Original subtitles

I couldn't live without comedy.

What is the point if you can't laugh every day and hopefully several times a

day? Fawlty Towers is an all -time comedy classic.

When I was growing up, Fawlty Towers was up there.

Keeping the nation in hysterics for 50 years.

Do we think that's classic Fawlty Towers?

I do. I'm going to say yes.

I think one of the things that makes Fawlty Towers brilliant is John Cleese.

He's the master.

It's a quintessential slice of old -world Englishness at a time of immense

change. The 70s were a funny time.

It was a time where Britain was very much changing.

Immensely, immensely a wonderful programme.

A great British farce that was almost canned before it began.

Well, the terrible feedback came back, and yet it still airs. That's BBC, isn't

it, though? But it's now more controversial than ever, with the BBC

some scenes.

Racism and sexism, whoo! It was offensive to everyone. The bottom line

not acceptable.

So is it still funny?

We can't say anything these days.

Despite all of the head slapping and goose slapping.

To try and cut it out and replace it would just be cutting up a piece of

comedy history.

We've assembled a group of baby boomers and Gen Zs who are joined by an expert

panel to help guide us through this British classic.

They'll be watching it back through the lens of today and yesteryear to see if

there really should be the cancellation of Fawlty Towers.

It's 9 p .m. on Friday, 19th of September, 1975, and the nation is

for the East.

It's an altogether simpler time.

A time when we would sit down in unison, turn on the box and soak up what was

being served to us.

BBC Two.

Hello again. Good evening to you.

Now time for a new sitcom.

Pack your bag and let's stick in.

The 40 Towers.

That episode became quite famous for his beating the car. It's quintessentially

Basil. Basil Fawlty is a man at odds with the modern world, getting very

at an Austin countryman on a rainy street in a country where the cars never

to work anymore.

That is a scene that stuck in my head for decades.

I think the beauty of Basil Fawlty personifying the car, he basically spoke

it. He's just like, if you don't start in the next three seconds, right, that's

it. That's it. We've all been there.

Ha, ha, ha.

Ha,

ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha,

ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha,

ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha,

ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha,

ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, I want you. I love this scene. I really do. This

makes me laugh so much, doesn't it, you? When he thrashes the car, that to me is

the apex of Basil Fawlty's character and his comedy.

I think we can relate to that. When we're frustrated, I think probably,

Maybe not batting your own car.

That's a bit extreme, but you just get a bit frustrated and you try to act out.

You can see his frustration just absolutely boils over.

I think he's quite funny.

Like, he's just this tall man shouting at his car in the middle of, like, a

rainy British street. Yeah, I think that's... Who would have thought it? The

Zs actually like it. But that was something that everybody could enjoy at

age.

We've given both the Gen Zs and the Baby Boomers a service spell to ring their

approval and a kipper if they think something stinks.

So, what do they think so far? I would do that, Belle.

It's up in the top three, isn't it? I love that. I really do.

Definitely. So funny.

Oh, that's about it.

Remarkably, the Baby Boomers and the Gen Zs actually see eye to eye.

For the Baby Boomers, by the mid -1970s, John Cleese's comedy was a staple in

British households.

I look down on him because I am upper class.

I look up to him. But much like Gleason's class sketch, there can be a

difference between the baby boomer and the Gen Zs.

I am middle class. I'm a baby boomer.

I look down on Gen Z and modern society, and I think everybody is far too

sensitive these days.

I'm Gen Z, and I look up at baby boomers and think they're all stuck in the

path.

The past is 50 years ago now, and Britain in 1975 is going through a bit

rough time.

There were three -day weeks, collapsing governments, kidnappings, and bombings.

Then a vote for stronger ties with Europe meant more Germans in more

hotels. There were plenty of people going, yes, we are open to this, and

welcome, welcome to our island.

And welcome to Torquay.

and a tiny part of Little Britain called Fawlty Towers, a place where nothing

has really changed and where everyone still acts like Britain rules the waves.

The only image I have of Torquay in the 70s is Fawlty Towers.

I've never been to Torquay. I think it's become a pillar for how British society

was seen and satirised back in that period of time. You've got characters

represent social types.

Joining Car Thrashing Hotelier Basil Forty are a memorable range of

It's a bit where the Major walks past with a gun and Fawlty takes a second to

clock it. That's classic slapstick.

It's a huge amount of the actual laugh. It's not the thing, it's the reaction to

the thing. The Major was the voice of old. He was the pre -war voice. He was

person that would come in and say things to show that even 1970s Torquay wasn't

like that anymore.

But did anybody find it weird that the Major seemed to live there?

In the 1970s, when there wasn't really the same social care that there is now,

lot of retired people would actually just take to hotels and live in hotels.

Then there are the staff who conspire against each other.

I've gone blank.

Bird brain.

No, no, no, that came in third.

This wife.

What?

Polly gets into a total mess about it. And they make that into a real dramatic

comic episode.

It's quite wonderful.

Polly is the most sensible character in the hotel.

She's the most capable.

If she was in another comedy, I think they would have her in a thing with

of cleavage and she'd be a dolly bird and she'd just be an idiot and all that

stuff. No, she's the smart one. She's the clever one.

Accompanying Polly is the hotel's waiter.

I know Nazi.

What? I know Nazi. The physicality of Andrew Sachs is great. I think his vocal

delivery is great. John Cleese was making a comic point about what was

in Britain.

There were a lot of people who came to do exactly the work that Manuel was

at Falsy Towers.

And finally, the hoteliers themselves.

Firstly, Basil's wife, Sybil.

Would you like to deal with this, Basil?

So you see, we couldn't possibly manage it for at least three weeks. But if you

wanted us straight away, I suggest you try someone like, oh, what's his name?

It's O 'Reilly.

Bravo, Polly. Well done, girl. But listen, where are you speaking from?

here with me, Basil.

Very, very good physical comedy, and also with the character of Sybil, who

know is eventually going to find out everything, because it's in the nature

Sybil, but she always does find out about everything.

But the idea that they're getting won over on Sybil is very well done.

And, of course, Battle himself.

Thank you, dear. Thank you so much.

I don't know where I'd be without you.

Land of the living, probably.

