"Performance"" in 1976, Andrew Sachs was also nominated but lost. In a list drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted by industry professionals, ""Fawlty Towers"" was named the best British television series of all time. Four attempted remakes of ""Fawlty Towers"" were started for the American market, with three making it into production. The first, ""Chateau Snavely"" starring Harvey Korman and Betty White, was produced by ABC for a pilot in 1978, but the transfer from coastal hotel to highway motel proved too much and the series never was produced. The second, also by ABC, was ""Amanda's,"""
"Fawlty Towers Fawlty Towers is a British television sitcom broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Just two series of six episodes were made. The show was created and written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, who also starred in the show and were married at the time of the first series, but divorced before recording the second series. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on"
"Fáilte Towers Fáilte Towers is a reality TV show broadcast that aired on RTÉ during August 2008 on RTÉ. The concept involved thirteen celebrities running a hotel for sixteen days and nights in order to win money for their designated charities. The show format was not repeated nor was it exported or resold. The name is a play on the BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"" and the word """" meaning 'welcome' in Irish. The hotel used in the series is Bellingham Castle in Castlebellingham, County Louth. The show is presented by Aidan Power and Baz Ashmawy and the judges are Bibi"
"Basil Fawlty Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"", played by John Cleese. Basil has become an iconic British comedy character that is widely recognised around the world, despite only 12 half-hour episodes ever having been made. Basil, who runs the titular hotel in Torquay, is a misanthropic, pessimistic and somewhat snobbish man, whose main aspiration is to become a member of more ""respectable"" (richer) social circles. He sees the successful running of the hotel as a means of achieving this dream, yet his job frequently requires him to be pleasant to people he despises"
"A Touch of Class (Fawlty Towers) ""A Touch of Class"" is the pilot episode in the first series of the BBC television sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". The episode introduces Basil Fawlty, the cynical, sharp-tongued owner of Torquay's Fawlty Towers hotel; his henpecking wife Sybil; Manuel, the eager but hapless Spanish waiter; Major Gowen, a semi-senile and often whisky-soaked permanent resident; and Polly Sherman, a maid/waitress who is the only sane and sensible employee of the hotel. The episode opens with Sybil reminding Basil of many chores he must do: prepare the bill for some guests in a hurry to depart, hang"
"suggestion for alternative dinner arrangements for the guests while ""Fawlty Towers"" was undergoing renovations. Gleneagles Hotel, Torquay The Gleneagles Hotel was a hotel in Torquay, Devon, England. The 41-bed establishment, which opened in the 1960s, was the inspiration for ""Fawlty Towers"", a British situation comedy first broadcast in the mid-1970s. John Cleese, and his then wife Connie Booth, were inspired to write the series after they had stayed at the hotel and witnessed the eccentric behaviour of its owner, Donald Sinclair (who sold the hotel in 1973). Later the hotel was managed by Best Western. In February 2015 the hotel"
"back to the bar to be served at last. Episode-credited cast: Also starring: A Touch of Class (Fawlty Towers) ""A Touch of Class"" is the pilot episode in the first series of the BBC television sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". The episode introduces Basil Fawlty, the cynical, sharp-tongued owner of Torquay's Fawlty Towers hotel; his henpecking wife Sybil; Manuel, the eager but hapless Spanish waiter; Major Gowen, a semi-senile and often whisky-soaked permanent resident; and Polly Sherman, a maid/waitress who is the only sane and sensible employee of the hotel. The episode opens with Sybil reminding Basil of many chores he must"
"that he never got the best of any argument and was regularly shown up to be stupid and ill-informed. The series regularly provoked controversy in the media, and for millions it became a common gossiping point at work or in the pub. Many popular British situation comedies (sitcoms) were gentle, innocent, unchallenging portrayals of middle-class life, avoiding or only hinting at controversial issues; typical examples were ""Happy Ever After"" (later succeeded by ""Terry and June""), ""Sykes"" and ""The Good Life"". Set in a hotel in Torquay, ""Fawlty Towers"" was a massive success for the BBC, despite only twelve episodes being"
