Key Facts: 

• Written in 1975 by John Cleese and Connie Booth 

• Set in a hotel in Torquay 

• Cast: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs and Connie Booth 

• Broadcast by the BBC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration behind the sitcom:

• In May 1970 John Cleese and the rest of the Monty Python cast were staying in a hotel in Torquay called the Gleneagels Hotel

• The owner of the hotel was called Donald Sinclair and according to Cleese he was “the rudest man [he’d] ever come across in [his] entire life.”

• Some examples of things Sinclair did:

  • Throwing a bus timetables at a guest 

  • Placing Eric Idles' briefcast behind a wall in the garden, thinking it contained a bomb 

  • Criticising Terry Gilliam’s table manners- which he did not like- for being too American

 

Types of comedy used in the sitcom

•  Black Comedy: 'The Kipper and the Corpse'

   

  • A guest dies in the hotel, of some form of illness, and Basil is convinced it was the kippers which caused the guests unexpected death as they were slightly past their cell-by-date.  Therefore, he attempts to dispose of the kippers by hiding them down his trousers- to little success. The rest of the episode consists of the staff attempting to hide the corpse from the other guests: with each hiding place being as amusing as the next. This is evident use of black comedy as the morbid situation of having a guest die combined with farce is highly entertaining to the audience, despite the idea of death being a source of comedy being a taboo.

 

                          ''The Germans'

 

• Some German guests come to stay at Fawlty Towers and after receiving a nasty knock to the head, leaving him severely concussed Basil attempts, under no circumstances, to bring up WW2. When the show was written WW2 was a fairly recent event as it concluded thirty years before the show was written. Evidently, this is a key example of when black humour is used at its best as Basil inadvertently upsets the guests by telling them he will tie them up to the piano and by doing hilarious impressions of Hitler that makes the audience guffaw with laughter due to the awkwardness of the situation.

 

• Blue Comedy:    'The Psychiatrist' 

 

 

In this episode sex is a key point of humour as Basil continues to keep on making accidents that make him appear as a sex addict. A clear example of this is when he feels about on the wall for the light switch and accidentally ends up groping a young Australian guest. Furthermore, Basil is made to feel deeply uncomfortable around the psychiatrists, thinking they are analysing his every action. The episode is humours as it links to the idea of cringe comedy, as the audience laughs for relief over the awkwardness of the situation.

 

• Character comedy:  Basil Fawlty

 

Basil Fawlty is a supercilious, witty and desperate to become a member of the upper class. Essentially, it’s Basil’s ultimate aim to achieve social standing. In the very first episode it is evident that Basil is rude to the working class and sucks up to the more wealthy guests. In fact the title of the episode is called ‘A touch of class’ suggesting that Basil wants to improve the quality of the guests that stay in his hotel. This is strikingly ironic as he should be improving the asthetic of the hotel to promote class rather than changing the guests.