It really establishes their... dynamic between the two of them how she's going

to tell him what to do and how to do it he's quite a depressed character really

he talks about how everything's pointless and how you know do you

we have fun it's a satire of an old -fashioned world in chaos and decline

more you understand about history the better you are placed to parody satirize

everything that's happening

So what was happening in 1970s Torquay?

There's an origin story here, right?

The radioactive spider bite moment is when they're making Monty Python and

stay in this hotel in Torquay.

Impressive, Doc.

Never before has Basil Fawlty been compared to Spider -Man.

The establishment in question was the Glen Eagles Hotel, which was ideally

located when Monty Python and the Flying Circus was filming in nearby Paynton.

Talking which was very refined, you know, very conservative and all of that.

You'd expect to have good service and very polite.

Genteel. Genteel is the word.

But not in this hotel.

They get this incredibly rude hotelier.

Who was grumpy and unhelpful and...

Obviously such an unpleasant but interesting character.

Mr. Grampy was a formal naval officer and now hotelier called Donald Sinclair.

Most of the Monty Python cast checked out early to find somewhere with better

service, but not Connie Booth and John Cleese. They stayed on and started to

study him, so that's where the germ of Basil came from.

Well, I must be punished then, mustn't I?

He starts hitting himself on the bum, which, you know, to watch a man, six

five, hitting himself, particularly in that weird, ill -fitting jacket that

wearing at the time, sort of somehow heightens the comedy of that. We were

staying in this hotel in Torquay, and this guy behind the desk, who's now

fortunately gone to Canada to relieve certain legal problems, fascinated me,

just because the guests were a nuisance.

And when Connie and I wanted to write something about five years later...

We sat down one morning, and by about half past eleven, we knew we were going

write about this hotel.

But before they wrote Fawlty Towers, Cleese wrote an episode of Doctor at

called No Ill Feeling, and gave the impatient hotelier character a trial

Name? Upton.

Doctor! What?

Yeah, all right. I mean, Upton.

Mr. Upton.

Well, Doctor, it doesn't matter.

It's not anything like as good as Fawlty Towers.

I think one of the things is the character of Doctor at Large is no

He's just rude.

He's not as low and middle class as Basil. He's more working class. He

got this kind of affected accent that Basil has.

So the snobbery that drives a lot of Basil's mania is not there. But sprinkle

bit more comedy over the rudeness. Add a little snobbery and, of course, John

Cleese. And... Would you put both your names, please?

Well, would you give me a date?

No, I only use one.

You don't have a first name.

No, I'm Lord Melbury, so I simply sign Melbury.

Go away.

The phone is quite a good comic device in Fawlty Towers, and it's used really

well in this scene.

Fawlty Towers is one of the best, and it is because everything about it is so

intensely comedic. And he suddenly realises he's talking to aristocracy,

he's such a snob.

A lot of the humour came from the fact that Battle Co -Towers to anyone with

status, and used everyone with regards to their class.

Basil Fultz is obviously going to be a sycophant, isn't he, to anyone who comes

in. And I think that the class structure was even more defined back in the 70s

than it would be now. He is somebody who's very conscious of his position in

class system. So anybody he considers above him, he will fawn over.

Now, is there something, something, anything that I can do for you?

Well, I have filled this in. Oh, please don't bother with that.

A special room? A single? A double? A sweet?

Well, we don't have any tweets, but we have some beautiful doubles. Oh, no, no,

no, just a single. Just a single, absolutely.

How very wise, if I may say to you, Your Honour. You win a bar?

Naturally, naturally.

Naturellement.

I'm not too sure that there are many people who could deliver lines like

Fawlty, like John Cleese.

But Cleese and Booth are about to do the most shocking thing yet.

You would no way be able to hear that today.

In the 1970s, Fawlty Towers was a huge hit, but one episode in particular was

the most controversial ever.

It's only a bit of comedy, though.

How bad can it be?

Well, it turns out to be really bad.

Some of the language in the next scene is so offensive, it's rarely broadcast,

given today's standards.

And the strange thing was that throughout the morning, she kept

Indians, isn't it?

I was not expecting that.

No, no, no, no, no, no, I said.

That was a hard watch.

The unsayable racial slurs are the W word and what is often referred to now

the N word. I must have been keen on it because I took her to see India.

India? At the Oval.

India? And in fact, it was India playing cricket at the Oval.

None of them really understands the true meaning of what they're saying. And

that's funny.

That's what makes it funny.

No, no, no, no, no, I said.

These are the West Indians.

These people are... You would no way be able to hear that today.

How uncomfortable was that, watching that? Well, it was...

I was trying to understand why it was funny.

No, no, no, she said, all cricketers aren't... There's a lot of words in

that nowadays people go, we were a little bit, I think. I think it's quite

shocking, to be fair. For those type of, like, dormancy terms just to be used on

TV like that, it just makes it more acceptable.

It's a bit too much. In those days, it was funny.

And it still is funny to me.

But, you know, it just wouldn't... People would be reporting it like they

We can't say things like that.

I'm going to give that a kippah.

I would definitely say kippah.

Like, derogatory terms, I just thought it was not funny at all.

And I'd be controversial and just give it the bell, because from a comedy

perspective, it does make me chuckle.

And for me to say to give it the kippah, I think I wouldn't be telling the

truth.

The major controversial use of the N -word has divided the generations.

And it also is a reflection of what you could get away with.

back during the 70s, which is a sad indictment of media back then as well. I

mean, it was of its time, and I think if somebody doesn't enjoy watching it,

they don't need to watch it.

But how was it ever OK to even say that on British TV?

Well, it almost never made it past the pilot stage.

Connie and John wrote Fawlty Towers together, which famously took them

six weeks for each episode, due to them refining the plots and maximising the

comedy.

But at the time, not everyone saw the potential.

BBC script editor Ian Mayne was handed the pilot script and promptly sent back

rather scathing response.

I think this is another classic story, really. Somebody sees the first episode.

It's not what they're expecting, and so they write it off.

They can't see the obvious value in it. Other comments from execs questioned why

it was all set in one place. And why would he leave Monty Python for this?

I love the fact that all of these terrible things came back, all this

feedback came back, and yet it still aired.

That's BBC, isn't it, though?

