When Basil says to the ladies 'you have to go to Gleneagles for dinner tonight' he's referencing the Gleaneagles Hotel in Torquay, the real hotel where the Monty Python team stayed once and John Cleese got the idea for Fawlty Towers due to the eratic manager there.

@MrJohnL21

Жыл бұрын

The manager's name was Donald Sinclair. John Cleese seemed to develop a bit of a fixation about this person because his name crops up in Mr. Cleese's scripts elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Gleneagles Hotel has since been demolished.

@martynclarke5167

Жыл бұрын

@@MrJohnL21 yep, demolished not that long ago, one of the apartment blocks that now stands there is called 'Sachs Lodge', a reference to Andrew Sachs who played Manuel.

@dogwithwigwamz.7320

Жыл бұрын

Great stuff. I love well informed news.

@zimjun7

Жыл бұрын

So that was the place! I remember him saying that he was a "delightfully rude man." hahaha

@sallyannrowlands1154

Жыл бұрын

I've been to see it 😂

There were only supposed to be 6 episodes made but Cleese and Booth decided to write a second series 4 years later. So just 12 we’re made and each one is an absolute classic

@ayethein7681

Жыл бұрын

It's interesting to see the shows with interviews with the actors about the making of the show.

People sometimes post excerpts but that doesn't get it. It's not just the cracking script and the inspired characterisation, but the sheer pace that works the magic. That's why whole episodes are the only way to go, so well done there. David Kelly RIP and well spotted, btw.

These full length reactions are so good. Let's hope they continue.

When Basil strikes Manuel's head against the wall you can see Manuel kicking the bottom of the wall to make the thumping noise his head should make (because it's a wooden stage set piece) and you can see it wobble as he kicks it). This only adds to the physical comedy of the scene.

Manuel was played Andrew Sachs, who is German by birth. He actually has an excellent English accent and was very well known for his career as a voiceover artist 😏👍🏼

@steddie4514

Жыл бұрын

In the dubbed Spanish version Manuel is Italian 🤣

@Fightforyourdreams2024

Жыл бұрын

He is actually Jewish as well. 😊

@neuralwarp

Жыл бұрын

He had a rather nasty telephone prank played on him once by two tv presenters. They never properly apologised.

@martinbaker613

Жыл бұрын

@@neuralwarp Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that... nasty 🤔

@jackal59

Жыл бұрын

@@steddie4514 Not quite. The first time they played the dubbed version in Spain, they kept that Manuel was from Barcelona. There were objections, so they changed it to Mexico City. Also, Sachs dubbed the German version of the show himself; in that one, Manuel had a Bavarian accent.

The actor who plays " O Reilly" here is the Irish award winning actor David Kelly. And yes he was one of the grandfathers in Charlie and the chocolate factory.

So pleased your reacting to fawlty towers, classic 👍

Dennis Compton was a famous England cricketer of the 1940/50s, an era that Fawlty would have liked to have lived in.

Prunella Scales was brilliant.

@misterprecocious2491

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's a shame what happened to her.

@snafu313

Ай бұрын

John Cleese has said in interviews that they had a certain concept in mind for Sybil Fawlty, but when Prunella Scales came in to read for the part, she had a concept very different from what John Cleese and Connie Booth had in mind. They realized that Prunella's concept actually worked much better, and they went with it in the writing.

Nice pickup on the gnome delivery at the beginning callback at the end. This dramatic device is known as "Chekhov's Gnome".

If you recognise the actor David Kelly (Mr O'Reilly) as Grandpa Joe in the 2005 version of Charlie and the Chocolate factory (and well spotted) then you might recognise another, more subtle thing, that materialises in more recent films. In a scene in the second Shrek film, the King (voiced, of course, by Basil Fawlty's actor John Cleese) makes an excuse to the Queen about a "hunting wound" in his leg to distract from the Fairy Godmother. That is a throwback to this and other Fawlty Towers episodes where Basil has convenient, spontaneous "shrapnel pains" in his knee to distract either his wife or an awkward guest when he's in a tricky situation.

@webbsfan1

Жыл бұрын

David Kelly also played a one armed waiter in Robins Nest with Richard O'Sullivan.

