful comic creation in Basil Fawlty he's just one of the the classic comic characters of all time there's something about basil which makes them a very good character for our times I think for a hiked up anxious sort of rush around times here's the source symbol of mania and hysteria but there's more to this classic sitcom than just puzzle 40 that others his domineering acid-tongued wife's civil dependable Polly the overworked chambermaid dotty resident gets the major and Manuel simply the most famous TV writer in history who's from Barcelona those trades there is too much butter on those trays no no no say you are not not on those tries no sir oh no boss after 30 years the show's original producer has returned to the BBC archives to unearth the Fawlty Towers production files and rediscover the dusty details ah hear me at the program costs for the first episode in 1975 it was about 20,000 pounds just over John Cleese probably only got about 400 pounds or something like that we were real cheapskates terrible when you think about it absolutely amazing how little things cost in those days but it was a cheap show as demonstrated by the flexibility of the scenery that's why it wobbled a bit from time to time because we never had enough money to really structure it it didn't wobble click on a drawing out of the original set there and is instantly recognizable even though this was made long before the sets were actually designed apart from being bashed crashed into and knocked down faulty set also once famously flirted with flames fire sequence yeah I was hurt enough that smoke was was created with the use of two chemicals on each other and they create the smoke and you don't feel it through the jacket this is the theory can we just take my jacket off took the jacket off it was red roided acid burns so if you ever see that episode be sympathetic to my pain he's always bringing over I'll let him win when he writes me a good part coming up we revealed the real-life inspiration for Basil Fawlty not me twin your quarters have suddenly one breakfast as well it was exactly a so much I thought this is really yeah he's running a hotel he was so gratuitous Lulu Victor's like all British hoteliers he operated on the principle of I could run this hotel properly if it wasn't for the guests and here firsthand the inside story of scriptwriting within a marriage I think John and I wrote together better than we did together so stay tuned for the grand reopening of talkies notorious auteur 30 years on from its departure Fawlty Towers still retains its ability to make the British public roar with laughter amongst its many claims to fame it of course gave us one of the most iconic comedy characters ever created the irrepressible Basil Fawlty he's so awful he's so impossible he's failing to do to achieve everything he wants and although you disapprove of his goals he's still failing ELISA he's such a success she isn't funny failures funny and battled just fails triumphantly every day at some point ludicrous figure who takes things to extremes you know whatever emotion he has it's extreme everything all right bit of a bump just moving it out he's intelligent but emotionally he just doesn't function well because he's operating on a map of the world that just doesn't work and he doesn't realize that being reasonably open and friendly to people would make him not happy you're too busy sticking your noses into every caller movie about four things to complain about up to something I think there's something about his height plus his passion you know his desperation his anger and of course his fury I mean it's all there I suppose I don't think anybody could do it except John played these characters that's rather good at bullying people in a kind of authoritarian fashion putting him down with one or two mouths shut up or giving them a quick flick on the side of the head this happened in Python and that was the-- of course the relationship he created with Manuel and young John could do that very very well indeed yes where is it okay but on the I take it I take it come here got a waste of space oh I could see elements of Basil Fawlty in characters that John played in Python to see the same kind of thought that went into that kind of physical comedy in it that made sin walk so successful went into Fawlty Towers John played one or two characters in Python we're sort of rising anger was was sort of the the joke just sitting at the table in the garden tour got reasonably has something getting completely berserk about the world and banging the table and John played this was only John could I think the thing about Basil Fawlty is that there is a lot of John in it it is it's John's suppressed anger I mean he spent thirty years going to his psychiatrist but because if he's anger you had so much anger in him I have a feeling that situations could arise when I would almost go as bazookas personally yes something manic somewhere only people talk to me at parties sometimes you know and they really did talk talk badly and I have fantasies about picking things up you know cheese but I've never had the courage to do this and I can do it on stage you know Basil Fawlty to them why do they think that I have to be Basile Fawlty in order to write this I mean of course I have that in me but I've got all the other characters that I play you know you have to have all these emotions available to you and then when you become sure when you're asked to play a part you suppress some of them and and enlarge and play much more strongly some other emotions but that's what you do it's like having a palette you choose this color this color in this color but not the others you see what I mean then for a different character you choose different colors John encountered the inspiration for his hardline hotel yeah when the Monty Python team checked into a Torquay Hotel during filming in May 1971 we were we were in Turkey because we were filming all the outdoor all the exterior parts of Monty Python and stay in this hotel and the first evening we decided we'd eat in we were all having dinner and the owner mr. Donald Sinclair was wondering very grandly not doing anything to help because was being very grant and he walked past the Python table where we were all eating and terry gilliam had done what the americans do which is to cut the meat like that and then they put that knife down transfer the fork of this hand and spear the meat with the right hand and he stopped and I really just stared and then he said to get it we don't eat like that in this country and you were pretty astounded because it was completely out of the blue we were filming the next day and I said can you give us a call let me have an a call in the morning and he looked a bit yeah yes what time I said we're about about quarter to 7:00 quarter to 7:00 and he's just like quarter to seven you want me during your quarters a sudden you want breakfast as well it was exactly how much I thought this is really armed he's running a hotel I don't think he actually like guests I think he suffered them and I don't think he liked working in the hotel either I saw him close the pirate just after nine o'clock one night he said he was off to bed and it was time everybody else went to bed too one day Eric and I were waiting for the car to take us filming and Eric left his briefcase by the door where he'd propped it up while we were just playing catch with a tennis ball and when he got back he went up to the desk and Sinclair Sloan come here excuse me I'm wops what is it now is it I'd left the briefcase he said yes yes he said it's the other side of the wall and he pointed out of the out of the front door to a white war was at the far side of a swimming pool and he said