And look, 50 years later, I guarantee somewhere they're taking credit for it.

Yeah, that was my idea.

I put that on.

Just brilliant.

Nevertheless, on 19th of September 1975, Fawlty Towers aired for the first time,

and the laughter began even before the action did, with this iconic theme tune.

They very much loved music, and the accompanying hotel sign soon became a

talking point. You used to love those anagrams, didn't you?

I like that.

I like that.

I think that's clever. I like that. And it's something fun every week. If you're

watching the show every Friday night, you can be like, oh, did you spot it and

see what it was? I think that's quite fun.

You always imagine there was some band or somebody who had a thing against

coming by the sign every week and changing it.

That kind of feeling to it. Yeah, yeah.

Some of those I remember, like, howling with laughter.

Flowery twats is one of the few pure anagrams. Like, every letter used, it's

perfect anagram.

Flowery twats. You would never say that in front of your parents.

You know?

There are one or two that would sneak in there, which are...

Quite naughty, actually.

I just feel like that's such a British thing to say. Like, no one else really

says twat. And, I don't know, that tickled me.

People don't realise how obscene the word twat is, actually. It's another

for... basically.

Shush! Don't tell the Gen Zs that, Prof.

They're just starting to enjoy it.

A little bit like The Simpsons.

Every opening is different. I think they had a different sign for every episode.

Which was quite fun. It has that magical attraction.

And that is what's so great about it, and that is what made it as famous as it

is. A sitcom lives or dies by how memorable its theme tune is. And if you

sing to it, then, I'm sorry, just cancel the whole show.

The question is, do our discerning viewers agree?

Yeah, I would give the other guns a bow.

That's really a bow for me. What do you think?

Yeah.

Once into the action, the fast -paced farce is driven by Cleese's character,

Basil.

Farces are theatrical form, originally, and farces are kind of manic comedies,

really, where there's high stakes.

They're built on tension and things going wrong.

It wasn't just a farce, because we'd seen farces before and loved them. Just

much more than anything we'd seen before.

I think John Cleese is probably one of the funniest people that you'd meet.

And the plot's often centered around Basil's fear of his wife Sybil and his

desire to elevate the standing of the hotel.

You really wonder how in calmer times the relationship between Basil and Sybil

could ever work. He gets the last laugh because the idiot that he is landed

Sybil. She's the idiot that married him.

Like, in that regard, he's the genius.

He married a woman that keeps his hotel afloat.

Their encounters have the audience in stitches.

But does the portrayal of Basil and Siddle's relationship stand the test of

time? Or is it downright sexist?

Basil. Yes, dear?

Are you going to hang the picture? Yes, ma 'am, dear. Yes, yes.

Wait. Well, when I've, when I've, hmm?

Well, why don't you do it now? Well, I'm doing this, dear. I'm doing the menu.

Well, you've got all morning to do the menu. Why don't you hang the picture

I like their dynamics, like, as a couple.

I think that it's believable.

I think that's very realistic of a couple at the time.

Like, I enjoyed that. Yeah.

Well? Yes, all right, I will do the menu. I don't think you've realised how

it takes to do the menu, but no, it doesn't matter. I'll hang the picture

If the menu's late for lunch, it doesn't matter. The guests can all come and

look at the picture until they are ready, right?

Lower.

That's a typical Basil and Sybil exchange, isn't it?

She knows what she wants and he knows what he wants, but he always has to give

in in the most.

I do wonder, why isn't she doing the menu?

What does she do?

Like, what does she do?

Maybe she is the smart one for marrying him.

She gets a whole hotel and doesn't do anything.

Oh, we'll have to re -watch that.

The nagging wife routine wasn't just a one -trick pony.

Or should there be... A one -trick moose.

Yes, Fawlty Towers, hello.

I was just doing it, you stupid woman. I just put it down to come here to be

reminded by you to do what I'm already doing. I mean, what is the point of

reminding me to do what I'm already doing? I mean, what is the bloody point?

doing it all the time.

Because of their dynamic, like, you can see through their acting that it's like,

they still love each other, like, it's... Like, it's banter. But it's just

really giving the idea that the wife is so annoying.

I think they're trying to, like, normalise the type of relationship. I

find the humour in it at all.

But many viewers did find the humour, and the moose will forever be associated

with Fawlty Towers.

Mr Moose is up!

It's done, done, done!

It's up!

He went much, much further than he needed to go. But it showed, you know,

dedicated he was to making it as realistic as possible.

And at the same time, as comic as possible.

Sybil wouldn't be the sort of person to stay in that relationship if she didn't

love him. She'd just have walked. I mean, she's far too strong a woman.

great to have a strong woman like that. She'd just have walked.

But Sybil wasn't the only female lead.

Connie Booth played aspiring artist and hotel maid Polly.

Polly's a point -of -view character.

She's the most reasonable character in the entire sitcom.

It was very much a comedy cliché of the straight -laced wife and the bitter

fluff. Women very often were portrayed on television as a pair of boobs on

in a way.

Women weren't exactly divided between those two, but in very broad terms, they

were very recognisable characters.

Polly's character on the whole wasn't sexualised apart from perhaps in one

scene.

That

was

the only time in the series that I can remember where you ever saw Polly.

with that sort of dress code.

Well done, Nick. You managed to safely navigate that.

Doing it in the 21st century in the context of today, there would be people

would find that offensive and think, oh, yes, as a woman, she's being

objectified. But then... I think what they're doing is challenging the

attitudes that were held towards women and the way that women were perceived.

One other thing, Polly, I'm afraid we've abandoned the idea of the topless

afternoon tea, so if you wouldn't mind a changing before you go in where people

may be trying to eat.

I was going to.

There's no objectification of women going on here because the whole of

Towers is about caricatures and stereotypes.

To be fair, she's putting herself in that situation to be sexualised while

doing her job.

Hello, 40 titties.

When he answers the phone and says, oh, 40 titties, you realise that he too has

fallen for the whole situation.

And that's the brilliance of the comedy there.

But Basil doesn't just push his start button.

He's not about grabbing a few things either.

Like in this creepy scene. Just turn left out of the gate and straight on,

it's on your right.

It's choreographed so perfectly.