@Naylte

Жыл бұрын

He got it in the war. ;P

@Extra_050

Жыл бұрын

@@Naylte Korean, of course.

@tcborg

Жыл бұрын

@@Naylte Dont mention the war!

@curtrupp4259

8 ай бұрын

David Kelly is also in waking Ned Divine

This is one of my favourite episodes but it just gets better and better. A legendary show!! The whole cast are bloody marvellous 😂😂😂

Connor watching you laugh added to the fun. I had tears of laughter running down my face watching that episode - again 😂

The best eps are yet to come! keep watching.

Just wait until you meet Mrs Richards

@booth2710

Жыл бұрын

OMG Yes. Joan Sanderson playing the old battle axe !

@stewedfishproductions7959

Жыл бұрын

"What! What! What...?"

@Naylte

Жыл бұрын

@@booth2710 You're Watt.

Yes please you have got the characters now so much more fine comedy to come.

Actor David Kelly. - well spotted as he was Grandpa Joe in “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” (the 2005 version, not the 1981 version)

@experi-mentalproductions5358

Жыл бұрын

1971

@johnloony68

Жыл бұрын

I wrote 1971. Bloody autocorrect. Grrrr

@Ozzpot

Жыл бұрын

​@@johnloony68 Autocorrect is making me look like a maniac today. I sympathize. 😅

@bernadettelanders7306

Жыл бұрын

@@Ozzpot I was editing stacks a few day ago, drives you nuts doesn’t it 😂. But I see other peoples boo boos and easily work them out - I mightn’t bother fixing mine in future 😂.

@GoEqBro

Жыл бұрын

He also played Michael O’Sullivan in‘Waking Ned Devine’.

I'd love to keep watching these with you. Cheers from Sweden 🤗

Hi Conner, make sure you read tthe hotel sign at the beginning of each episode. There is a different anagram of Fawlty Towers every time.

@karenward267

Жыл бұрын

My favourite was and will always be “Farty Towels”. Pure gold.

@no-oneinparticular7264

Жыл бұрын

I thought it was at the end, my mistake. I didn't see it this episode, did I miss it??

@vilebrequin6923

Жыл бұрын

​@Karen Ward I'll see your Farty Towels and raise you a Flowery Twats!😅

@dorothyramser7805

Жыл бұрын

@@karenward267 you beat me to it!

Fawlty Towers was pure genius. Brilliantly, written & wonderfully acted.

The first two episodes are character setting episodes. The quality really starts to elevate now. Hang in there as it gets into the realm of genius.

The guy you thought was American is English but from the West Country which has a strong Burr, very like the American sound many of the early settlers came from the West Country.

thanks for the reaction it's so fun i love the show and your reactions so combined together is really fun to watch and also it makes me relive memories from fawlty towers so thank you

John Cleese wrote this series together with his then-wife, American actress Connie Booth (Polly). They both say that the experience, the writing, and the acting, wrecked their marriage, it was just too much. Fawlty Towers is a comical masterpiece, perhaps the best ever.

@rde4017

Жыл бұрын

FT is the best sitcom of all time and by a huge country mile!

You're in luck. There is one episode in which the major has a conversation with Manuel who is hidden behind the counter. He thinks he's talking to a moose's head hanging on the wall.

@renejean2523

Жыл бұрын

Japanese, is it?

@GahMehGrrrr

Жыл бұрын

​@@renejean2523😅😂

Always starts light but ends up in a frenzy haha love this show

What I love the most about Fawlty Towers is that none of the lines are spare. Everything anyone says, no matter where in the episode, it is a part of the plot, and it WILL be relevant. The Gnome in this episode is a perfect example of that, but it is equally true in all the other episodes, too.

In an interview for the boxed set, Cleese said he feels this was the least satisfactory of the twelve shows, although everyone else had told him it was a funny as expected. He said they later discovered there had been a visiting group of seventy from the Icelandic broadcasting corporation, and someone had the brilliant idea of putting them all in the front two rows of the audience. Apparently it was recorded in almost complete silence and "just a faint whiff of cod coming from the front row".

Script, casting, action, direction, design, pace, timing… all perfect. Each episode a gem in its own right.