he's behind the wall what is the wall yes yes I'll put it behind the wall why did you put it what why did you put it behind behind the wall we thought it might be a bomb and with Bob and seeked I said well we've had a lot of staff problems reason somebody'd come put a bomb in a briefcase I said to Mike I thought we can't stay here I really can't I didn't see the comic possibility is the Jordan see John it sort of worked out with Connie the logic of a Sinclair stroke Basil Fawlty position which is basically that it is the people you're making your money from who are causing you trouble and problems and if they weren't there life would be much easier but there's a flaw john capitalized on the indelible impression made by mr. Sinclair while writing for the hugely successful ITV series dr. at large one of them was set in an ER in a hotel and I remembered the original character Donald Sinclair Timothy Bateson did a terrific performance the prototype for Basil Fawlty was ready yes at the end of it a Humphrey Barkley bless him have said to me you know there's a series of that carrot I thought series all the time Thank You Humphrey but basil was to go on the back burner for another three years as John continued to conquer the known world as part of groundbreaking comedy collective Monty pipe then after five years of remarkable success John suddenly walked out on the Pythons we were all very unhappy when John left the series though it was it came as no surprise Jeff's always planning to leave I think after the first series he was planning to leave it he felt he'd he'd have enough of us are they none of the others understood really I think Erica understood a bit but I don't think they understood why I wanted to lead poison they thought he was great and I was born we were repeating ourselves and I thought I didn't want to do the third series turning his back on subversive SATA please joined forces with his thirty year old wife Connie boo the former New York waitress to create something completely different a conventional sitcom after I finished Monty Python I'd always wanted to do something with Connie and I was invited out by a lovely man could Jimmy Gilbert the maid had a light entertainment he said what do you want to do and I said I'd like to do something with Carly and he said all right well why don't you just go back home and told Akane give me a call tell me what you'd like to do John wanted to do something based on Donald Sinclair so he asked me if I wanted to have a go with him at writing a pilot and we'd enjoyed a bit of writing that we've done together I think the fact that we were husband and wife that you know there aren't many places you can't go and John really could make me laugh I think he'd always said that he would write with Connie at some point and I think it was just a relief not to have to write with grey I'm quite let's see grey was very cross with me for leaving Monty Python and I'm not quite sure why but I think that he felt great security being in a group gray didn't function terribly well on his own maybe he felt that Connie had supplanted him as a writer I know that because John's told me that Connie was was so important for the writing of those shows and in fact generally her contribution has been sort of rather neglected or downgraded and John was said she was you know very very important in the way that the ideas were sort of put together so John needed somebody else there as I did with with Terry Jones you need someone to bounce the comedy off and to think about the ideas and someone who can tell you know that doesn't work we created it together I think that it was the plot work but you know John's facility with language is extraordinary and it was just wonderful to be working with him production on the pilot began on the 23rd of January 1975 and the first person to commit himself to the new show was creasy's former Python director when I first read the pilot script at 40 tars I was in fact banned from reading it in bed because I laughed so much and even though we lived about half a mile from the nearest house we were in great danger of embarrassing the neighbors I think he was very exciting in the first series because it was it was this little thing we were doing in a backroom I never thought it would get to figures remotely near Python still to come we look at the method behind the madness The Laugh was based on Connie's love oh he's a swine to have told that but it's true I guess that's enough and reveal have one of forty's most the year is 1975 Harold Wilson is Prime Minister Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier have a thriller in Manila while Arthur Ashe becomes the first black tennis player to win Wimbledon London is hit by snow in June and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female leader of a political party but this isn't why 1975 is a landmark year it's the year that 40 Towers makes its debut September the 19th to be exact I don't remember exactly why we wrote the Lord Melbury episode first I don't think he was to particularly to establish it's not very good but then that was there and it was kind of a kind of an obvious star would you put both your names please well we didn't give me a date yeah I only use one you don't have a first name you know I'm Lord Melbury so I simply sign mail boy go away now is there something something anything that I can do for you in the apparent Lourdes booking into Fawlty Towers was just classical battles suddenly cringing and obsequious it was it was cartoony but there was an awful reality about it as well naturally natural more the lower middle class stuff was a little bit of my dad in this because he totally bought into the English class system if I'd married a Duke he would have Duke's daughter everything hahaha hold you but a dude started he would have craved his genes you know this he could have gone straight out and shot himself in those days if you were lower middle class quite different from being middle class he was lower middle class aspirational millions of people like that millions of people like that actually then the end of the decade put Margaret Thatcher into power so it had a it had a great sort of force in terms of social history what was going on then he wants to belong to a professional class but he is a hotel owner and one of the fascinating things is the way that Sybil keeps pulling him back to earth cognac few doctors rather fascinating or both being doctors porter fewer doctor as at one stage i was contemplating becoming a surgeon keeping a tight rein on her stick insect of a husband is Sybil Fawlty when we started to write true we weren't sure how the character was going to be played and at the first read-through after the first day we left rehearse and Connie and I said well what do you feel about produced before and we were both a bit worried because he wasn't what we had in mind I thought the Sybil was going to be really difficult to cast and so we were extremely lucky to get proof because she's complicated she's um bright but she's daft she's steely but she's frivolous she's decent and annihilating and by the second our worries completely disappeared because we saw what she was doing and we realized it was better than what we'd had in our minds but the interesting thing is and I'm not even sure that Prue knows this and I hope she won't mind I was not so familiar with her work in those days just before we got into writing it we went to see a very funny woman called bridgett Turner and Carney and I said we should offer this to Bridget and we sent the script off and Bridget wrote a very nice soul just sent a message back saying she didn't feel it was right for her and so she passed on it so we said John Howard Davis we don't