"the place in a week"",the way he'd handle guests' demands. In the next episode, the idea of him running a hotel was seen as him being a Basil Fawlty. In the 2004 film ""Shrek 2"", John Cleese's character of King Harold references the character by using Fawlty's excuse of ""war wound shrapnel"" with ""Crusade war shrapnel"". Basil Fawlty Basil Fawlty is the main character of the British sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"", played by John Cleese. Basil has become an iconic British comedy character that is widely recognised around the world, despite only 12 half-hour episodes ever having been made. Basil, who"
"""Great, Grand & Famous Hotels"" remarked that ""Fawlty Towers is real to everybody who has ever worked in a hotel, anybody who has ever stayed in one, or anyone who has ever tried, unsuccessfully, to order a Waldorf salad."" Waldorf Salad (Fawlty Towers) ""Waldorf Salad"" is the third episode of the second series of the BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". Directed by Bob Spiers, it first aired on 5 March 1979. Dinner time is exceptionally busy, and several guests are dissatisfied with the quality of the service and the food. One guest, Mr. Johnston, and his wife complain that her starter"
"Harry saved his life, a fact that Harry does not let Duggie forget. Other characters include Baker (Kim Wall). Heartburn Hotel Heartburn Hotel is a British sitcom that ran for two series on BBC One from 1998 to 2000. The programme concerns the owner-operator and tenants of the Olympic Hotel—an establishment named in anticipation of a successful Olympic bid by the UK. Each series is six episodes long; one special aired in December 1998. ""Heartburn Hotel"" was written by John Sullivan and Steve Glover; it starred Tim Healy as the hotel's proprietor. The first series premiered on BBC One at"
"Heartburn Hotel Heartburn Hotel is a British sitcom that ran for two series on BBC One from 1998 to 2000. The programme concerns the owner-operator and tenants of the Olympic Hotel—an establishment named in anticipation of a successful Olympic bid by the UK. Each series is six episodes long; one special aired in December 1998. ""Heartburn Hotel"" was written by John Sullivan and Steve Glover; it starred Tim Healy as the hotel's proprietor. The first series premiered on BBC One at 10 PM on 20 July 1998. The second series aired from 23 June to 28 July 2000, at a"
"Gleneagles Hotel, Torquay The Gleneagles Hotel was a hotel in Torquay, Devon, England. The 41-bed establishment, which opened in the 1960s, was the inspiration for ""Fawlty Towers"", a British situation comedy first broadcast in the mid-1970s. John Cleese, and his then wife Connie Booth, were inspired to write the series after they had stayed at the hotel and witnessed the eccentric behaviour of its owner, Donald Sinclair (who sold the hotel in 1973). Later the hotel was managed by Best Western. In February 2015 the hotel closed. It will be replaced by retirement apartments. The Gleneagles was not originally built"
"BBC's annual ""Children in Need"" charity telethon. The character was seen taking over the management of the eponymous hotel from the BBC drama series ""Hotel Babylon,"" interacting with characters from that program as well as other 1970s sitcom characters. The character of Sybil was used by permission of John Cleese. In 2007, the Los Angeles Film School produced seven episodes of ""Fawlty Tower Oxnard"" starring Robert Romanus as Basil Fawlty. In 2016, Cleese reprised his role as Basil in a series of TV adverts for High Street optician chain Specsavers. The same year, Cleese and Booth reunited to create and"
"Gourmet Night ""Gourmet Night"" is the fifth episode in the first series of the BBC TV sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". Basil Fawlty is having trouble with his Austin 1100 car. Despite Sybil's insistence that he take the car to a garage for repairs, miserly Basil tries to fix the car himself. Meanwhile, Fawlty Towers has a new Greek chef named Kurt who has been found for them by André, Kurt's culinary trainer and a friend of the Fawltys. Basil and Sybil are intending to host a gourmet night at the hotel. After a rude, pampered boy calls the hotel a ""dump"""
"Polly Sherman Polly Sherman is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". Played by Connie Booth, she is Fawlty Towers' long-suffering waitress and maid. Polly is the hotel waitress during the series, and one of only three staff members seen there, the others being Manuel and Terry. Although she at one point claims to be employed part-time, she is shown working there as a maid, and is occasionally saddled with more duties than this, which she will often go along with for the extra money. Polly is, by far, the most sensible character in the series, and often"
