[TV] Fawlty Towers

[Mellotron]

SECOND most popular UK comedy in 2024 according to NSC...

UK Comedy Cup 2024 Final - Fawlty Towers vs Blackadder

 

[dolphins]

Paul Nicholas was surprisingly great as the Major. He was on fire

I didn't realise it was him until afterwards. I think I still pictured him looking as he did in the 70s!

 

[Arthur]

I saw the show in the West end in December; we were in stitches from start to end. The actors are near-carbon copies of the original characters, so you feel as though you're practically at the original studio audience taping of an episode c. 1975

.

Saw it just before Christmas and left during the interval. Agree the casting and performances of the characters was spot on but it was just three episodes moulded into one and was no diversion away from the original script. Sounds like that's what you were after, I was a little bit disappointed as I thought it could have been done a lot better. Also didn't help having people in the crowd shouting out the punchlines.

The show is still a timeless classic though.

 

[jcdenton08]

Saw it just before Christmas and left during the interval. Agree the casting and performances of the characters was spot on but it was just three episodes moulded into one and was no diversion away from the original script. Sounds like that's what you were after, I was a little bit disappointed as I thought it could have been done a lot better. Also didn't help having people in the crowd shouting out the punchlines.

The show is still a timeless classic though.

This show, in fairness, does seem to have more than its fair share of poorly behaved audiences sadly

 

[Redinpeace]

SECOND most popular UK comedy in 2024 according to NSC...

UK Comedy Cup 2024 Final - Fawlty Towers vs Blackadder

Just looked at this thread, great idea, surprised that Steptoe didn’t make the cut , and a rank outsider with a cult following Nighty Night which is on IPlayer.

 

[happypig]

RD is another classic.

Steptoe and Son is another brilliantly written show, divided we stand where they split the house down the middle or pot black where Harold leans in through the window to play his shot is genius.

"Mind your goolies on the pocket !" Mrs H still says that to me whenever we walk past a pool table.

Anyways, back to Fawlty Towers, when I went to live in Devon in the late 90s I asked a couple of colleagues where they had filmed it and they were adamant it was filmed "somewhere in Daddyhole". We drove round the area and couldn't see it anywhere. Not surprising really as it was filmed in Buckinghamshire.

 

[Peteinblack]

For me, the funniest comedy sketch ever - Basil's sledgehammer sarcasm still makes me laugh today.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Ken Campbell aged 34!!

View attachment 198573

A man who, at the age of 59 was in a relationship with the 26 year old ventriloquist Nina Conti

 

[Eeyore]

On my annual rewatch. 12 episodes of perfection, just masterful. Unsurpassed.

I love all kinds of British comedy, new and old, but there’s something very special about Fawlty Towers.

No matter how many times I’ve seen them, no other show makes me truly belly laugh like this.

I see Hampshire won.

 

[jcdenton08]

I see Hampshire won.

Did it..? Good, good…

 

[jcdenton08]

A man who, at the age of 59 was in a relationship with the 26 year old ventriloquist Nina Conti

Good to know both parties were getting joy from being inside much younger models

 

[Quebec Seagull]

Paul Nicholas was surprisingly great as the Major. He was on fire

Yes! I thought he was even better than Ballard Berkeley in the series.

.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Just looked at this thread, great idea, surprised that Steptoe didn’t make the cut , and a rank outsider with a cult following Nighty Night which is on IPlayer.

I was channel hopping this morning on the radio, and came accross an episode of Steptoe.
I never knew it had been adapted for radio.

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Steptoe and Son - Available now

Available episodes of Steptoe and Son

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Quebec Seagull]

Saw it just before Christmas and left during the interval. Agree the casting and performances of the characters was spot on but it was just three episodes moulded into one and was no diversion away from the original script. Sounds like that's what you were after, I was a little bit disappointed as I thought it could have been done a lot better. Also didn't help having people in the crowd shouting out the punchlines.

The show is still a timeless classic though.

Yes, I think nostalgic Boomers and Gen Xers comprised the entire audience at the matinée I went to. No shouters, thankfully; but everyone was holding their breath at once (you could hear us collectively suck in air!) when a well-known punchline was about to be uttered... then the communal and ecstatic release of laughter.

.

 

[Eeyore]

Ken Campbell aged 34!!

View attachment 198573

He looks 34 though, It's just the hideous haircuts we had back then.

Fawlty Towers will always be a favourite of mine. I often use its quotes in an adulterated way.

A lot of 70s shows have their detractors these days. But in isolation most are still very funny in context of their time. This being one. The other day I saw the opening five minutes of 'On the Buses' mind. It wasn't just all the ists and obias, it just wasn't at all funny. I've enjoyed scabies more.

 

[jcdenton08]

Yes, I think nostalgic Boomers and Gen Xers comprised the entire audience at the matinée I went to. No shouters, thankfully; but everyone was holding their breath at once (you could hear us collectively suck in air!) when a well-known punchline was about to be uttered... then the communal and ecstatic release of laughter.

.

“Who won the bloody war anyway?”

 

[Questions]

I didn't realise it was him until afterwards. I think I still pictured him looking as he did in the 70s!

What happened to Penny ?….I loved her.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

View attachment 198569
"I did once but I think I got away with it"

This near half-century old scene is so famous that you don't even have to explain what Basil is referring to!

My German relatives all love this. Whoever said they didn't have a sense of humour?

 

[jcdenton08]

He looks 34 though, It's just the hideous haircuts we had back then.

Fawlty Towers will always be a favourite of mine. I often use its quotes in an adulterated way.

A lot of 70s shows have their detractors these days. But in isolation most are still very funny in context of their time. This being one. The other day I saw the opening five minutes of 'On the Buses' mind. It wasn't just all the ists and obias, it just wasn't at all funny. I've enjoyed scabies more.

Couldn’t agree more.

Without going too deep into this, Fawlty Towers is a show where everyone can get together and laugh at the silliness. We’re laughing at Basil, we’re rooting for Manuel. The hardest thing they surely had to come up with when writing this was finding an adversary as difficult as Basil (Mrs. Richards).

I think people can very keen to lump “70s sitcoms” in all together, as if there isn’t a difference between Reggie Perrin and trash like Curry and Chips.

Fawlty Towers doesn’t have a mean spirit, it’s mocking white middle England

 

[Questions]

I was channel hopping this morning on the radio, and came accross an episode of Steptoe.
I never knew it had been adapted for radio.

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Steptoe and Son - Available now

Available episodes of Steptoe and Son

www.bbc.co.uk

I think

I was channel hopping this morning on the radio, and came accross an episode of Steptoe.
I never knew it had been adapted for radio.

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Steptoe and Son - Available now

Available episodes of Steptoe and Son

www.bbc.co.uk

I’m pretty sure that Steptoe and son was one of 6 specials that Galton and Simpson wrote about an array of different charecters in a ‘Playhouse’ series... Steptoe and Son got the nod.