Basil!! (Fawlty Towers)

Member Name: stebiz

Product:	Fawlty Towers
Date:	08/04/09 (88 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great laugh, Great commedy

Disadvantages: Never made enough episodes

There are only two comedy shows that can actually have me literally crying with laughter. One is Only Fools and Horses and the other is Faulty Towers. The videos I have for both shows are extremely worn, due to excess usage. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same program 50 times and still laugh so loudly. Simple both shows have fantastic actors/actresses and superb script writers. As this review is on Faulty Towers I'll focus directly on that.

Faulty Towers first came on the BBC when I was five years old in 1975. The second series was later in 1979. It was the latter series that I first started watching. I guess the first series I must have watched as a repeat. I mean it was on the bbc:-) It is hard to believe that the show itself only had 2 series - each with only 6 episodes. The episodes lasted for about 30 minutes each - so we are talking about 6 hours of pure laughter!!

The Fawlty Towers hotel was situated in Torquay. Very few people actually are aware that two of the main characters John Cleese and Connie Booth wrote the script. At that time they had a lot less to worry about in relation to political correctness and they certainly used their artistic license to create some fantastic one liners and clips. The German Episode springs to mind when I say this. Although I find it hilarious I wonder if it would be written in a script today - I think not! The other main actors are Prunella Scales and Andrew Sachs. I used to think that Connie Booth (who played Polly) was really sexy. I guess she must be getting on now - I mean I'm no spring chicken myself anymore.

Although the series is set in Torquay most of the filming was done in a country club in Buckinghamshire. It was later to be a nighclub called Basils until it was burnt down.

So what made it so special. Well in my mind it was certainly the way that the two main characters bounced off each other. Basil Fawlty being the main man (or so he would like to think) against his wife Sybil Fawlty who took any opportunity to humiliate him. The hotel was run like a complete shambles. The more they tried to make it into a high class hotel, the worse things happened.

At the beginning of each show you would see the sign Fawlty Towers fall down and show two new completey different words - out of the same letters. Some of the words were quite raw and wouldn't pass to go on the bbc today.

If anybody hasn't ever seen these programmes please please buy the disc or watch UK Gold. You really will find yourself laughing so much.

Summary: Grab yourself a beer, buy the dvd and have a good old belly laugh!!!