know who do you suggest he said well I think you should use Prue skill I'm kissing you death at 43 prunella scales was already a veteran of the stage and screen Sybil was to become her most infamous and celebrated creation hello yeah it's going too well I was sent along to see John Cleese was in bed with flu and I was shown up to his room and he was in bed and he said what did you think of the scripts and I said I think I absolutely brilliant and he said oh good good good um any questions and I said them yes um why did they get married and he said oh god I thought was afraid you'd ask that oh shoot help they're always refurbishing yourself what oh never mind never mind don't shout at me I've had a difficult morning oh dear what happened did you get entangled in the eiderdown again your friends for so long you didn't have time to perm your ears I think it was my idea that perhaps she wasn't as Posh as he was and what she fell for was his sort of was he sort of upper class manner and accent and everything all I said to have pretty early on was she's a sort of woman that could make love and paint her nails at the same time and her class was self-evident the shiny tight skirts the pretensions of golf the high heels and the complete and utter control of her man any more of those pathetic locks the heels of the attack pigeons curtsy at their surface that was based on somebody I died died name in the business and as a child The Laugh was based on Connie's love oh he's a swine dude told that but it's true I guess I remember I had an acting teacher in New York who said I really hate your laughing you know what can I say she would exhale and then draw her but she she would laugh because a great thing about Connie is when she laughs he just busts a gut you know and she would do this so we incorporated that so many machine carrying a seal but as Fawlty Towers began to take shape not everyone thought the sitcom was such a great idea with Python I think we'd all been sort of aware that we were trying to raise the stakes and have animation as a link and integrate film much more and be much more experimental in the form of the way we put the program together and there's nothing experimental in Fawlty Towers it seemed very very traditional I don't remember my friends having any kind of negative reaction except for a couple of the pythons I mean Terry Jones I remember he called me I think a traitor I was very surprised when when John decided to do it you know a straight sitcom ago isn't straight it's funny it's a wonderfully funny show but I was surprised that he he decided to go down the sitcom route Eddie the funny thing was how everyone got everything wrong I mean even the guy who at that time was reading scripts for light entertainment he said I'm afraid I thought this one as dire as its title it's a kind of Prince of Denmark of the hotel world a collection of cliches and stop characters which I can't see being anything but a disaster should I read the guy's name out no no he'll be retired the helots let him off but he just shows you see people have no idea what the day surprisingly the first episode of Fawlty Towers was not an instant hit in a time when Britain only had three TV channels a disappointingly low 3.7 percent of the population tuned in first show was aired not very good initial reaction I think the mirror of the Sunday Mirror said long johns short on jokes what the critic thought was totally irrelevant and it didn't hurt our feelings I think that's what happens you see if you do something that is new it seems to take longer certainly did with Tyson longer for people to get it but when they do get it they seem to get it more because it took a little time I was just finding my feet working with John and I think my performance was quite stilted but what John was able to help me with I think was coming forward and creating ideas once we'd seen them do their performances it helped Connie and me enormous me to to Bill they'd started to put flesh on the bones one character that blossomed into the perfect sidekick for bezel was Polly the low-paid chambermaid Connie was not just a very funny she was a great dramatic actress but at the same time she'd know I had no experience of working under the very demanding conditions of a sitcom where you have five days to rehearse something which is not a lot and then you have a one day in the studio and two hours of her of a studio audience and that's very demanding as well Oh sounds good does it come with a smile comes with sprouts of carrots no smiles extras it you'll get one if you eat up all your sprouts we deliberately did not give her a major part I didn't want her to carry something was going to be too difficult at the beginning but and if you look in the first show that she did that she's she's holding her performance in a little bit and then after that she flowers I mean she's wonderful she's really please put the bottle back is it I think she's the least defined of all the characters she is a go-between between Sybil and basil a sort of as if they're her surrogate parents she's there to keep the peace Polly is really a sympathetic character because she is the the voice of sanity still come around which the madness happens and yet she does try to get Basile out of her you feel very good it wasn't in itself a terribly comic character but it was in a in a way she was perhaps the sort of straight guy oh yes we thought you said the Linnet he had some wonderful female characters and all very well defined and strong women is the women saving the day time and again I mean it's Polly saving basil from a predicament with with Sybil and Sybil saving basil from his customers it's a perfect dance basil is sexist with Fawlty Towers are certainly not sexist I love the scene where Polly slaps me in the face because I've took this because out of fear for Sybil if you actually look at Basil's motivation apart for the snobbery what it's really all about is not letting simple get in a tantrum because he just can't handle it that he's more frightened to that of anything else within the second episode not even Polly can protect basil from the full force of Sybil's fury in the builder's episode where David Kelly gets beaten with the umbrella with we tried all sorts of things to try and pad the umbrella out to be perfectly honest mrs. Fawlty I like a woman with spirit oh do you is that what you that I do I do somebody on the floor said look that umbrellas heavy and the ribs and the umbrella may very well crack yours so I have an idea I ended up the lads on the floor rolling foam into it maybe I'm better twice the white and so when she floated me and as he points out he likes along with spurs and by civil hats furniture still to come how the world's worst waiter became a national traitors and the cast recalled the intense rehearsal process required to bring this carefully crafted classic to our screens performing of the series was always difficult we were under enormous pressure we didn't really know it by Wednesday morning there was trouble the first couple of episodes may have left critics cold but by October 1975 Fawlty Towers was fast becoming compulsive viewing for comedy fans let me explain and it was the bumbling the wilded but well-meaning Spaniard from Barcelona that stole the hearts of the nation even if he did have a full grasp of the language the great joy of the series to me and maybe to everyone is is Manuel and Andrew Sachs Manuela sensational and Andrew played it so beautifully he's a wonderful character actor but I think I remember he had Manuel right from the beginning in rehearsal so I thought it was wonderful I mean it's a wonderful joyous creation everyone wants to hug Manuel and take him home and put him