"Fawlty Towers" Communication Problems (1979)

User Rating:

9.5/10   

Director:

Bob Spiers

Writers:

John Cleese (written by) and
Connie Booth (written by)

TV Series:

"Fawlty Towers" (1975)

Original Air Date:

19 February 1979 (Season 2, Episode 1)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

When Mrs.Richards, a demanding woman who is hard of hearing, checks into the hotel, Basil, Sybil and...

Plot Keywords:

Deafness | Hotel | English | Guest | Waiter

Cast

John Cleese	...	Basil Fawlty
Prunella Scales	...	Sybil Fawlty
Andrew Sachs	...	Manuel
Connie Booth	...	Polly
Joan Sanderson	...	Mrs Richards
Ballard Berkeley	...	Major Gowen
Brian Hall	...	Terry
Gilly Flower	...	Miss Tibbs
Renee Roberts	...	Miss Gatsby
Robert Lankesheer	...	Mr Thurston
Johnny Shannon	...	Mr Firkins
Bill Bradley	...	Mr Mackintosh
George Lee	...	Mr Kerr
Mervyn Pascoe	...	Mr Yardley

Certification:

Australia:PG

Trivia:

After Mrs. Richards bumps her head in the hotel office, Basil picks up a bit of something from off the floor and asks, "Is this a piece of your brain?" John Cleese was going to cut this joke before the show aired, but Andrew Sachs convinced him to leave it in. (It gets one of the biggest laughs from the audience for this episode.)

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Mrs. Richards says "I'm not listening to anymore of this rubbish..." and walks into the dining room, the shadow of a boom mic and other equipment is visible above the dining room door.

Quotes:

[Scolding Polly for not revealing where her eyeglasses were located]
Mrs. Richards: Are you blind? They were on my head all the time! Didn't you see?
Polly: Yes.
Mrs. Richards: Didn't God give you eyes?
Polly: Yes, but I don't use them, because it wears the batteries out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The John Cleese Interview (1998) (V)

Si que what, and C.K. Watt

"Communication Problems" is one of the only episodes to focus almost entirely on one of the hotel guests - Mrs. Richards, who is visiting the hotel from Brighton. Portrayed flawlessly by the late Joan Sanderson, I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find anyone more acerbic and tactless than this old battleaxe. But it's a familiar problem in hotels - guests like this come along often and all the staff can do is deal with them until they finally check out. Then, of course, there is the subplot of Basil secretly betting on the horses after a long absence (Sybil: "We don't want that avenue of pleasure opened up again, do we, Basil?!" Basil: "No YOU don't, dear.") which serves as the lead-in to the story's punch line. Thanks to Andrew Sachs, the Mrs. Richards head-banging scene stayed in (Basil: "Is this a piece of your brain?!") In a recent interview, he mentioned that John Cleese and Connie Booth didn't think it was any good and wanted to replace it. The entire scene is screamingly funny. Ballard Berkely (the Major Gowen) is at his most virtuosic as the dense and forgetful old codger. Many great lines, but the best have to come from the confrontation between Polly and Mrs. Richards regarding the toilet paper, and the one between her and Manuel ("Si que what?!")