I mean, it is offensive when you look at it, but in a way, in those days, it

didn't give offence because it was just, it all flowed and seemed so natural.

I've read about it, Basil, the male menopause, it's called.

Oh, and one word of advice, if you're going to grope a girl, have the

to stay in the room with her while you're doing it.

This is a sort of brilliant line.

If you're going to grope a girl, at least be in the same room.

That's so, so wonderful.

Those two scenes were absolutely typical.

The hand coming round onto the bosom. It wasn't as shocking then as it is now.

Our generational viewers will be the judge of that.

I would say the bulk of it's very typical relationship.

I'll definitely give it a bow to Jonathan. I thought that was probably

funniest clip at all.

Who was it that said this generation are snowflakes?

Coming up, we'll be taking a closer look at Manuel.

There are elements of the way that the character of Manuel is handled that are

uncomfortable today.

And why did the BBC cancel one of the episodes?

I don't think it was right then, it's not right now, and it never will be.

In the 1970s, if you changed the channel, the chances are it would be to

sitcom. And they were lapped up by the British audience.

Well, some of the things were obviously folded towers, but then we did, like,

Till Death is Due Part and so on. Did you find that funny? Yeah.

I've gone it. Monty Python's really good.

Only Fools and Horses.

I haven't seen Foddy Towers.

Only Fools and Horses was actually 1981, but that is still over 20 years before

these Gen Zs were born.

That makes me feel very old.

I have an old people's bus bus now.

Come on, you don't use the bus, Trevor.

The very first series of Fawlty Towers ran for six episodes.

That was very nearly the end of it.

For us, it was a relief because somehow, I think, too, in the relationship of

Civil and Basil, we were able to get out a lot of our frustrations with each

other through those characters.

And it was a terrific time.

It's really good. It was kind of like therapy.

Those frustrations never went away.

In 1978, Booth and Cleese divorced, and Connie later said marriage counselling

was crucial to them making a second series, which later aired in 1979.

Twelve perfect episodes, and you can watch them time and time again.

You laugh every time. You laugh every time at the same place.

One character that brought a lot of those laughs is Manuel.

You see, I... Speak English well.

I learn it from a book.

Hello. I am English.

Manuel is lovable.

He's an adorable character.

When I was watching it as a kid, I used to absolutely identify with Manuel.

The portrayal of that character, though, by Andrew Sack, was brilliant.

Of course, Manuel wasn't English.

All together now.

He's from Barcelona.

From Barcelona.

I am Manuel. I am from Barcelona.

He's hired the cheapest waiter he could get, somebody from Barcelona.

And Andrew Sachs, the actor, was neither Spanish nor English born.

What's interesting about Andrew Sachs is that he was actually born in Germany,

and he came over right before the war as a child and lived in England.

Sachs later became an actor in London's West End, but he also appeared in

corporate training videos by a company called Video Arts.

Owned by John Cleese.

Incredibly, he wasn't being paid enough for Fawlty Towers.

At the time, it wasn't uncommon for the nation's biggest stars to get paid

modest sums.

John Cleese has paid £6 ,000 in 1975 for 43 weeks' work, writing and performing

in the first series of Fawlty Towers.

That's just over £63 ,000 in today's money.

Oh, Mike, I've no... that you were probably in the early stages of a severe

nervous breakdown.

So I suggest a personal crisis meeting this Friday at 4 .35 immediately

following the regional sales figures presentation.

How the film's work is that you see characters being unreasonable.

So you can sort of see, in a way, Fawlty is a bit like a twist on that, isn't

it? The fact that Cleese had this company, Video Arts, where he was

actors in to work with him and play these comedic characters.

would have made casting easier and i adore people with problems in fact the

worse the problem the more i adore them video arts was brilliant because a

corporate training video could be as dry as a ditch water it must be very useful

for john and connie to see this array of actors and say well look oh gosh she's

fantastic or he's brilliant and be able to give work to these budding stars i'd

been working with john cleves in the early 70s on some training films for his

company, Video Arts.

And during the making of one of those films, he brought up this pilot that

written for the BBC.

And would I like to play the Spanish waiter?

I love the idea. Thank you, John. But could you make him a German waiter?

Because I'm not sure I can do a Spanish accent.

And I come from Germany. German's my first language.

John Cleese said, no, no, it has to be a Spaniard.

Which, again, with the number of digs that he made at Manuel being from

Barcelona, you go, where did that?

Stereotype? What stereotype are you playing on?

Ah, good question, Rio. I'm glad you asked.

Spain experienced a huge wave of immigration in the 1970s, particularly

Barcelona. This was in part down to General Franco, who ruled Spain as a

dictator after winning the Spanish Civil War.

I think it's significant because of the... of the increase in the Spanish

population of British Isles at that time.

So I buckled down to it, mugged up the accent on the way to the studio as it

were, and we got on with it.

John Cleese might have moaned about £6 ,000, but Andrew Sachs only got £350 for

all 12 episodes.

Andrew, this is definitely your role, and he went, can we make it German? They

went, no, it's Spanish.

And he goes, I'm not sure if I can do Spanish, and they go, that's all right,

it's still your role. We're only going to pay you £350 for 12 episodes.

And he still went, OK.

And for the British audience, the language barrier made for some highly

moments.

Throw it away.

Okay. Throw it away.

Throw it away. Throw it away.

English isn't his first language.

That opens up the door to loads of language gags.

Throwing away the grapefruit is brilliant because, yet again, Basil

himself understood.

Manuel really trying but failing.

And then the actual throw is genius because it's a non -obvious throw.

It's not just down onto the floor.

It's not at Basil.

It's just sideways.

Sideways! It's another angle to get a laugh.

You know, that throw it away, bang, hits that kid on the head.

I do think that situation was funny, like, saying throw it away and he throws

at the customers, like, because I've waitressed before, if someone chucks

something at a customer, that's funny, like, we're going to laugh about it.

But I know nothing, he thinks.

I know nothing.

Whilst Basil didn't seem to know Spanish, Cleese and Booth did, which

them to write some of the best gags.

Manuel, there is too much butter on those trays.

There is too much butter on those trays.

No, no, no, senor. Not on those trays.

Uno, dos, tres.