on the mantelpiece the man behind this lovable Spaniard was actually born in Berlin forty-five-year-old character actor Andrew sacks was starring in a successful West End show when he got the call that would change his life - hours how are you the way I see Manuel he's a very happy man even though he's being abused by everybody in the hotel I think he's happy because I guess he comes from a big family ten eleven people maybe his kids and to be noticed there at all in Barcelona or wherever it was a you have to get the attention on you do something naughty get hit get a clean one it's clean now the British family he was adopted into the forties it represented his father and mother in a way and he knew he was being appreciated because they hit submit the relationship in basil and Manuel could have been again very just cruel and unpleasant and Manuel was based on simply on one idea which was that in London in the 70s if you went to a restaurant you were very very lucky indeed to get what you ordered and the reason was that the people who owned restaurants had discovered that by employing people who suppose no known language they could save a lot of money and John played the physical comedy very well I mean John used to whack him over the head or sort of push him through doors I love the violence or Manuel I embittered quite a lot of it I emitted the spoon thing with a hateful I'm been to quite a lot of violence I like violence comedy I think it's very good it makes you laugh when in doubt hit somebody he must have gone home battered and bruised on so many occasions you know and his wife must have said what did he do to you tonight honey injured him when he hit me with a spoon oh I grew up loving not about comedy and my attitude to that was if you do that kind of comedy which makes me laugh because it's one of the elements of fast are you gonna get knocked down it get over their meals Andrew bore the brunt of it and there were times I mean certainly I was trying to eat it with a saucepan once with a glancing blow I'm creeping in he comes back behind me gets a pan and he goes like that but instead of stopping with this critical eighth of an inch he didn't he's just found I could hear the angels singing I thought thank heavens it's the last shot of the show because I could get up i trave I'm gonna see tonight that he straightened up as I was so I really caught up and he had a headache for two days and they thank God it was about the last shot that's shown so he was able to go on man well became dreadfully famous all over the world and it was very pleasant really that it's so separate for me that so much interest should come to it and I was very happy doing it putting on the uniform putting on the accent for the gym we'll fix it or something I think that you should give him whichever fix it but because he learns English so well do you like to put that around his neck how about that windows unfortunately Basil's pent-up frustration it doesn't end with his staff where he was attacking me at the table actors always come up a bit more when the audience is in there you rehearse it when you are under control sort of and then you get a slight bit of red mist on the night you know it happens and we all accept that it happens so I think I was sort of slightly squashed at what point you know like but basil's mistreatment of guests also stretched to the long-term residence the senile bumbling major and the batty old spinsters miss Gatsby and Miss teeth Basel isn't as horrible to their busy as to the guests there there they're kind of part of his routine and they're part of the home so he can control them in a way and they want to look after him but he won't allow them because but he's never really cruel to them or all the major when Kanye and I wrote the major in the first episode I don't think we had any any thought of repeating the character but when you see something and you say oh that's good we think he'll be a regular how are you really grew on us and I love the you know the scene with the the Moose's head five girl who also got a different quality from John I think with a major because you felt he liked the major I rather fell in love with Bella partly I just thought he was he was the finest kind of English gentleman of a slightly bygone era there was a sweetness to him and a kindness was very very touching as a former matinee idol and much loved television actor Donna Barkley a brought over 40 years experience to the part well my ma lot of people don't realize is how how old dad was when he started doing 40 towers I mean he was you know he's nearly well late 70s I suppose when he finished it and people forget you know that he you know had had a career of sort of 60 years before that we were never nervous about dad being the major because it was so much him a great character for him to play because he was so like him except he wasn't dip you like that no he was so affable and charming and and got away with stuff that's always thought old was a sort of military man so when it comes to his war service I think people most people really sort of think he must have been you know in the army but of course as we know he was in the police and he got a beating there and just which is ideal for him cuz he loved the Western athere's was there his friends I mean you know because that because I took her to see India at the oval he was a mad cricket fan and I remember once I was rehearsing a scene with simple and we were doing the dialogue and I glanced over and there was ballad meaning the third Australian wicket was dead even wait the end of the scene my daughter still it almost inevitably will introduce herself and say my grandfather because she loves talking about him and is it's because she gets us such a good reaction as well as well as stars of the silver screen the hotel environment also offered the perfect setting for some of Britain's best-loved actors to check in as guest stars you knew that you were being invited to be on something very special so it was a great privilege in one felt lucky John and Tommy wrote a script that is unbelievably fine they gifted through the gifted writers now finish I think what John Connor wrote was very tight and very complete far more than most shows there wasn't a lot of room for improvement these sitcom veterans were enticed onto the show by the gag packed scripts that are now regarded as a master class in sitcom writer connie and i used to spend six weeks figuring out each script and something like two and a half weeks before we wrote a line of dialogue john had a small study and a very big desk the desk face the wall I just started to play I used to type on to an old-fashioned typewriter but we just sat there and talked to each other and you know might write a word down said what was that thing that happened you know there's remember the scene where the lovely Australian girl has got the tairy handprint on her boob well we've had I that idea and we were writing weeks later Connie said what was that idea we had about we that would work here and I said yes but oh that's some stuff in the cupboard did something I knocked over John is highly instinctive and I think he knew that he wanted to be monitored in some way and that's why he wanted me on board Basile just checking the doors I think that the women were very very well written in 40 toes and that was basically Connie because I remember suggesting a line early on and Connie saying a woman would never say that now I really wouldn't you know what why you know it was a tremendous learning process and although at the beginning I was writing most of basil and Manuel and she was writing Sybil and Polly towards the end we were much more crossing over and she was writing much more