# Fawlty Towers (1975)

> A short-tempered hotel owner and his long-suffering wife struggle to run their seaside guesthouse amid a parade of demanding guests and escalating farce.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/2092

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Connie Booth, John Cleese
- Network: BBC Two
- Cast: John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Connie Booth, Andrew Sachs, Ballard Berkeley, Brian Hall, Gilly Flower, Renee Roberts
- TMDB rating: 8.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072500/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: farcical, sardonic, deadpan, breezy, irreverent

## What critics say

Widely acclaimed as a comic masterpiece, with audiences praising its farce, John Cleese's performance and its endlessly quotable lines.

## Synopsis

Fawlty Towers (1975-1979) is a British BBC Two sitcom created by John Cleese and Connie Booth. John Cleese plays Basil Fawlty, a snobbish, short-tempered owner of a small seaside hotel in Torquay, Devon, who is constantly undone by his own pride and paranoia. Prunella Scales plays his sharp-tongued wife Sybil, who tries to keep him from disaster, while Andrew Sachs plays Manuel, the Spanish waiter whose language troubles often make things worse. Connie Booth plays chambermaid Polly, the sensible voice among the chaos. The engine of each episode is simple and relentless: Basil wants his hotel to seem respectable and his guests to be satisfied, and every attempt to manage a demanding or eccentric guest spirals into escalating farce. The show is built from two seasons of six episodes each, with a self-contained story per episode and recurring characters such as Major Gowen and Miss Tibbs. Its tone is brisk, sardonic and slapstick-driven, with deadpan wit and sharp verbal comedy. Set in 1970s England, it is a classic British sitcom with a farcical, anarchic energy. Fans of The Office (UK), Keeping Up Appearances and Blackadder will find resonance in its embarrassment comedy and volatile central character.

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