A collection of our favourite moments from the classic show - enjoy! If you have any favourite clips from the show, let us know and we'll upload them! All copyrights belong to the BBC.
As a kid, Fawlty Towers was a fun show. As a young adult, I could relate to Basil. After working as a hotel receptionist, Fawlty Towers is a documentary.
I asked John Cleese last year what his favourite ever bit was. He said very clearly when the corpse was in the laundry basket and to distract a female guest he looked up at the ceiling and said “just look at that ceiling. It’s not the Sistine Chapel but it gives us a lot of pleasure.” He said he laughs every time he thinks about it! Great vignette.
That’s awesome! I never found that funny, as a kid… I suppose I didn’t get the subterfuge, only the farce. It strikes me as typical of Cleese to go for the most subtle of nuances and be constantly tickled by something that others may not find funny, or even miss completely. I watched an interview with him a few days ago, where he says how much he loves the moment in Life of Brian where the crowd is replying to Brian, "YES! WE’RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!”, and one lone voice pipes up with, “I’m not." (I think it was an ad lib, by an extra, as it happens)
@@thomasjohansson8048 It took me a long time to work out what you meant. What you want to say is, "There’s nothing like the German episode" which means that nothing can compete with it. If you say, "It’s nothing like the German episode", you’re saying that you watched something that someone told you was the German episode, but you don’t actually think it WAS that episode. Forgive me if I seem like the grammar police. I mention it because your English is so good, I think you’d want to know the difference.
this serie is pure gold in my eyes , its never gonna go out of time , master piece done by jhon cleese,and connie both , prunella scales and andrew sachs , sad to know that prunella has gotten alzheimers and forgotten the work she put down into fawlty towers during its run . and btw , may andrew sachs rest in peace , alias manuel .
They didn’t let #7 play long enough...missed the best line from Sybil...”if you’re going to grope a girl, at least be in the same room with her while you’re doing it”.
Alex..I don't know if it's my english ancestors but I feel the same way.Started watching a show in the 60's on PBS,"Doctor in the House" ,then came Marty Feldman, then the Pythons,while catching Emma Peel on ABC.More Classy&refined.
@@malcomlovejoy Well, it might have something to do with that, or not; for instance, I'm 100% Italian and, as far as I know, no English ancestors whatsoever and yet I find British humor irresistible; also the names you cited are all heroes of mine; to be honest, my preference goes to old-school sitcoms such as "a man about the house", "George and Mildred", "Doctors on the go", "Butterflies", "Billy the liar" and more, not to mention "Fawlty Towers", naturally; I find today's stuff less interesting with exceptions like "Little Britain" and few more. Thanks for your reply.
The innumerable amount of hours that i spent watching old comedies like Fawlty towers, George and Mildred, Porridge, Rising damp and many others with my grandad will always hold an extremely special place in my heart.
American guest, Mr Hamilton; ‘This must be the worst run hotel in Britain!’ The Major; ‘Nooooooo, I won’t have that … … there’s this place in Eastbourne.’
the fire drill episode is the most amount of genius comedy i've ever seen crammed into one episode: the moose, the fire drill, the hospital, the germans, ... it just keeps on giving!
Good one, but there is missing something... Elder Herr: Will you stop talking about the war? Basil: Me? You started it! Elder Herr: We did not start it! Basil: Yes you did, you invaded Poland! Brilliant!!!
@51HankySpanky It´s very hard for me to say this one, or that one, is my favorite. Because I really, really am a big fan of the Monty guys. Which to choose? Well... all of them!
@51HankySpanky Yeah, it´s a great one. But makes me sick, nauseated, every time I watch it. But love this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s35rVw1zskA.html
This show was my early childhood, watching it with my grandparents back home. I’m only 16 but it feels like a completely different life. Really miss those days of spending the evening with my grandparents with faulty towers or fools and horses on the tv. With the likes of Pat Boone, Brook Benton and Johnny Cash played on the record player with all the crackle and pops. The warm blankets, curled in a corner of the couch, a small tray of snacks set out on the rolling table my Grampa made by hand, the strong comforting smell of the cheap boxed whiskey they love. The interlude being dinner on the deck on warm evenings at sundown. My family together; my gran being the angel she is always caring for my brother and I; my grandpa with his witty humour, old stories and the songs he’d sing along to; my mom happier and healthier. What id do to go back. You never appreciate what you have when you have it. So much has changed in the three years since we’ve moved countries, myself included. I miss home
Hi Guy. What wonderful memories you have. It's so nice to hear your appreciation of how things used to be, and that your grandmother's love has such a lasting impression on you.
Off topic but this was a good read as it draws the reader in well. I bet you are doing well in your English studies, keep at it and you'll be a good author (if that's something you'd consider). Nonetheless, I too feel the nostalgia that wraps around us when we watch these clips
I can relate to this completely, my grandparents introduced me to Fawlty Towers they had the vhs's on the shelf in the video cabinet along side "Some mothers do have em" i used to put one on if i got up really early on school holidays staying with them, they had cable tv with plenty of cartoon channels but Fawlty Towers just had to go on it always made me laugh so hard even if i didn't understand all of the comedy being young and all. Now at 35 i appreciate it even more!