amazing but this fast paced fast presented huge problems when it came to production Fawlty Towers differed from a lot of the sitcoms that were current at that time but by virtue of the volume of the script the average sitcom script was somewhere between 60 and 70 pages these scripts ran 120 hundred and thirty pages most the episodes were too long so Connie and Jon had to go rewrite them and do it in fact I think there's still two lot longer than that the normal I mean it's not 29 minutes 30 seconds it's 35 minutes all that sort of thing in fact none of the 12 Fawlty Towers episodes ran to their allotted 30 minute time slot a feat unheard of in modern sitcom making I always believe that you cannot do comedy fast enough and I always optimistically hoped that it would run to time never did of course performing of the series was always difficult we were under enormous pressure with the rehearsal and because it was a farce and the timing was so important and it was physically a very demanding show I think it was tough on everybody mr. Thurston is the gentleman I'm dealing with at the moment what mr. Richard is the general the vesica mama did he rehearse all day a new carpeting right John's huge involvement and and desire for perfection and get it absolutely right and it's there in the end product we got Monday off on Tuesday morning we met and read and blocked it if you didn't really know it by Wednesday morning there were that was trouble yes it was disciplined it had to be we get it we had to get through a lot of script not in my case because actually if you analyze my part it's it's not big it's a rat you have rats in Spain don't you ordered Franco ever more shot it's a rat it's not a pigeon it was a feat of learning and I used to go back and lie down on a little library and I used to lie on the floor I would record all the other lines onto a tape recorder and I lie flat on the floor and I would have it by my ear and I would be doing my lines in the lines that I had recorded it whether it was the only way to get it done I couldn't do it now I could do one show but I couldn't be there at 10 o'clock in the morning just starting the second walk because the pressure was relentless and people said to me did you enjoy it and I used to say to them I didn't have time although most of the filming was confined to the BBC Studios the team did venture out on the altercation with one of the show's most memorable scenes shot on location in a sleepy suburban Street in Herrin when we were working on the gourmet night and the car breaks down and John was improvising because we hadn't got into the dialogue he he started losing it with a car and swearing on it now he's got a hit the car he's got to attack it everyone says the beating the cars are funny but when we were out filming we had the car I had to find the branch part of my duties was ordering up props I'd asked for a selection of branches and before we turned over before we rehearsed anything really John had a trial period with with branches the first branch that I tried to hit it with was too rigid it was just like a rod and it just wasn't funny wasn't remotely for me it wasn't just less funny it wasn't funny then I went and got a sort of wispy willow a bit and started to swap the towel with it and that wasn't fun and it was only when I got the third piece and felt that went back then it was funny but I didn't know until I physically done it which which then I thought that feels right coming up basel improves Foreign Relations its kind of directly you know whatever you shouldn't say comes out and the writers relationship breaks down there was a huge gap between your two series because Tony and I as far as oh and we got divorced despite impeccable storylines that would become itched into the nation's consciousness Fawlty Towers was more of a slow burner than an instant hit but by the end of its first series the sitcom had almost doubled its viewing figures with nearly three and a half million viewers tuning in to watch the final episode entitled simply the Germans the veal chop is done with rosemary and nutritious in fact it's really good no German episode is quite brilliant it's a kind of correct thing you know whatever you shouldn't say comes out but that is also helped by the the size of faulty Oh in the market together old differences forgotten and no need at all to mention the wall sorry he can't help it he is a fairly prejudiced English snob and no matter how he tries to cover it up as he must try to do in administering this place he can't basil is vile to the Germans who emerges extremely courteous they're not portrayed as humorless and aggressive or anything that was a very interesting episode because it was just deliberately writing basil as being you know utterly vile to these nice people you started it we did not start it if you did you invaded puns and this huge tall man starts to goose-step and then puts his finger up like that you know I mean there's no half ways about it this is very heavy very very heavy rudeness when he said I'll do the walk swung his leg out and goose stepped out Oh people were screaming it was just it was just an incredible moment I've always it makes personal reference to the Germans episode because people go on about it so much and I sometimes wonder a little bit like elf garnet and the problem that Johnny spate used to have whether people are laughing out of animosity towards the Germans were in the whole point of that from the very very beginning was to make fun of people still hanging on to those antediluvian attitudes and it bothers me and I what I notice about the Germans is how they they love it the Germans have is it obviously upset us very much otherwise it would be only half as much fun would no but to be seriously it to be serious it was taken very well by the broad majority of the German audiences when the best moments of my life was standing in the Atlantic Hotel in in was in Hamburg and suddenly as I was chatting to the concierge big jolly German businessman sort of heard Jordan and shouted across the lobby and I turned around and he said all mentions of all huh and the entire lobby roars laughter it was a wonderful moment I thought that's great now we can get on with it faulty Tallis's is very much a period piece in terms of relations with Irish people foreigners of any kind there's plenty absolutely plenty of xenophobia and racism in Fawlty Towers but because it it's a character thing it's sooo Basil Fawlty is were laughing more is prejudice than we are anything else written more than 30 years ago it's easy to spot more than a spattering of racial stereotyping but one scene in particular has grown more shocking with age and the strange thing was that throughout the morning she kept referring to the Indians as [ __ ] no no no no no I said [ __ ] are the West Indians these people are walks I don't think would be able to get away with that scene now you couldn't because you couldn't justify it I can remember watched it will it can the first went now if I saw repeat over but I do remember thinking not be offended by it because he was talking in a language that that generation talked about the major is is epitomizing you know a time where Fawlty would have felt more comfortable and so you kind of has to use that language you know yes it's shocking even now what were probably more now more so now because those things have been eradicated nobody could take the major as anything other than a lovable old idiot so you see there's two ways of criticizing an opinion one is to criticize it direct and the other is to voice the opinion in a character who is ridiculous it was showing in a way what is totally unacceptable but what still resides in the sort of behavior of some