It becomes this incredible wordplay.

How they work that out, I don't know. But it comes so fast. It's pure joy.

What's brilliant about that is, yeah, you need to kind of get that he's, say,

one, two, three in Spanish to kind of get the point of that gag.

I mean, I think Cleese and Booth are really, really good at writing language

gags. So I think the best example would be Mrs. Richards and Manuel.

I specifically asked for a few of you in my written confirmation, so please make

sure I have it.

Que?

Que? Que?

Si. Si.

Casey.

Casey, what are you trying to say?

K? C.

C. K.

What? No, K. What? C. K. What? Is that the owner?

That's fantastic writing.

Mrs. Richards, fantastic.

She was wonderful.

She was just... She was just fantastic.

No, no, no, no. K.

What? K.

What? C.

K. What?

C. K. What? C. K. What? Yes.

Who is C. K. What?

K. Is it the manager?

Oh,

manager. He is! Ah, Mr Forty!

What? Forty! It's clever.

Like, the plots are clever, and the character writing's clever, and the

physicality's clever.

The wordplay is also clever.

He's not explaining himself correctly, and he's misunderstanding what he's

saying anyway.

So I think the joke's on both of them, so I'll give it a bell.

Yeah, it's a bell. Bell, bell.

Bell, mate.

But Basil's frustrations with communicating with Manuel often led to

This, Basil's wife.

This, Basil.

This, back on head.

It's comedy violence.

It's like cartoon violence. It's like Tom and Jerry.

People don't get hurt.

My Ralph, let me explain.

In Laurel and Hardy, in every episode, there was that kind of scenario where

there was a slap or a kick. It's classic.

Or a poke in the eye.

And it made me laugh, and I viewed that.

There, no different than I viewed Laura and Holly. They're not actually hurt,

but the joke comes across. His frustration, what he's doing, but it's

You know they're not actually hurt, so it's okay.

What would a generation more used to duvet days than working from home make

this?

It's just like internalising that the kind of violence is okay.

I love a bit of slapstick, but that feels really harmful.

I didn't enjoy that.

It wasn't just the violence Manuel was subjected to.

There's a lot of the use of the word Dago, which even in those days was

demeaning. It's the corruption of the name Diego.

So it's just the name Diego uttered simply as Dago. It probably has its

frequency of usage in faulty powers, actually. I don't think of many other.

TV sitcoms actually use the term very much.

I think he's really unfortunate.

And why was Manuel so, well,

Spanish? The awareness of stereotypes was always going to be there, but there

was probably less of an awareness of how harmful it could be to portray those

stereotypes. In this one, the joke is, like, purely on him. You're supposed to

laugh at him for being a Spanish immigrant who doesn't speak the

think he does have an exaggerated foreigner.

I loved Manuel.

I really love Manuel. I can't stress that enough.

But I do think that there are elements of the way that the character of Manuel

is handled that are uncomfortable today.

The Brits would be very condescending towards the Spanish. That was the kind

arrogant way that, in general, that the British felt towards foreigners.

Because we speak English, and if they don't understand English, well, you

what's wrong with them, sort of thing, which is completely unjustified.

It's like belittling him, just making it seem like people that are foreigners,

quote -unquote, because they don't understand, they don't comprehend stuff,

they're slow, they're just there, and the English people are kind of superior.

It was clever in that it highlighted the British attitude, which is archaic when

you think about it, that somehow just because we spoke English we were

I've hoped the wider audience would see that that wasn't supposed to happen.

Well... What do our audience think? I'll definitely give it a clip on it.

If somebody says something and it's funny and it doesn't make no sense, you

don't worry, from Barcelona.

And people still, when they misunderstand things, say, pay.

It's one of the major catch lines from Fawlty Towers. Definitely, Bill.

Good for you.

Coming up, it wasn't just Spanish getting it from both barrels.

Here we go again.

It's pick an Ireland -type week again. And Cleese goes on the defensive.

Where I would disagree with Cleese is the whole you're supposed to laugh at

I'm blown away that that is brave, I suppose.

By the 1970s, television sets were commonplace with over 90 % of UK

owning one.

Quality of the TV was better because there was only three channels.

So the quality of the programme had to be good to attract the viewer.

And now our viewers of Gen Z's and Baby Boomers are binge -watching the entire

12 episodes of Fawlty Towers.

And one of the standout episodes is The Builders.

Battle has yet again made a poor decision.

The poor decision is to bring in builders that he knows to be incompetent

because it's going to save him a few bucks.

And so he has to hide it from Sybil. Now, that's a great little bit of fuel

drive the farce.

The phone's used many times in the series. In this case, this is an

one because he's having a double conversation.

He's talking to O 'Reilly.

whilst pretending to talk to the builder that Sybil wants. Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, it's clever.

It is clever. That's such a comic construction, which works so brilliantly

because Basil sets it up, much to Sybil's disagreement.

If you study comedy, you'll recognize it for what it is.

Okay, we're going to hire in someone who's rubbish. Oh, what's going to

They're going to screw it up. And then we remove anyone with competence that

oversee the rubbish.

And then hilarity into sooth.

And who is the most incompetent character in Fawlty Towers?

Sinolfender Manuel.

I go upstairs.

Ah, sí, easy, easy.

For a little sleep.

It's difficult.

For siesta.

Siesta? A little sleep? Yes.

Ah, same in Spanish.

When a lot of these men come, you must wait for me. What I thought was

interesting here is they wanted to have Manuel deal with a very difficult

situation. So they set it up. So he's there on his own. There's no Sybil.

There's no Basil.

There's no Polly. You are a man with Orly. What?

You Orly men. What does that mean? You Orly. You watch it. We're Orly. What's

going on about?

He means O 'Reilly. What?

Oh.

Yes, that's right, yes. We are Orly men.

We still say Orly men. Should we get the Orly man in? I mean, whatever, plumber

or builder.

Should we get the Orly man in?

I like the scripting there because it means there's no way Manuel's going to

know what needs doing. So it absolutely ensures that later on in the episode

that things have been completely set up.

The cheap O 'Reilly builders from Ireland do indeed make a mess of it,

sends Basil into a panic, knowing Fibble is on her way home.

Rather you than me, Basil.

