List of Fawlty Towers episodes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an episode guide for the television series Fawlty Towers, written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, which ran on BBC 2 from September 19, 1975 to October 25, 1979. The first series was directed by John Howard Davies, the second by Bob Spiers.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Series One

Title	Featuring	Sign reads	Original airdate	#
"A Touch of Class"	Michael Gwynn as Lord Melbury	FAWLTY TOWERS	September 19, 1975	1
Basil is delighted when a member of the aristocracy chooses to stay at the hotel, snubbing the normal guests who frequent the hotel. Unbeknownst to Basil, however, the man is not a Lord, but a confidence trickster who attempts to purloin Basil's collection of rare coins. As Basil's desperation to keep such an 'upstanding' guest increases, Basil becomes increasingly tolerant towards the man's behavior, only to have the guest arrested in a CID raid on the hotel. Sign: Sign is wider and font is fancier than the plain, Times New Roman-like font it would use later on.

"The Builders"	David Kelly as O'Reilly and Michael Cronin as Murphy	FAWLTY TOWER	September 26, 1975	2
When some work is required on the hotel lobby, Basil goes for the cheapest quote, an Irish builder by the name of O'Reilly, the moment his wife is out of the way. O'Reilly and his workers botch the job, fitting doors where they shouldn't be and visa versa. As a result, Sybil is forced to call in a proper builder, only to suffer embarrassment when O'Reilly returns to fix the mess he made. However, Sybil soon realises that the hotel is no longer structurally sound.

"The Wedding Party"	Trevor Adams as Alan	FAW TY TO(Sigma)ER	October 3, 1975	3
Wherever he turns, Basil sees guests fraternising in what he considers an immoral way, while he tries to hide an infatuation with a charming french female guest. But he is the one who ends up with his trousers down in public.

"The Hotel Inspectors"	Bernard Cribbins and James Cossins	FAW TY TO ER	October 10, 1975	4
When Basil hears of hotel inspectors anonymously roaming Torquay, he realises with horror that the man he has been monstering could easily be one of them. Featuring: Bernard Cribbins and James Cossins play men who turn out not to be hotel inspectors.

"Gourmet Night"	André Maranne, Allan Cuthbertson and Ann Way	WA RTY TOWELS	October 17, 1975	5
Basil is thrilled when local VIPs accept an invitation to a gourmet evening ("no riff-raff"). Basil then proceeds to embarrass himself and annoy the guests by addressing the short Mrs. Hall as "Mrs. Small" and fainting when introducing the Colonel, who has an unfortunate twitch, to a Lionel Twitchen. Meanwhile his new chef gets drunk and can't cook, forcing Basil to order a duck from a local restaurant. On the way to collect it, his car breaks down, and when he finally reaches the hotel, finds he has accidentally collected a trifle instead. Featuring: André Maranne is Andre, Allan Cuthbertson is Colonel Hall and Ann Way is Mrs. Hall.

"The Germans"	Brenda Cowling as Sister	see below	October 24, 1975	6
A fire drill leaves Basil concussed in hospital, but somehow he still manages to nip back to the hotel in time to treat his German visitors to some of his unique welcoming methods. This episode is the origin of the line "Don't mention the war". Sign: This is the only episode in the entire series that did not feature the hotel as the backdrop for the titles: footage of the Northwick Park Hospital in Middlesex was used instead. Thus, the sign is not shown.

[edit] Series Two

The second series was transmitted three and a half years later, with the first episode being broadcast on 19 February 1979. Due to an industrial dispute at the BBC, which resulted in a strike, the final episode was not completed until well after the others, being finally shown as a one-off instalment on 25 October 1979.

Title	Featuring	Sign reads	Original airdate	#
"Communication Problems"	Joan Sanderson as Mrs Richards	FAWLTY TOWER	February 19, 1979	7
The arrival of the "guest from hell" — Mrs. Richards, a rather deaf and hot-tempered widow — interferes with Basil's attempts to prevent the money he won on a racehorse from being discovered by Sybil, who disapproves of gambling.

"The Psychiatrist"	Elspet Gray as Mrs Abbott and Luan Peters as Raylene Miles	WATERY FOWLS	February 26, 1979	8
A psychiatrist and his wife — also a doctor — come to the hotel for a weekend break, and cannot help but notice the eccentricities of their host, who is perturbed when he discovers their professions.

"Waldorf Salad"	Bruce Boa as Mr Hamilton	FLAY OTTERS	March 5, 1979	9
Basil is not altogether keen on an American guest who demands a higher class of service — and food — than Fawlty Towers is accustomed to providing.

"The Kipper and the Corpse"	Geoffrey Palmer as Dr Price	FATTY OWLS	March 12, 1979	10
A guest dies of natural causes in bed, another faints at the sight of the body, and Basil frantically tries to hide the out-of-date breakfast kipper which he is convinced was responsible — besides attempting to move the corpse downstairs unseen. Meanwhile, Dr. Price is kept waiting for his sausages.

"The Anniversary"	Ken Campbell as Reg and Una Stubbs as Alice	FLOWERY TWATS	March 26, 1979	11
Basil invites some friends for a surprise wedding anniversary party, but Sybil assumes he has forgotten their anniversary and storms off, leaving her husband and Polly, in disguise, desperately telling the others she is 'ill'...

"Basil the Rat"	John Quarmby as the Health Inspector.	FARTY TOWELS	October 25, 1979	12
The local health inspector issues a long list of hygienic aberrations which the staff immediately sort out. Sadly, they had not reckoned with Manuel's pet — a 'Siberian hamster' — escaping on the same day.