people despite doing little to improve Foreign Relations 40 became a hit around the world it's always been a mystery to me why certain shows work abroad my only answer is I think it may apply to Python too is that I think we may have had what what they call archetypes that there were certain types of people represented by the characters that people from different cultures could recognize shown in more than 60 countries it is one of Britain's most successful TV exports decent data gosh you know at one point a German company wanted to do a version of where they dubbed into German this German country understood that I come from German it's my first language would I come over and play Manuel in German with a Spanish accent I would have a like I love you mr. Fawlty I love you mr. Fawlty but the German version would be Oh her father ich liebe dich Italy with the attempts have also been made to remake this bastion of British comedy when people have tried to remake it it's never worked considerably to my disappointment I mean when the Germans redid it they did it's superb - its anti-aging tonic on adversities overcome the network just thought it was too expensive with him there is only this unique character of Basel 40 and the one and only John Cleese and maybe one came to the conclusion that it wouldn't work as well with another personality another hotel in another setting I mean it was extraordinary the Americans tried to remake Fawlty Towers it surprised me that they never asked me for any advice or help or comments and it wasn't any good Whispering Pines presents to you Pacific Oceans Duck yes the really bizarre one was when I met someone at a weekend house party and they said oh we have the rights for forty thousand and and we're gonna remake it I was delighted I said great why we make it work this time and she said we got I said but there's one of your problems are Americans familiar with these little family hotels it's all yeah it's not a problem he's I said were you gonna make any changes and they said well we just making one change really we're gonna write Basel out and I remember they say that and Bea Arthur did it it was called a madness and they took the funny lines and gave them all to be Arthur when all the motivation for the funny lines no longer existed as proved there can only be one battle for two the first series ended in spectacular style in the autumn of 1975 ever that they win by bagging two awards for best sitcom and best comedy performance by kids all people who have helped me this year I should most of all like to thank me without whom quite honestly I could never hope to win this very great honor so thank you me thank you very much indeed and now although I can't be with you I have arranged for the award to be connected so if we could talk a second series was swiftly commissioned that the writing went on hold as John rejoined his Python pals for a sellout tour and to shoot their latest film Life of Brian it would take a staggering for years for faulty to return there was a huge gap between the two series and also Connie and I as far as we got divorced the work went on in spite of us and in spite of what was going on it didn't save our marriage but I think Fawlty Towers became a kind of refuge for our demons and angels and that that maybe was why we were able to go on to write the second series we had been having doubts about the marriage in 74 and we finally split up in 76 and it was one of those relationships where there was an enormous amount of love and affection and still is but we first found it difficult to live together so well I moved out with Becky and moved out moved back in and having finally moved out the middle of 76 we think I think we started writing the next series about a year later because there was no ill-will for us it was a release because somehow I think too in the relationship of civil and basal we were able to get out of a lot of our frustrations with each other through those characters it was quite civil and we got down to the work I remember we get stuck we take walks sometimes and not talk and there were other times when John would but take off like a racehorse and the work would just go he was on his own track Oh John and Connie had split and we had no idea John would arrive and then Connie would arrive later you just thought well she's coming to different cabins and we had no idea they kept it so look particularly secret but just we just carried on as we carried on I certainly don't remember it being a problem of any kind they worked together be random you know it was a happy unit I've never met such insolence in my life I come down here to get some lavatory paper and she starts asking is the most insulting personal things I've ever heard it by that I thought she wanted writing paper I talkin to you what what Connie and I didn't enjoy the second series as much as the first because we felt this pressure to be as good I did feel yes under pressure but not to the degree on the second series I think that John did with his history he had more at stake and I could trust him to do the worrying which I did but took off in a way that I don't think either of us had ever expected it would it wasn't like the first series when you're sort of playing and discovering and having fun it was kind of delivering the goods and that wasn't as much fun coming up problems Munt on the second series as a punch-up in BBC corridors puts production under threat we said well what was happening mr. worry we can't record tomorrow on strike and we reveal how those infamous 40 sign posts were created possibly the most shocking thing was actually diagrams at the beginning was a lot flowery twice this is Fawlty Towers the hotel the guests hate to stay at but viewers can't stay away from when I pay you and spit something more interesting than that but that is Torquay Malik well now our spot you were expecting to see out of a Torquay Hotel bedroom window Sydney Opera House back Hanging Gardens of Babylon the dreadful Torquay hotel is instantly recognizable by its infamous black and white exterior although fans may be surprised to learn that this legendary landmark was actually based in leafy Buckinghamshire this is the actual hotel exactly halfway between my house and the BBC I went to see it by chance it was a country club but it was actually perfect because of the steep slope I was worried about its whiteness it didn't look quite like Torquay but yet it had a kind of seaside feel about it roben grains Country Club is alas no more burning to the ground in 1991 possibly the most shocking thing was actually the anagrams of the beginning was it not flowery twice what the motivation with that was the newspaper boy was always being met by a battle and when he left the hotel he always rearranged the lettering in fact you will see of McLane the assistant manager of the series who's here in person he could do it we were on vacation at the hotel and having lunch and John said you did crosswords work out some anagrams of Fawlty Towers so I set to work and I found only one that is a true anagram that maybe others I haven't gone back to it which was flowery twits and I said but you can't use it because it's a little vulgar and John Howard Davis and John Cleese said I think we'll fit that in somewhere despite its smutty signposts Fawlty was now regarded as the jewel in the BBC's comedy cram and on the 19th of February 1979 four years after the first series ended basil was back with a record-breaking audience of almost 13 million viewers I was worried about the the second series because by that time I'd gone on to an administrative job I asked Bob Spears to do the second series and I think it went quite well I don't think you could see the joins