🤣 might be my favorite moment in the whole show! The delivery is so damn perfect. The combination of politeness, sincerity, and sarcasm only Cleese can do!
They omitted my favourite Fawlty Towers moment ,when Manuel says"I know nothing' I lke it so much because Basil's dishonesty returns to bite him, and I like it where Basil is insisting that Manuel tells what he knows, and Manuel wags his finger at Basil, as if to say ' Oh no, you don't fool me that easily. .
And in the last episode where he cries "you put Basil in ratatouille" and gets very upset when Polly tells the inspector that the chef calls the ratatouille basil cos he puts so much basil in it, and Sybil explains "Sorry about that, he's from Barcelona" 😂
Yes, that’s a good list, I’m particularly happy to see the scene of him beating up the fridge with the American standing right behind him, gut-wrenching stuff 🤣
That’s what I find so crazy about FT. 12 episodes altogether, and yet they are so densely packed that it seems like there were several seasons and 30 episodes. Just astonishing.
@@nortiusmaximus1789 Every time, I know it’s coming but it makes me laugh so hard! Fawlty Towers was brilliant. “Don’t mention the war!” Is my other favorite moment, that and all of the things with Mrs. Richards and her hearing aid. 🤣
This show is the best medicine there is! Too many scenes crack me up to mention. But, the scene with the two bricks in the valuables case ....Lol.! Magic.
This really is one of the best examples of British comedy, also i believe a form of French Farse where things start off normal but get more and more ridiculous. Connie Booth needs qs much recognision for this too. She co wrote it and she acts brilliantly, she's kind of the most relateable character she's witty and clever and tries to get Basil out of the situations. The fact that they both decided to only make 12 episodes is unheard of these days. They both said they'd done as much as they can with it. The only other example i can think of is The young ones, where Rik and Ben said they'd done all they could too
I remember watching this with my dad in the 90s after coming home from school. He recorded every show on vhs tapes and would watch them everday. Even now its hilarious... Nothingcomes close
"Why? because CRacatoa is not erupting at the moment?" as a hospitality employee, these quotes are such a relief at times of tension. the whole series is a blessing in this branch.
Insanely, funnyman. In-retrospect the cast are in unison, timing was shear perfection. Unmatchable at the time, without doubt, we knew, we are watching greatness. Thank you, Mr Cleese, et al.
I think something that is really underrated about this show is the use of physical comedy. Not just slapstick, but just how the characters move around in the scene. Its almost cartoon like, and I think is a large part of why the show holds up to this day.
@@rollingthunder9071 you’re right ,personally I thought the marriages,births and getting rich scenarios killed all the tension,and ultimately a lot of the humour in Ofah,still rather watch a repeat of it for millionth time than boring,unfunny Brendan o Carroll.
One of two sit comedies that have never been bettered , the other porridge with Ronnie Barker i.m.o , I've never got bored of watching them over and over again .
Not sure why the reaction channels are not playing these!! especially younger ppl. loved these back in the day, and glad i was so bored I remembered this tonight to search for!!
We always loved the weekly anagram of 'Fawlty Towers' on the hotel sign at the beginning...best one was ' Fatty Owls'. Every hotel we ever stayed in - we would look out of the window and say '...herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain'. Good times, great comedy, happy memories ♥️💞❤️
With the exception of "number 1". Even in the 1970s, Germany was only 500 kms from England. So why didn't they hire actors for the German parts who could say five words in German without a thick English accent? How hard could it have been to fly in four real Germans for a morning of shooting three scenes?? Spoils the whole episode... funny as Cleeses "silly walk" may be.
This was essential viewing back in the day. One of those programmes where the whole family would gather around the T.V. in the days before Video Recorders (remember them? 😉) and you'd do anything not to miss it...those days are gone! For me, one of the top moments was when they were trying to "entertain" the guests on the gourmet night, stalling as Basil had to go into Torquay to collect the dishes from another restaurant as the chef was drunk and Polly bursts into a really dreadful version of "I'm Just A Girl Who Can't Say No!" I can remember laughing out loud and for hours at this and countless other scenarios..again, those days are gone! So, it's good to have these clips as memories of a Classic T.V. Comedy, possibly the best ever!
Thanks for uploading such TV jewel! Being Spanish and interested in languages, my favourite line is: Basil: "Manuel, there's too much butter on those trays"... ... ; Manuel: "No, no, uno, dos tres"
Have just finished reading John's autobiography, "So, Anyway..." It's one of the most entertaining bio's I can recall. I've always known he was comic gold, but his background, and experience, is much, much deeper than just Python or Fawlty. Ninety percent of the book is pre-Python, much I never knew about him. A great read from a master comedian.
Thank you so much amazon prime video gives this to me on tap, i can watch every season crisp & clear, unabridged, un edited, no idiot's voice over it, video not fast forwarded or really slowed down. Amazon 😘❤️
The density of comic lines and situations in Fawlty Towers was much higher than any other program before or since. There is no filler or dead space. Even the quiet scenes set you up for the mayhem to come, and to give your ribs a chance to heal. The writing is simply brilliant. You have to pay attention because the dialogue is so fast and packed with intelligent humour. That’s why Americans don’t get it. They need every joke explained, and a laugh track to tell them what’s funny.