The "Fawlty Towers" sign in the background image varied (usually as an anagram) between episodes
Genre
Sitcom
Farce[1]
Created by
John Cleese
Connie Booth
Written by
John Cleese
Connie Booth
Directed by
John Howard Davies
Bob Spiers
Starring
John Cleese
Prunella Scales
Andrew Sachs
Connie Booth
Ballard Berkeley
Brian Hall
Renee Roberts
Gilly Flower
Theme music composer
Dennis Wilson
Opening theme
"Fawlty Towers"
Ending theme
"Fawlty Towers"
Country of origin
United Kingdom
Original language
English
No. of series
2
No. of episodes
12 (list of episodes)
Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox television with "list_episodes" parameter using self-link. See Infobox instructions and MOS:INFOBOXPURPOSE.
Production
Producers
John Howard Davies
Douglas Argent
Editors
Susan Imrie
Bob Rymer
Bill Harris
Running time
30–35 minutes
Production company
BBC
Original release
Network
BBC Two
Release
19 September 1975 (1975-09-19) – 25 October 1979 (1979-10-25)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)
Fawlty Towers is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and, in 2019, it was named the greatest ever British TV sitcom by a panel of comedy experts compiled by the Radio Times.[2][3]
The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional hotel in the English seaside town of Torquay in Devon. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding and eccentric guests and tradespeople. The idea of the show came from Cleese after he stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon, in 1970 (along with the rest of the Monty Python troupe), where he encountered the eccentric hotel owner Donald Sinclair. Stuffy and snobbish, Sinclair treated guests as though they were a hindrance to his running of the hotel (a waitress who worked for him stated "it was as if he didn't want the guests to be there"). Sinclair was the inspiration for Cleese's character Basil Fawlty.
In 1976 and 1980, Fawlty Towers won the British Academy Television Award for Best Scripted Comedy. In 1980, Cleese received the British Academy Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance, and, in a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4, Basil Fawlty was ranked second on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.[4] The popularity of Fawlty Towers has endured, and it is often re-broadcast.[2] The BBC profile for the series states that "the British sitcom by which all other British sitcoms must be judged, Fawlty Towers withstands multiple viewings, is eminently quotable ('don't mention the war') and stands up to this day as a jewel in the BBC's comedy crown."[5]
A sequel series starring Cleese and his daughter Camilla was in development in February 2023.[6][7] Cleese subsequently confirmed to GB News that the sequel series, unlike the original series, would not be broadcast on the BBC.[8]
^"Fawlty Towers". BBC TWO. BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
^ abMattha Busby, 9 April 2019, "Fawlty Towers named greatest ever British TV sitcom". The Guardian, Retrieved 24 May 2019
^"Fawlty Towers and Father Ted top list of Britain's favourite sitcoms". ITV. Retrieved 24 May 2019
^"100 Greatest TV Characters". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 31 May 2009. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
^"Fawlty Towers". BBC. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
^Cite error: The named reference variety sequel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Britbox, a streaming service for British TV from BBC and ITV, launches in the US". The Verge. 7 March 2017. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017.
^"John Cleese: 'I WON'T allow the BBC to screen the new Fawlty Towers' - GB News World Exclusive". www.youtube.com. GB News on Youtube. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
FawltyTowers is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of...
Basil Fawlty is the main character of the 1970s British sitcom FawltyTowers, played by John Cleese. The proprietor of the hotel FawltyTowers, he is a...
Sybil Fawlty is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom FawltyTowers. She is played by Prunella Scales. She is listed as 34 years old as seen on her...
first wife Connie Booth cowrote the sitcom FawltyTowers, in which he starred as hotel owner Basil Fawlty, for which he won the 1980 British Academy Television...
greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Spanish waiter Manuel in FawltyTowers. Sachs had a long career in acting and voice-over work for television...
English actress. She portrayed Sybil Fawlty, the bossy wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy FawltyTowers, Queen Elizabeth II in A Question...
Sherman is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom FawltyTowers. Played by Connie Booth, she is FawltyTowers' long-suffering waitress and hotel maid. Polly...
This page lists FawltyTowers cast members. The names of the regular cast members link to the pages for the actor and for the FawltyTowers character. Trevor...
sixth episode of the BBC sitcom FawltyTowers. In the episode, while suffering the effects of a concussion, Basil Fawlty waits on a party of hotel guests...
Scottish actress who is best known for her portrayal of Mme. Peignoir in FawltyTowers (episode "The Wedding Party") and minor roles in both EastEnders and...
Gaiters, The Benny Hill Show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The Goodies, FawltyTowers, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Not the Nine O'Clock News, Only...
programmes and films, including her role as Polly Sherman on BBC Two's FawltyTowers, which she co-wrote with her then-husband John Cleese. In 1995 she quit...
Henson appeared in various television roles, including guest roles in FawltyTowers, Minder, Boon, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, Heartbeat, After You've...
remembered for playing Major Gowen in the British television sitcom FawltyTowers. The son of Joseph and Beatrice Blascheck, he was born in Royal Tunbridge...
You Being Served?, and won two British Academy Television Awards for FawltyTowers and Absolutely Fabulous. Spiers also directed the films That Darn Cat...
FawltyTowers Described in the BBC's profile of the show as "the British sitcom by which all other British sitcoms must be judged", FawltyTowers (1975...
sitcom FawltyTowers (co-written with Connie Booth, whom Cleese met during work on Python and to whom he was married for a decade). In FawltyTowers Cleese...
roles. Her television work included the sitcoms Please Sir! (1968–72), FawltyTowers and Ripping Yarns (1979) and Me and My Girl (1984–88). Born and educated...
salad featured prominently in a 1979 episode of the British sitcom FawltyTowers. Other ingredients such as chicken, turkey, and dried fruit (e.g. dates...
1 Episode 6 of FawltyTowers, "The Germans", Major Gowen specifies "wog" as meaning any person from India when speaking to Basil Fawlty about the India...
Frenzy (1972) and the pretentious hotel guest Mr Hutchinson in the FawltyTowers episode "The Hotel Inspectors" (1975). On television, he was a regular...
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