it was in some ways more polished but I'm only saying this because I directed the first series that I thought the first series by Barnard was funnier John will probably disagree now the second series was quite different because we knew that the first series was very good and people remembered it as they often do as being better than it was so even if it was there people remembered it as being there so we realized that the the new shows are going to be there by and large I think the second series the programs are better than those with this new series came a new face a cheerful cockney chef called Terra played by Brian alright you don't tell me to take it easy I don't pay you to tell me to take it easy I tell you to take it no I pay him to tell you to take it easy I think that Carney and I felt that after six episodes somehow we needed a new element on the star Monday well that would explain a lot no really Paul just said something about I just took him his kippers he was cocky and sturdier than men well and a little bit um slippery Frye was an absolute sweetie he said you gave me the key to this character and I said did I and he said don't you remember I came up and I asked you at the very beginning in the first episode what's the key to Terry and he see cities of police rock once he had that he'd know how to play and he just fitted in so beautifully it's our new chef just uh just left has popped up quick parrot as well as fresh faces the second series gave a greater insight into its characters especially basil on his very stuffed shirt approach to sex I mean no time to talk in the middle yes basil has a tremendous problem with sex because he's not getting it you see I don't think puzzle and Sybil have actually had it for quite a considerable time and the dead giveaway to me is that they are in twin beds I suppose the oddest thing about them is the bedroom I mean even more calm and wise slept in the same bed the primary emotion is that the poor fellow is unloved and he feels unloved and therefore he is constantly in a state of irritation no visitors in guests rooms after 10 o'clock o of the opposite sex no ah but I am now so you'll send up a champagne with what champagne you're drinking it on your own oh ok so I left it any well one bottle of champagne for one okay and one glass unless you care to join me no thank you not when I'm on the job that's when I enjoy the most that's where the beard is bond even mr. Johnson because mr. Johnson you know obviously sexually successful and bezel is is jealous basil is jealous and and wants to bring him down this bit of crumpets your old mummies oh this is Richard oh oh mother Johnson popped up for a quickie did you certainly mother Johnson mother Johnson come out come out wherever you are how do you do I thought the psychiatrist is serious the episode was wonderful and a new doctor are you I'm a psychiatrist very nice too well Joseph we were both in group therapy at that time family marital group therapy mother again indirectly the whole idea of having a psychiatrist in the in that episode and what it would do to basil and all the sexual difficulties that was just very funny there was the extraordinary encounter where with the psychiatrist where he thinks he's asking about how often he has six now the the sort of sophisticated angle there is that Basil Fawlty is actually obsessed by sex which he would be because he can't actually manage it in real life we were just speculating how people in your profession arrange their holidays how often you can get away often do manage it how often can you and your wife manage it you don't mind my asking sollozzo on average since she was mm-hmm what would be average well you tell me well a couple of times here once a year well we knew it must be difficult my wife didn't see how you could manage it at all well as you've asked two or three times a week actually a week yes pretty normal is it quite normal down here and talking you know the vision of the two of them having sex is kind of nerve-wracking the state of Sybil and Basil's marriage was explored further in the anniversary although viewers would have to wait a little longer than expected to see this slice of insel right it was going very well and the most extraordinary thing ever there was a strike at the BBC because a rigger punched a BBC executive animated it was all that he said well what was happening and they said worry we can't record tomorrow inscribe the rigor was duly dismissed and this being strike written in 1979 the BBC Union swiftly took industrial action production staff down tools and walked out for seven days they came back they said it's been settled we'll be recording again next week the character then she played by Ken Campbell was being played but lovely act to coach Union Halloween but Judy and Holloway said I can't do it next week I've got I've got another job I can't get out of it what do we do said well we have to recast the report Kevin Campbell who was a basil brush that wonderful character of Ken Campbell you know it's needling best and the way it builds everyone's so concerned about Sybil they've got to see Sybil and excruciating weight mounts and nuts and the why oh it's just I think it's the nice thing was we had two weeks rehearsing is he cameras able to come in the rest of his new that part and it was the one time that we really began to get relaxed because we done the lines and enough times to really relax I think you had some of the best performing we ever did in that particular show how are you feeling dear the anniversary's my least-favorite exit because I'm in it I think and I can't bear looking anything that I'm in but also I can see I was nervous this is quite nerve-wracking being a guest on something especially as something as great as that oh there's an extraordinarily sad moment when you see Sybil's vulnerability I came back for my cab special I'm not stayin Oh aren't you okay what I'm sure you know best here you don't even want me to do you I think of see that I look back on with gratefulness is when they've had a fight and and and she's sort of trying to make it up and you realize that actually she is emotionally quite dependent on him I'm going now facile I think it's best don't you Artie she's part of trying to establish connection with basil but basil is in the throes of extreme embarrassment and that he has one thought in my wrist to get her out of the hotel before all the guests just careful did she's not upstairs in bed at all that must be someone else I sometimes found myself for thinking what is this woman doing with this man I mean why'd she stick it out obviously there is a deep-rooted affection that they have for each other I mean he knows his place you know he needs a woman like that they work so well together I'm sure there's very many marriages like that do you remember when we were first manacled together we used to laugh quite a lot yes but not at the same time it sounds terrible probably but I think I have to say that basil and and sibyl's marriages like most marriages that I have observed in my 70 years your mistakes death they work together they can never escape from each other now on earth leave the two of us ever get together black magic my mother says while she's now enjoy the second series was due to come to the end of its illustrious run on the 2nd of April 1979 right back but another bout of strike action through production into jeopardy once more from tonight the recording of drama and lights entertainment will have to be suspended as a result some comedy shows have had to be canceled including the final episode of Fawlty Towers which will now never be made thankfully this overzealous reporter got it wrong the final episode was made but it would