The legendary 1970s television sitcom, Fawlty Towers, has been ranked first on the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. Now, news of a planned reboot of the series has sent fans into a nostalgia frenzy.
The BBC comedy about Basil Fawlty, the manic owner of a seaside hotel, has delighted viewers for almost 50 years. The writers, John Cleese and his former wife Connie Booth, set the action in a fictional hotel known as Fawlty Towers in Torquay.
The show won three British Academy Television Awards, two for best-scripted comedy and one for Cleese for best entertainment performance.
Basil (played by Cleese) and his wife Sybil are helped and hindered by their staff including chambermaid Polly (Booth) and Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). None of them were suited to work in the hospitality industry.
Much of the humour arises from the erratic behaviour of Basil Fawlty, who has no regard for health and safety regulations, even when a guest dies in one episode and Manuel's pet rat runs loose around the hotel in another!
Although only 12 Fawlty Towers episodes were made, spanning series one in 1975 and series two in 1979, it has gone down in television history.
Fawlty Towers new series
Recently, there have been rumours that Fawlty Towers is being revived, with a new twist, by Cleese. The rights to the show have reportedly been acquired by Castle Rock Entertainment, the team behind Seinfeld.
The new series is expected to begin just after Sybil's death. Following her funeral, Basil decides to go to the Caribbean to visit his illegitimate daughter - the result of a secret affair with a guest, years before. Cleese said she would "probably be a hotelier" running a small boutique hotel.
Memories of Fawlty Towers
Basil and Sybil attempt to run the hotel amid ongoing farcical situations, thanks to the eccentric and demanding guests, staff and tradespeople.
Cleese said the idea for the show was inspired by his stay at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon, in 1970, with other members of the Monty Python team. He described hotel proprietor Donald Sinclair (who inspired Basil Fawlty) as treating guests like he didn't really want them to be there.
Basil Fawlty and Manuel had a unique relationship. Manuel had only a limited understanding of the English language and this was a cause for many misunderstandings. Basil claimed to speak Spanish but struggled to understand much of what Manuel said.
Basil blamed this on Manuel's "strange dialect", rather than his own lack of knowledge, but was found out when a guest conversed fluently with the Spanish waiter. Basil immediately labelled the guest as "working class", displaying his snobbery and unwillingness to admit he was wrong.
Thinking he could "run a first-rate hotel" if all the guests would stop "getting in the way"; Cleese said Basil was an "awful human being", but because he made people laugh, viewers felt "unaccountably affectionate" towards him.
Dining room door missing
Every episode featured its own mishaps, but some were quite spectacular. In episode two of the first series, broadcast on 26th September 1975, incompetent builders carried out disastrous maintenance work on the hotel lobby while Basil and Sybil were away on holiday.
Basil knew he was to blame, as he'd tried to get the work carried out cheaply, without telling Sybil, who wanted to hire a respectable and trustworthy tradesman. The couple had left the hotel in Polly and Manuel's care, which was bound to end badly.
When Basil returned, he noticed the dining room door had disappeared, leaving guests having to squeeze through the kitchen to go for their meals. Basil had to try and rectify the matter quickly, before Sybil found out, so he threatened the builders with a garden gnome to try and persuade them to return!
Hotel inspectors
In episode four of series one, broadcast on 10th October 1975, Basil heard that undercover hotel inspectors were visiting Torquay. He had been verbally abusing the guests in his usual manner, but realised, to his horror, any one of them could be an inspector!
Becoming obsessed with which guests could be the inspectors, he suspected the wrong people, which fuelled his growing frustration.
In episode 12 of series two, broadcast on 25th October 1979, an inspector of another kind visited Fawlty Towers when the local health department called. The inspector compiled a list of hygiene issues that Fawlty Towers must resolve before his next visit, or they could face closure. However, to make matters worse, Manuel's pet rat escaped from his cage and began running riot around the hotel. The staff tried to catch the rodent before the inspector spotted it.
An additional worry was the fact one of the veal cutlets for the guests' dinner was accidentally coated in rat poison! Instead of throwing them all away, the thrifty but foolhardy staff tried to discover which were safe to eat.
Success in the hospitality sector
While the fictional Fawlty Towers always seemed to be full of guests, in the real world, such a blatant disregard for health and safety regulations would have led to its closure quite quickly. Having no dining room door, as in Fawlty Towers, leaving guests entering via a potentially hazardous hotel kitchen, would certainly never be allowed!
In order to run a successful hotel or restaurant, one of the key considerations is keeping your guests safe. The health and safety of staff and visitors is crucial, especially when serving food and drink. UK regulations, such as the Food Safety Act 1990, govern venues involved in the preparation and sale of food. Staff must take the necessary precautions to prevent cross-contamination and germs from spreading, so they usually wear protective gloves.
Although not a legal requirement, gloves should always be worn if the employee has a cut on their hands. They must be changed regularly, especially after handling raw foods, which is why disposable gloves are a good option.
The most common cause of food poisoning among holidaymakers in the UK is food that contains bacteria caused by cross-contamination or inadequate cooking, according to research. The most prevalent types of bacteria are E. coli, campylobacter and salmonella.
Keep guests happy
An understanding of safety rules should always be your main aim, while making sure hygiene and cleanliness are maintained throughout your property. In addition, check that all smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors are in good order.
Keep guests happy by ensuring room service is up to date and give them the expected complimentary items in their room, such as shampoo and soap.
If you run a hotel or B&B, don't let it turn into Fawlty Towers! While we enjoy laughing at Basil Fawlty's comedy antics on TV, if we encountered him in real life, he wouldn't be quite so popular.