‘You Snobs! You Stupid… Stuck-Up… Toffee-Nosed… Half-Witted… Upper-Class Piles of… Pus!’ Basil Fawlty’s Touch of Class and Other Hotel Matters in Fawlty Towers

Abstract

Despite being very short-lived and not airing too often, Fawlty Towers (BBC2 1975–1979) is recognised as one of the greatest British TV shows of all time and regularly makes it onto lists of the best and/or most-loved shows and/or sitcoms on British TV. It was voted number one in the British Film Institute’s 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000, and then in 2004 it was ranked number five in the BBC British Comedy Guide’s list of Top 50 British Sitcoms. In April 1982, the two episodes of Fawlty Towers used as training films won a Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, while in May 2003 Basil Fawlty was recognised as the most ‘Monstrous Boss on British’ TV by the UK Satellite Channel UK Gold, just beating David Brent from The Office (BBC2/BBC1 2001–2003). The show has aired in over 60 countries, in places like Tonga, China, Pakistan, Latvia, Malta and Denmark (‘Fawlty Towers’ TV Com).