There's a lot of physicality in Fawlty Towers. There's a lot of hitting.

In it, which I didn't like, but there's one scene that I thought was really well

done.

Initially, you go, whoa, where are you taking

this? Because it's believable. And it's believable because he's been hitting

everybody else up to this point. And he's been beating up Manuel every other

episode. That's quite weird, right? Because there's a big guy going to hit a

woman. You know, it's not an okay thing to do.

So when he got slapped by Polly, I think that seemed perfectly acceptable

because that was a woman fighting back.

And I think we all thought that then.

Oh, good.

She slaps him another three or four times

to snap him out of it. It's actually a really interestingly choreographed

We need that. We need her to slap him back after he went for her. Because even

in 1975, that was a step too far.

Really, really interesting scene.

Cleese and Booth's scripts are often a portal into the life of the 1970s and

wider society.

So why were the builders Irish?

The Irish construction industry in Britain in the 70s, when this was made,

to the fore, and every second builder probably was Irish.

They'd come over from the 30s onwards, and they were helping rebuild Britain

after the war.

And, you know, 12 % of nurses in the NHS were Irish in the 70s. Ireland in the

70s was quite miserable, to be honest. The economy was a ruin in Ireland, like,

for a long time. That's probably why a lot of Irish people up to then had

immigrated to England.

But rather than welcome them with open arms, the Irish immigrants received a

hostile reception.

In general, we were terribly disrespectful to people from Ireland.

who were a part of the backbone of some of the services that we all needed.

There are two stereotypes around Irish people. One is that they're supposed to

be stupid, the other is that they're likely to be involved in the building

trade. There were also lots of jokes about Irish people being stupid, and

was incredibly prevalent in 70s comedy.

You dear fungus -speaker, now hell you're going nice to see you.

Special mention for my mum who's at the tea chaos round the corner by the

cigarette shop.

We're announcing the departure of flight number 0000 to Belfast.

I think.

I do remember programmes in the 70s like Jim Davidson on British TV and he'd

Irish jokes. I was quite offended by them, you know.

Back in the day they had those, which I would consider really offensive.

party Englishman, party Scotsman, party Irishman joke, which you never hear of

anymore. The Englishman is always the default, the norm, the acceptable way of

doing something, whereas the Scotsman is always mean and the Irishman is always

stupid.

The unwarranted prejudice may have originated because many of the young

immigrants were young and only had primary education, as for now.

Most Irish people are on well -paid jobs, and they're pretty much on a par

people in Britain that's not even better educated.

In fact, the complexity of the Irish language speaks to how intelligent they

are. Do you know that they have three different sets of numbers according to

what you're counting?

We only have one.

Ireland is the country that produced Oscar Wilde. Clearly, the idea that a

nation of people are stupid is ridiculous.

But the 1970s IRA bombing campaign added an extra layer of prejudice for Irish

immigrants.

I remember coming to England in 1972 when I first came.

Coming with an Irish registered car would get a lot more attention.

Like, you'd have to be careful where your park is, you know. It immediately

suspicion. It's easy to forget, actually, how full a time it was because

of the trouble between the troubles and the economy.

It was quite dark and quite desolate, so luckily we had comedy to humour us up

with this, I suppose, given the most difficult times.

Ah, yes, back to the comedy, Eugene.

He belongs in the zoo.

You've never given anyone the benefit of the doubt. He's shoddy, he doesn't

care, he's a liar, he's incompetent, he's lazy, he's nothing but an awkwardly

thick Irish joke. Ah, hello, everyone, how funny we were just talking about

And then we got on to another Irish bill we used to know. Oh, God, he was...

Here we go again, that it's pick an Ireland type week again. It very much

perpetuated the stereotypes that existed and it played into them.

Unlike when Basil's talking to the major and the major uses inappropriate words

about the cricketers and Basil goes, I'm not sure I endorse this.

Unlike in that scene, in this scene, Sybil lets loose and there's nobody

to say, that's not okay.

I have seen more intelligent creatures than you lying on their backs at the

bottom of ponds.

I've seen better organised creatures than you running round farm yards with

their heads cut off.

Let's collect your things and get out.

The British people watching would have watched that and gone, oh yeah, so

you know, these are the tropes that we have about the Irish.

And I think that that's something we definitely wouldn't be allowed to get

with now.

He has this incompetent builder who's Irish. I think that's unfortunate.

But the context of when it was written has now moved on.

I was just looking at it as in they were just bad builders and I wasn't really

thinking about maybe like the historical context and stuff.

The bit that did make me laugh was when she was ranting and then the guy walked

in because it was like a funny concept.

But I didn't get any of the, I didn't realise that that was like... Like,

against Irish people, though.

Even with, like, the idea of, like, Basil being a cheap skate and hiring

people, like, that could be funny. It's just, like, he pretends to be this,

like, posh guy that he's hiring, like, the cheapest he can find. But then

they're intertwining the idea of being cheap with being foreign or being Irish

or being Spanish or whatever.

It's degraded.

Yeah.

Did you feel that it was out of order? I felt it was about the character of that

particular builder, not Irish builders in general.

I thought it was just that particular builder. I think at that time, there

a lot of Irish workers that came over.

There were, yeah.

And I think that's where that comes from a bit.

So, did you think we'd make a box job of the builders?

I thought, before I knew the context, I thought it was a bit humorous. But now

that I know the context, I put it on what you guys said. I put it on Kipper.

Do you know what?

It was funny before that, but I'm going to give this one a kipper. Just that bit

where she loses the plot, because I wish she hadn't.

Coming up is just not cricket.

The first time I heard the word racism is when I arrived in the UK.

And things go from bad to worse.

It was one of the most disgusting things we've seen in our time.

For many Gen Zs.

The Brexit referendum was the first time they got to vote. But if you are a baby

boomer, you might be saying... You're joking.

Not another one?

The UK joined the EEC in 1973, and in 75 a referendum asked whether we

should remain in the European Economic Community, which later became the EU,

basically the opposite of Brexit and without the catchy title.

We know that Basil knows about that because he refers to it in one of the

episodes. I didn't vote for it. Of course he didn't vote for it because,

know, he's a little Englander.