"became known as Basil Fawlty was developed in an episode (""No Ill Feeling"") of the third ""Doctor"" series (titled ""Doctor at Large""). In this edition, the main character checks into a small-town hotel, his very presence seemingly winding up the aggressive and incompetent manager (played by Timothy Bateson) with a domineering wife. The show was broadcast on 30 May 1971. Cleese said in 2008 that the first ""Fawlty Towers"" script he and Booth wrote was rejected by the BBC. At a 30th anniversary event honouring the show, Cleese said, Cleese was paid £6,000 for 43 weeks' work and supplemented his"
"Donald Sinclair (hotel owner) Donald William Sinclair (10 July 1909 – 1981) was the co–proprietor of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, England. He helped manage the hotel after an extensive career as an officer in the Merchant Navy and the Royal Navy. During World War II, he twice survived the sinking of the ship he was serving on. He was the inspiration for the character Basil Fawlty in ""Fawlty Towers"", owing to his allegedly stuffy, snobbish and eccentric treatment of his guests, including John Cleese (whose character in the 2001 film Rat Race, was also named Donald Sinclair) and other"
"school, and then Cambridge-educated Cleese and the working class, self-educated Mancunian Dawson) were marked, but both worked well together from series 8 onwards until the series ended in 1976. Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in ""Fawlty Towers"", which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced and in 2000, it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel"
"thrashes his car with a branch, Basil accidentally attacks an adjacent police car, mistaking it for his own. ""Fawlty Towers"" was inspired by the Monty Python team's stay in the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. Cleese and Booth stayed on at the hotel after filming for the Python show had finished. The owner, Mr Donald Sinclair, was very rude, throwing a bus timetable at a guest who asked when the next bus to town would arrive and placing Eric Idle's suitcase behind a wall in the garden in case it contained a bomb (actually it contained a ticking alarm clock). He"
"Hotel Trubble Hotel Trubble is a British children's comedy drama made by the BBC and broadcast on its flagship children and young person's channel CBBC. It stars Dominique Moore as Sally, the receptionist; Gary Damer as Lenny; Sam Phillips as Jamie, the bellboy; and Tanya Franks as Dolly and Sheila Bernette as Mrs. Poshington, a guest who never leaves (and who becomes the hotel's cleaner in series two and three). It is a farce sitcom. A total of 39 episodes have aired on TV between December 2008 and August 2011.. Many guest stars have appeared, including Tom Price, Josie d'Arby,"
"off-season. Due to Sinclair's attitude towards them, which included criticising American Terry Gilliam's table etiquette and throwing Eric Idle's briefcase out of a window because he thought it contained a bomb, all of the Monty Python cast left the hotel for other accommodation, apart from Idle, John Cleese and his then-wife Connie Booth. Cleese stayed because he wanted to observe Sinclair further and later used his mannerisms as an inspiration for Basil Fawlty in ""Fawlty Towers"". Several of the show's plot lines are alleged to be partly based on real-life events. Cleese later played eccentric hotel owners in the 1999"
"obvious hint that the bar should be open and his drink should be served. Early in the day, Basil tends to say """"Ah, morning Major"""". John Cleese has said that the Major was based on his Latin teacher from school. Major Gowen Major Gowen, usually known as the Major, is a fictional character played by Ballard Berkeley in the BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". Major Gowen is an old, befuddled, slightly senile, retired artillery officer permanently residing in the hotel. He appears in all 12 episodes, along with the other permanent residents Miss Gatsby and Miss Tibbs. He enjoys talking about"
"in horror after stumbling across the body in the hotel office. In that episode it is revealed that Tibbs is 79. Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby Miss Abitha Tibbs and Miss Ursula Gatsby are fictional characters, played by Gilly Flower and Renee Roberts respectively, in the BBC television sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby are two mostly inseparable and slightly scatty elderly spinsters who are permanent residents of Fawlty Towers (the only other long-term guest being Major Gowen). Basil Fawlty switches from being overly kind to being utterly rude during his various conversations with them, although they rarely"
"the credits make no clear connection between their names and being hotel inspectors as their names in the programme are never revealed.)"" Uncredited: The Hotel Inspectors ""The Hotel Inspectors"" is the fourth episode of the BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". In the episode, Basil hears of hotel inspectors roaming Torquay incognito and realises with horror that a guest he has been verbally abusing could easily be one of them. Two guests, Mr. Walt and Mr. Hutchinson, arrive separately at reception. Mr. Walt says very little; Mr. Hutchinson speaks in a very drawn-out and pompous, overly affected manner (claiming that he finds"
