Gourmet Night

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Fawlty Towers episode
“Gourmet Night”
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 5
Guest star(s)	Allan Cuthbertson
Writer(s)	John Cleese & Connie Booth
Director	John Howard Davies
Production no.
Original airdate	17 October 1975
Episode chronology
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"The Hotel Inspectors"	"The Germans"
List of Fawlty Towers episodes

"Gourmet Night" is the fifth episode in the first series of the BBC TV sitcom Fawlty Towers.

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Plot
4 Trivia
5 References

[edit] Synopsis

Basil is trying to climb up the social ladder, and with it, the hotel. When VIPs of Torquay visit for a gourmet night, Basil's new Greek chef gets drunk, and once again teetering on a nervous breakdown, Basil tries desperately to repair the situation...

[edit] Cast

Episode credited cast:

With:

Elizabeth Benson as Mrs. Heath
Richard Caldicot as Lionel Twitchen
Allan Cuthbertson as Colonel Hall
Betty Huntley-Wright as Mrs. Twitchen
André Maranne as André
Tony Page as Ronald Heath
Steve Plytas as Kurt
Jeffrey Segal as Mr. Heath
Ann Way as Mrs. Hall

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Basil, always wont to mingle with the upper echelons of Torquay society, organizes a Gourmet Night. In an attempt to keep the clientèle of the upper crust, Fawlty includes "no riffraff" in the newspaper announcement of the event. This leads to a total of 8 people registered for the dinner. On the evening of the event, a party of four cancels as one of them is ill. That leaves four people at gourmet night, Colonel and Mrs. Hall and Lionel Twitchen and his wife.

Fawlty Towers has a new chef, Kurt. The chef has taken a liking to Manuel. Only we discover as the episode unfolds that Kurt has a romantic interest in Manuel. Manuel is not interested and Kurt seeks solace inside a wine bottle or three. This portion of the plot develops without Fawlty's knowledge as the dinner guests are arriving...

A sight gag of the highest order is arranged between Colonel Hall and Basil. The Colonel has a twitch which causes his neck and head to convulse violently. When Fawlty attempts to introduce the two couples he gets hung up on the name of "Lionel Twitchen" and proceeds to faint instead of actually introducing them.

Basil serves the trifle

When Fawlty realizes that his new gourmet chef is passed out drunk, he arranges to serve the guests food from a nearby gourmet restaurant. However, due to restricted availability, the 'gourmet' menu ends up with only three possible dishes for Fawlty's guests to choose from: Duck with orange, duck with cherries, or 'duck surprise' (duck without oranges or cherries). Fawlty proceeds to tell them that if they "don't like duck, they're rather stuck!"

Fawlty's attempts to obtain the food are complicated. The first duck is ruined when Manuel's foot gets lodged in it. The second attempt is hampered by the poor maintenance of his car, which finally breaks down on his way back with the food; the scene ends with Basil screaming at the car and giving the vehicle a "Damn good thrashing" with a tree branch.

After a tiresome wait, the guests are finally presented with the 'duck' which they have so eagerly awaited, only to discover that it has turned into a trifle. Basil is so surprised that he searches through the trifle with his hands to see if there is a hidden duck. When asked to explain this, Basil deadpans "Duck's off, sorry."

[edit] Trivia

The first time in the programme we see a chef at Fawlty Towers, and the last time until Terry, the regular character in series two.
The scene which ends with Basil giving the vehicle a "Damn good thrashing" with a tree branch has been immortalized in the form of a miniature model car, and Basil swinging the branch, by the Corgi toy company.
On the second return journey from Andre's restaurant the road is dry when Basil pulls in behind the other vehicle blocking the road. However, when he reverses out the road is clearly soaking wet as if there had just been a downpour.
One strange flaw in the script is that the car, which Basil has been trying to start all morning, appears to start first time when Basil drives off the premises to fix it out of Sybil's sight.
Roughly 17 minutes into the episode the shadow of the microphone boom is visible moving across the wall as Basil sits in front of the typewriter.
When Manuel bursts through the kitchen door and knocks the duck onto the floor, a stagehand can be seen behind the door.
Basil's car in this episode is an Austin 1300 Estate.^[1]
André's Restaurant is in fact 294 Preston Road, Harrow.^[1]