You'd had people going on foreign holidays.

That started to happen because basically it became affordable for ordinary

people to go on holiday, for example, to Spain.

And in return it meant Europeans came on holiday to Old Blighty, perhaps to a

seaside hotel in Torquay.

Europeans such as the Germans.

Although it was 30 -odd years since the end of the war, there were still people

within living memory. I wasn't part of it, but my parents were.

What we live by today have been determined by what happened in our

can't erase that history easily. You can't forget the war.

There was a generation that was maybe one, maybe almost two generations

from the war. You're talking about the silent generation and the greatest

generation. who had fought in the war and were getting on a little bit.

How did people not talk about the war more?

The war was closer to people in the 1970s than things I remember as being,

know, Margaret Thatcher was to us now. My father's German.

He grew up post -war. I think that most German people were incredibly

embarrassed and reticent.

and to a certain amount ashamed. My father wasn't born until after the war,

in school he was made to feel guilty for something that he wasn't even a part

of. But clinging to the idea that the British holiday is still alive, Basil

wouldn't turn them away.

May I say how pleased we are to have some Europeans here now that we are on

continent? Can I speak to Dr Finn, please?

I didn't vote for it myself, quite honestly, but now that we're in, I'm

determined to make it work. The whole thing is... beautifully choreographed,

just physically, but also just the linguistics of it, the words of it, and

we get to that point. We start seeing this freedom of movement. And that's

we see in this episode, is these Germans have come to Torquay on holiday. And if

there's one thing Germans love, it's a beach holiday.

But us Brits are famously awkward.

There's always an element of, oh God, the elephant in the corner. Don't say

anything. Oh Christ, it's an elephant and you blurt it out.

Because everybody, you know,

literally don't mention the war.

It would have been awkward. How do we handle them? What do we say? What do we

do? You know, it's kind of awkward to look someone in the face when you've

beaten them at a world war.

Allow me to introduce myself.

I am the owner of Fawlty Towers. And may I welcome your war, your war, you war,

you war, you war.

and hope that your stay will be a happy one.

I think that the writing in the whole German bit is all very complex.

You know, the bit where he goes for the war. I mean, you war, you war, you war,

you war.

That bit was beautifully done. And again, he is the butt of that joke.

You know, he's concussed. He's trying not to mention the war.

Earlier in the episode, Basil had taken multiple blows from different objects,

including the moose.

Listen, don't mention the war.

I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it, all right.

Now, it's all for us now, and let's hear no more about it. So there's two egg

mayonnaise, a prawn gobbled, a herman goreng, and a prawn goreng.

Wait a minute, I got a bit confused. Sorry, I got a bit confused because

everyone keeps mentioning the wars. When you mention Fawlty Towers, the first

thing that they talk about is... They said don't mention the war. That's

yeah. Playing on the idea that this was a taboo between these two groups of

people, I think was quite clever.

The wordplay with it in that scene, the fact that he managed to put the name of

prominent Nazis into popular foodstuff, prawn goebbels, that's

really funny.

I think it's a very, like, British thing to do that, like, awkward, like, you

mention something you're not supposed to mention, and then you end up doing it

50 times over.

I think that's very British humour.

Perhaps the most iconic scene of Fawlty Towers is the climax of the Germans

episode.

Here, watch!

Who's this thing?

Stuck you!

The crowning glory of that scene, which is meant to be really so offensive, is

Basil doing the goose -stepping.

You know why he's doing it and what he's referring to, but yet it's funny seeing

John Cleese do it.

He does an incredible goose -step. I mean, it's an amazing movement of his

I'm trying to cheer him up, you stupid crowd!

It's not funny for her, not for us, not for any German people.

You have absolutely no sense of humor, do you? It's not funny!

Who won the bloody war anyway?

But was making light of the war and her attitudes to Germans funny?

Or big? Or clever?

I don't know if people know this.

Germans love that episode.

My father's favorite episode of Fawlty Towers.

is the germans episode that was an important part of the healing and the

my father was working in in very international settings in the 70s in

said in one workplace he was you know he was their favorite nazi in my opinion i

saw it maybe reflected the the time of when it was filmed that collectively

everyone was trying to process the huge trauma of world war ii the epitome of 40

towers so two bells from me

Cleese's mocking of British awkwardness towards the Germans may have been given

the seal of approval.

And in 2013, when repeating the Germans pre -Watershed, the BBC decides to

censor racial slurs from the major's cricket anecdote. Remember the notorious

scene from earlier.

I don't personally think we should censor. I'm a firm believer in the truth

that what stood then, however flawed, should remain.

But for some, the Major has tainted the legacy of Fawlty Towers.

I always call her Winnie because, well, because she looks like Winnie.

She's not black.

Black?

Churchill wasn't black.

I think the Major was well acted.

I mean, in what he says and his attitude to things, the Major is totally round

the twist.

He's obviously had been badly affected by the war.

It was thought that there were people like that at the time.

The 70s were... A funny time.

It was a time where Britain was very much changing.

And the Major is a man out of his time in this changing country.

I can speak English.

Oh Lord, it's Robbie Poole.

Did you?

Did you?

The Major was absolutely foxed and, you know, perplexed by this.

If it happened to you, you could want to say, why is this animal speaking to me?

And, you know, terribly effectively done.

But there are some who felt that the major's ramblings shouldn't have even

it onto the British primetime TV in the first place. The first time I heard the

word racism is when I arrived in the UK.

Tony Bowery left the West Indies in a boat headed to the UK the day after

Winston Churchill died in 1965.

Once in the UK, Tony settled in Leeds.

My first experience of racism... was in a church in the Leeds Cathedral. At the

end of one service, the local priest came and told me I must go to a church

Chapel Town where my friends are.

Tony became part of what is now known as the Windrush Generation.

The Windrush Generation were invited over to the country to help rebuild the

country from World War II.

And to Tony, it was also an opportunity to get involved in a shared love of

cricket.

This was going to be an opportunity for them to create a new life in a place

where they were going to be accepted and welcomed.

The West Indies cricket team were a formidable force.

They won the inaugural World Cup in 1975, handed to them by Prince Philip.

It was terribly, terribly relevant.

And I think that's what makes, you know, the whole 40 episodes so interesting.