"Payne (TV series) Payne is an American sitcom based after the British program ""Fawlty Towers"". It starred American John Larroquette, who was also an executive producer for the series. ""Payne"" was a mid-season replacement on CBS and aired in March and April 1999. The show also starred JoBeth Williams, Julie Benz and Rick Batalla. Despite fairly positive reception, and receiving the blessing of John Cleese, who agreed to take a recurring role as the antagonistic rival hotelier if the show was renewed, ""Payne"" was quickly cancelled. Nine episodes were filmed; eight were aired. ""Payne"" was a remake of ""Fawlty Towers"","
"and many of them were in the front row seats, apparently not entirely amused. The Builders ""The Builders"" is the second episode in the first series of the BBC TV sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"". As Fawlty Towers is undergoing renovations over the weekend, Basil informs Major Gowen, Miss Tibbs, and Miss Gatsby that they will have to have dinner at the Gleneagles Hotel. Basil and Sybil themselves are going on a golfing holiday in Paignton with friends, leaving Polly and Manuel in charge of the hotel. Before they leave, Basil reminds Polly that the workmen are to block off the drawing"
"stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel ""in case it contained a bomb,"" complained about Gilliam's ""American"" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after they dared to ask the time of the next bus to town. The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. ""Fawlty Towers"""
"sleep """"au naturel"" tonight"", subsequently she teased Fawlty that he had left his cassette player in her room as an excuse to gain entry during the night. In May 2009 G.O.L.D. screened """", a show that brought the original ""Fawlty Towers"" cast back together for the first time since Torquay's most notorious hotel closed. In the show, Gilan was interviewed and suggested that her French accent sounded more like a Hungarian accent to her now. Since 1980 she has worked as a motivational speaker at the Oxford Said Business School, helping leaders improve their presentation and communication skills, and lectures"
"Communication Problems ""Communication Problems"" is the first episode of the second series of BBC sitcom ""Fawlty Towers"" and the seventh episode overall. It is also known as ""Mrs Richards"". On 2 December 2016, the episode was re-aired on BBC One in memory of cast member Andrew Sachs. Mrs Richards, a short-sighted, deaf, and short-tempered old woman (but who ironically accuses others of being blind and deaf), arrives at the hotel and instantly starts arguing with Polly about who is being served first at reception in the lobby. Polly mischievously asks Manuel to assist Mrs Richards and his poor English combined"
"the popularity of the first series, the show's second series was moved to BBC One where it continued to receive mostly positive reviews despite a different cast of celebrities. After the series ended, a new series named ""The Real Marigold on Tour"" was commissioned which saw celebrities travel to Florida and Japan. A second series was also produced which was broadcast at the end of 2017 with celebrities visiting China, Cuba, Iceland and Thailand. The Real Marigold Hotel The Real Marigold Hotel (known in Australia as The Indian Dream Hotel) is a British travel documentary series created by Twofour productions"
"refurbished. The hotel (but not the show) was then renamed again as ""Hotel Sooty"". Sooty Heights Sooty Heights is a British children's television series that was produced for two series that aired on CITV from 27 September 1999 to 11 December 2000. It replaced ""Sooty & Co"", that was presented by Matthew Corbett, who had retired as Sooty's right-hand man and sold the rights. The show featured the famous TV puppet, along with friends Sweep, Soo, and Little Cousin Scampi, as they attempted to run a hotel. It was presented by Richard Cadell and Liana Bridges. In 2001, ""Sooty Heights"""
"exists, but André's now is a Chinese and Indian restaurant called Wings. Both Cleese and Booth were keen on every script being perfect, and some episodes took four months and required as many as ten drafts until they were satisfied. The series focuses on the exploits and misadventures of short-fused hotelier Basil Fawlty and his acerbic wife Sybil, as well as their employees: porter and waiter Manuel, maid Polly Sherman, and, in the second series, chef Terry. The episodes typically revolve around Basil's efforts to ""raise the tone"" of his hotel and his increasing frustration at numerous complications and mistakes,"