take a full six months before Basil the rat went to air coming up problems of a fairy kind caused ever concent why this iconic sitcom stopped after just two series they offered Jon everything to do another series of listen and we go in search of the legendary lost episode it took up just six hours of TV time twelve perfect half-hour episodes and even though it's been 30 years since it left our screens this multi-award-winning sitcom is still regarded as the finest comedy ever could I get my hat yes it's just there it's fitting that the best was saved till last although owing two more strikes of the BBC it would be a full six months before the final episode as all the rat and we have a recap rehearsal went into the studio on the Saturday which we never ever did and because we had the rats it was the only scene that was ever pre-recorded just in case there was somebody in the audience or the crew who had a real phobia about it when I was told on the first day that I would be going into a studio and it would be a real rat that I'd be working with that um I thought oh that's going to be interesting John would go to great lengths to make sure that all members of the crew and particularly the cast were comfortable and jaundice got himself in her eyeline and basically mug data to to take her mind off the fact that there was a small furry rodent running around her feet I mean how many people eased it themselves for a whole evening and is listed two funny stories so it was some fantastic deterrent to the fear of the rat you're getting my dandruff you grotty little man a bunch of fives moms can watch this many bombs the bomb scare yes yes that's why he was searching in your back he didn't want to allow me just one moment we had a call you see well shouldn't you get everybody out so that's why we were looking under your table we just didn't want to draw pinky from the wrap popping up in the biscuit box which is still one of my favorite bits and I know it doesn't look like a real rat and that's part of its charm what would you would you care for rats when we recorded the last episode we knew it was the end and it was it was very sad really and and a lot of people were saying I don't why it will be back in four years will do series three and four years it'll be fine Fawlty Towers shut its doors for the last time on Thursday the 25th of October 1979 its creators picked up another two BAFTAs the best sitcom and best comedy performance by tease and basil duly handed over the comedy battle to his successors what are you gonna have something I mean what about edited motocross highlights show in two counties basket weaving or something how about a tea review alright that suits you cheap 20 review then stand by and they offered Jon everything to do another series and he said no look we have two series of six and if you do a third series and it's not as good as other two you then devalue the currency of the first two although only a dozen shows were ever aired rumors persist of a legendary lost episode lurking in a dusty BBC building somewhere I have it at home and for a small fee can be persuaded to send it to you by mail order lovely idea 30th episode unless it was made by an entirely different team there is no 13th episode no we wrote we wrote six in the first series and six in the second and then Connie and I looked at each other and we thought we'd done it we knew we didn't want to have that pressure to be as good again we would have failed if he would have said it was very funny but it wasn't as good as the first two serious and what was the point of doing it I said would you ever think of writing some more he said yeah I suppose I could I said key question would you do it without Connie he said now now and I think her contribution was much bigger than people believe I think it was absolutely right true that we covering the two taboo subjects we done it and it felt like the room you know three sort of situations within each half hour so it didn't it felt like a lot more than twelve episodes I think I don't think by then Shana and I could have gone on working together I think we thought we'd done it thirty years after this hopeless hotel closed up for good Fawlty Towers retains an affectionate place in the hearts of the British nation and in 2008 fans were treated to a reunion of basil and Manuel as they made a rare royal Arjun well I'm fond of Andrew and somebody suggested that it would be good in view of what had happened with Jonathan Ross and the other guy the audience would like to see us together or something and it worked very well emotionally what is the 11th letter of the English alphabet okay John rang me up said would I come on just do a brief entry as men well I can't very well say no to John anyway because he's so much bigger than me I thought the outflowing of love that evening was so wonderful and you could tell it with him as well and I said to him after as I said I said that was the old John wasn't he so we mean the old John I said you should be back here mate he always feels that Michael Palin's become a national institution and he would learn if he'd stayed I thought that he's jealous of Michael they're still great friends tantalizing though it was to have basil back what the public craves is for 40 towers to open its doors once more for another series I was constantly being asked by the public are there gonna be any more that's the favorite question of fans huh you know he's John gonna write some more my only sadness is that they didn't go on to write another at least another 12 we could've had 24 Auto watchin watchin watch the only idea that Connie and I ever had for an extension of basil was that Manuel has left and set up an establishment in Spain and Sybil and basil decide that they're going to go and visit humanity I think would be fun and I thought what happened was basil has the usual appalling experience at Heathrow or some other terminal where the a hijacker tries to hijack the flight and basil becomes so furious do you think she overcomes the hijacker becomes a hero I've been 52 53 years on stage and yet 40 towers that full 9 minutes in one at facilities new builders and makes me recognized anywhere in the world a number of episodes volatiles I think were pretty close to perfection in comedy and I've never ever got that myself that's why I was delighted to have been part of Pawn Stars it was a lovely job I think I did my very best with it and it was a bloody good episode I just think it was absolutely the best of its kind and the best of its time you know it stands out from probably everything else going on at the time knowing that you're going to go to work and laugh and now and laugh and laugh even though you'd seen the joke many times before and who said oh I'm going to work today I should be drained of stomach muscles by midday that's a terrific feeling what connie and i tried to do in comedies make people laugh as much as possible that's what i love i love the intensity because that brings the biggest job I suppose it felt kind of like a freak event in our lives yes I'm incredibly proud to have been associated with it but I think the the main quality I had it was so bloody good you say please you know go we have very first 40 power next a mr. Fawlty he want to get better class of customer he big snob

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Length: 91min 38sec (5498 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 21 2013

Reddit Comments

[u/Satoshi_Soze]

And I also found https://youtu.be/B-MjytV9WE8 which is an episode of Doctor at large, this episode written by John Cleese - as a guest writer. Easy to spot a few characters that made it through to Fawlty Towers.

[u/xardra]

Thank you thank you thank you!!!