Yes, I think the major would be nicely prejudiced about the West Indies playing

a game and playing it so well when it had a very English root.

Brothers Adnan and Amman, whose parents migrated from India, had similar

experiences. I think they called us the P word and they told us the F of facts

away from and things like that. It is historically recorded that people went

around seeing signs saying no Irish, no blacks, no dogs. That was the degree of

the prejudice. So when Basil... and the Major have these conversations.

And when there are odd references to this, it immediately strikes a chord.

So why did John Cleese and Connie Booth put this on TV?

Well, in Cleese's audio commentary on the Fawlty Towers Blu -ray, he gives us

insight.

There's a lot in this speech.

Listen carefully.

There's a punchline to that in a moment.

Now, wouldn't one get away with that these days? I don't think so.

I don't think so. If you're trying to educate people, I don't think comedy's

medium to try and do that.

In some ways, it's educated the racist because it said these are the words that

you should be using.

Cleves goes on to explain that the major was supposed to be a figure of fun, and

therefore you could make fun of racial attitudes.

If you were worried about it and then didn't do that kind of humor, then a

range of satirical humor would disappear from our culture.

So I don't think that you can edit humor because it may be misunderstood by

idiots. Where I would disagree with... Cleese is the whole, you're supposed to

laugh at him. I think nowadays we would say, no, you're supposed to tell him

off. You're not supposed to laugh at him and go with, and he's silly for using

the wrong words. Why can't you have a bit of fun?

Well, it's not funny.

And Irish know all about it as well, because they've been lamp -owned and

over years.

So it's no different.

I'm blown away that that is brave, I suppose.

Because he's not really doing anything overly clever. He's just saying racism

bad. Like, very, like, subtly, which is, like, not that crazy of a thing to say.

Yeah. No matter how old you are, it's upsetting and it hurts.

Start using N -word.

And it was much worse, I thought, Kate, than taking a punch. I don't think it

was right then. It's not right now, and it never will be.

Coming up, is Fawlty Tower is about to be confined to the dustbin of history?

It was one of the most appalling things I've ever seen.

The year is 1975.

Labour are in power.

Liverpool are embarking on a title -winning season. Rod Stewart is on a

tour. And Fawlty Towers hits out screens for the first time.

Well, may I ask what you were expecting to see? Out of a talky hotel bedroom

window? Sydney Opera House, perhaps?

Hanging gardens of Babylon?

Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically?

I expect to be able to see the thief.

You can see the sea. It's over there between the land and the sky.

She says there's no view, and we can see in the cheap set that there is a view

there.

It's over there between the land and the sky.

It was also quite erudite, right?

What would you expect to see? The hanging guns of Babylon, perhaps?

That's because Cleese was, you know, university educated, so he had all that

his armory.

Fast forward 50 years, Labour are in power, Liverpool top the lead, Rod

Stewart's a little bit less sexy and British comedy fans are treated to a

End reboot of Fawlty Towers. I saw the stage play just a few months ago and

loved it.

It was hilarious.

It was the greatest hits, basically, all together on stage and it worked

perfectly. But rewind five years and a global news story would go on to prompt

the BBC to review some of its back catalogue.

including faulty towers.

So in 2020, George Floyd got murdered, and that triggered a review for the BBC

in which this episode got taken down because of what the major said.

With the horrendous tragedy of the George Floyd murder, that did jolt

people into reassessing how we were portraying different races on

And quite rightly, the George Floyd incident got us talking.

Fawlty Towers regularly tops polls as one of our best -loved sitcoms.

Tonight, UK TV, a channel controlled by the BBC, has confirmed to Newsnight that

it's removed the Don't Mention the War episode.

Oh, my God, did we say that? Was that allowed to happen?

And should we do that? Oh, does that make it... Well, God, that's not funny

anymore. So that was a kind of watershed moment.

John Cleese so stood by his words.

I think that the BBC is a slightly special case.

They do have a little bit more of a responsibility to make sure that all

in the country are feeling serviced by that service.

A month later, a UK TV reinstated the episode.

UK TV is to bring back the Fawlty Towers episode for Germans, saying viewers

will be warned about its content.

Fair enough to say there is language that you won't like and attitudes to

race or other cultural aspects.

You can't rewrite history and you shouldn't.

You can't rewrite history, but you can rewrite the future.

The Fawlty Towers stage play is an amalgamation of three classic Fawlty

episodes, including the Germans, which raised questions about the use of the N

-word in the reversion.

I say don't use it. I don't think there's any case for that in the stage

now.

Cleese was challenged on using the N -word at the press launch for the stage

play. Have you had to airbrush parts of it for modern sensibility?

A couple of things.

And I wouldn't have done it in a perfect world. But you know what social media

is like. People get so excited.

It's not worth the candle. So we changed a couple of the major slides. Nothing

else.

I don't agree with policing of language.

But at the same time, I also don't agree with upsetting people unnecessarily.

So I think he made the right call.

They got it right in not using it.

I think today, where there is so much hard discrimination around, the people

who did the play are quite responsible not to use it in that way.

So where does this leave the legacy of Fawlty Towers?

I think the legacy of Fawlty Towers is that it will go down as one of the most

famous comedies ever on television.

You've got the iconic elements like Basil Fawlty beating the car with the

branch. That's all we've got to be.

I think one of the top moments in British history in terms of comedy.

Our generational viewers awarded 12 bells and 4 kippers.

So I guess it's not completely cancelled.

And the Gen Z's liked it much more than we thought they would. Which goes to

show you, you shouldn't stereotype people for comic purposes.

Even if it is really, really funny.

I think that we can all look back on Fawlty Towers with an 80 -90 % degree of

fun and pride for it being a wonderful British product of British comedy.

But the major, that thing today is incredibly problematic.

I hope you've enjoyed your stay here at Fawlty Towers. And if we notice so much

as a face cloth missing from your room, we will be issuing a warrant for your

immediate arrest.

Good night.

Exploring their spectacular palaces and sprawling estates, Royal Residences, A

Map of Britain is brand new next Saturday at 10 to 8.

From an on -stage royal controversy to the real -life royal reunion that left a

nation divided.

1972, Those Were the Days is next.

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