Hi the accent you were unsure about from mr oriely and men and guy who delivered gnome is an Irish accent

I had completely forgotten about Polly continually sketching .

So glad you're finally doing full episodes Connor. 2 episodes in and you're already seeing the writing and characters as it was meant to be. 👌👌🙏🙏

One of the great sitcoms ever made. Every episode is a work of comedy genius. I never tire of rewatching them. I still cry laughing every time.

What a brilliant actress.

Connie Booth was SO sexy in those days (lucky old John Cleese)! And, as an American actress, she did an impeccable English accent. _Fawlty Towers_ is one of the many vintage wines in the British Comedy cellar.

Polly is brilliantly played by American actress Connie Booth. She co-wrote the series with Cleese who she was married to when this T.V. series was made

Great job, Connor. Fawlty Towers is the best.

Correct, sir, that is David Kelly the actor - famous for many roles in Britain and Ireland- but MOST famous for being the Grandfather in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. :)

Thanks so much for reacting to this, it’s wonderful to see an American enjoying something so very, very British ;) x

😂 Sybil and Manuel are my favourite characters.

Beautiful reaction. I don't know how you manage to squeeze all those scenes in 30 minutes. Looking forward to you watching the next episodes.

Keep 'em comin', brother. I'm lovin' it -

Polly asleep on the bed is just the most beautiful sight to behold. She's so lovely. Fell in love then & I still am now.

@Maesterful

Жыл бұрын

Yeah she was a beaut. Seeing her undressing in the wedding party episode never gets old 😅

I visited my friend in Barcelona when this series was running. They had it in Spanish! But Maunuel was Italian!

😂😂😂👏👏👏. Great reaction as always dude 👍👍

Connie Booth has an excellent English accent. I never realised she was American - at least not years ago.

Once you get to know the characters, you'll want to go back and rewatch the early episodes... It's a great show like that, there's no "pilot" they work in any order Always pleased to see someone discover the classics, keep it up Mac

This just gets better and better. "Basil the Rat," the last episode, is a comic explosion.

Best scripts ever. Each line is a gem

My favourite episode, 'The Rat', features the Major a little more 😂

Preemptive like, been looking forward to this!!

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did when I first watched them, Connor.

I literally can’t wait to see your further reactions 😊

Watching someone's reactions to this classic British humor really adds another element to it. The BEST is yet to come.

Keep uploading these episodes.

You're right, its Grandpa Joe

Surprised you're getting away with showing so much. Keep it up!

My favourite comedy series

Good catch! That is indeed David Kelly asthe hopelessly incompetent O'Reilly.

When I was in halls at university in the md-1980s, there'd be periodic 'Fawlty Towers' evenings when as many of us as possible would crowd around an aging 32-inch CRT-type TV and VCR in one of the communal rooms, to watch back-to-back episodes across an evening, even though we all know them word-for-word! Try to watch 'Gourmet Night' which is, I think, next in season one and is one of the best of all (as is 'The Kipper and the Corpse').

Probably the best comic show ever!

Great way to rewatch this legendary comedy show. Do go on! Basil!!!!

well done the only reviewer able to show full epidodes. probably the funnuest series ever on british television

When this series first aired, Prunella Scales (Sybil) was considered something of a sex symbol.

Polly was American but she didn't have the strongest accent so you might not have noticed. The actress was American and married to John Cleese in real life

Sybil Fawlty / Prunella Scales , my all time secret / odd crush . She's lovely x

@madalinam6183

Жыл бұрын

I loved her in this so much. It's easy to laugh at Basil but I always pitied Sybil. Speaking of crushes, I have an enduring crush on her son, Samuel West.

He’s from Ireland he’s Grandpa Joe in Charlie & the chocolate factory ( with Johnny Depp ) as Mr Wonka

The guy you were asking about is Irish.

The funniest TV show ever to come out of Britain.

Also the one after this S01E03 "The Wedding Party" is really good!

Excellent 👍

Loving these full length reactions, man. You should do the same with YES MINISTER/PRIME MINISTER.

It is a classic so few episodes made, in real life, John Cleese was married to Polly the maid, there is a funny episode with the talking moose head

#1 again !

McJibbin---I hope you are able to watch the last 10 minutes, even more chaos ensues, famously, when Basils Car fails him completely. You must watch, when the psychiatrist stays at the hotel

This is actually based on a true hotel manager his name is Donald sinclair born in torbay Devon 1909 served in WWII

This first series came out in 1975. The year that Generalissimo Franco died. I think it was after this episode aired or nobody had broken the news to Manuel yet.

Brilliant

P Scales. Lovely. ❤

If you hear Jeremy Clarkson saying, "Oh spiffing!" in a sarcastic way, it is a Fawlty Towers reference. [not from this ep]

I am so so chuffed that you’re FINALLY watching this!!

John Cleese and Connie Booth spent months writing these in meticulous detail. The BBC filmed it on one night, in long takes, in a 90min slot on a budget of almost nothing. The way the BBC made shows never made any sense.

So much in only 30 minutes

Jack Albertson. a Yank, played grampa in Charlie and the chocolate factory.

Classic the wonderful Andrew Sachs, Manuel RIP. Two wonderful Gentle sit down on a sofa with a cuppa or a glass of wine or a beer gentle cuddle up shows watch with a loved one, on a setee Bob Mortimer Paul Whitehouse gone Fishing and McKenzie crooks wonderful The detectorists beuiifull British humour made with a lot of Love ❤❤😂😊 ❤😂🇬🇧

You might try other shows: Honeymooners Classic 39 comes to mind.

O Reilly - Ireland. Which Charlie and the CF? Fawlty is from the 70s

@stewedfishproductions7959

Жыл бұрын

In the 2005 Johnny Depp 'C & the CF' - David Kelly (Irish Actor) played 'Grandpa Joe'...

Brilliant!😂😅

i LOVED Fawlty Towers when i was young .. i allmost died ... loling from it :o ! xD

Chekhov's garden gnome.

God bless America 🇺🇸 and God save Britain 🇬🇧 Nobody else is going to do it!

What is so interesting in how an American reacts to British comedy? I honestly do not think I have seen one channel of the other way around.

He's Irish, and the builders are supposed to be Irish too. Someone who has the name Murphy is called spud. That's the man with beard.

This works well. Like your reactions. You should try “the fast show” Don’t think anyone is reacting to it yet.

McJibbin, you need to go straight to S02E03 "Waldorf Salad" after this. Featuring an American guest with his English wife.

Luv yer.👍💪❤🙏

You should watch a show called "bottom" it's just as hilarious as Fawlty Towers but it is a different kind of comedy

Funny how when the guy comes in with the gnome, you immediately said "American". He has a typical West Country accent which means rhoticity "rolling of the rs" which is the main way British accents evolved away from American accents, yet American accents kept this aspect from their initial colony accents. The West Country accent in England still kept this, but if you listen longer, it's still very much British and not the modern day American accent. Also you might notice he calls manuel a "dago twit" which these days would be considered racist. Later on in the series the chef calls Manuel a "wog"- also another racist insult but considered normal in those days

@ftumschk

Жыл бұрын

I think "wog" came from the Major, when referring to a certain cricket team in a future episode. However, both Basil and Polly will refer to Manuel as a "dago dodo/birdbrain" on separate occasions.

@jehanariyaratnam2874

Жыл бұрын

@@ftumschk yeah Major says "niggers are the West Indians, these people are wogs", Basils reaction to that is hilarious- it's like he's thinking "this old fool" But chef Terry also refers to Manuel as "mother boy wog" or something to that effect when they're fighting over who makes the Paella. It was accepted language in those days, and we shouldn't have a problem with it, people are more conscious of that sort of thing now which is good but it's funny watching this stuff 40 years on

@ftumschk

Жыл бұрын

@@jehanariyaratnam2874 Ah, the great paella debate! We don't get to hear Terry say those words, but Manuel complains that Terry called him an "ignorant wog mother-boy clump", obviously mis-hearing what Terry had actually said. It was probably something closer to "ignorant wop [not wog] motherfxxx cxxt" :)

Did you know that Basil (the propietor) is married in real life with Polly (the assistant) and not as you might think with Sibil in the show?