In May of 2008 we put together one of our free summer evenings. For this one we put together an evening of episodes of Fawlty Towers and with 12 great episodes to choose from it was hard to make the decision of which episodes to bring to the Commemoration Hall stage. The episodes chosen were Basil the Rat, The Hotel Inspectors and the Kipper and the Corpse.
The Kipper and the Corpse
This episode is particularly memorable due to its heavy use of black comedy alongside the traditional farcical elements. After not noticing a Mr Leeman had been feeling unwell Basil brings breakfast in bed to the guest, mistaking the fact he had passed away in the night for simple rudeness. Having forgotten to bring the milk it falls on the more reliable Polly to point out that their guest had in fact died!
Fearing a panic Basil then spends the rest of the day attempting to hide the corpse from the other guests, a task which doesn’t go too smoothly and ends up with him locking a visibly shaken Miss Tibbs in the cupboard of other guests, trying to convince the Major that he hadn’t been shot, waking up Miss Tibbs after she fainted (again) in the office all the while juggling the normal chaos that we’ve come to expect from the establishment. The episode ending famously with Basil escaping whilst hiding inside the laundry basket.
Directed by Jess Hooker
The Cast
Sybil – Bronte Beckett
Basil – Ben Clelland
Polly – Annie Avery
Manuel – David Leverett
Terry – Emma Anderson
Mrs Chase – Alicia Prince
Dr Price – Lizzie Vialls
Mr Leeman – Zoe Ashton
Mr Xerxes – Laura Hammond
Mr Zebedee – Charlotte Nunn
Miss Young – Clarissa Dougherty
Mr White – Sam Harris
Mrs White – Bronte Dyne
The Hotel Inspector
In this episode Basil discovers that Torquay has been host to some hotel inspectors. One of the recent guests, a rather pompous man named Mr Hutchinson has been making more and more unusual requests and after being informed via one of Sybils phone conversations with Audrey that inspectors are in town he immediately assumes it must be Mr Hutchinson. That or Mrs Walt, who he’d just left after mistakenly handing her a piece of paper with the note “p-off” meaning post office.
With the service getting more and more erratic as Basil tries to keep everyone happy there is an element of relief when Basil discovers that Mr Hutchinson is in fact just a spoon salesman and plots his revenge, put on hold due to his theory that if he is not the inspector, Mrs Walt must be. Finding out after a failed attempt to bribe her that Mrs Walt is actually just another salesperson Basil puts his plan into action and shoves pies in the face and crotch of Mr Hutchinson and get Manuel to pour milk into his briefcase before returning to the desk to welcome three well dressed gentlemen….
Directed by Dominic Whitehead and Graeme Hammond
The Cast
Sybil – Sam Harris
Basil – Tomas Mountain
Polly – Dee Jenner
Manuel – Craig Saunders
1st Inspector – Milly Bewsher
2nd Inspector – Clarissa Dougherty
Mr Hutchinson – Andrew Collins
Mrs Walt – Chloe Maxwell
3rd Inspector – Aimee Johnson
Basil the Rat
Our evening finished the same way as the TV series with the classic episode Basil the Rat. After being told that the hotel is not up to a satisfactory standard by Mr Carnegie, the health inspector, he goes to work ensuring that everything is fixed before the inspector returns the next day. When Basil tries to mobilise Manuel he discovers that he has in fact been keeping a rat – under the incorrect assumption it is a hamster – and makes him get rid of it. After Manuel hides it in the shed and lets it out for exercise there’s another health emergency for the staff to deal with.
When the inspector arrives Basil is trying to deal with the major who is hunting the rat with a gun and dealing with a more erratic Manuel and is now struggling to find which piece of veal has got some rat poison on after a mix up with Terry the chef. All the normal mayhem of trying to maintain normal service and keep the now content health inspector happy leads the rat hunt into the dining room, when Basil kindly offers cheese and biscuits to Mr Carnegie they finally find the missing rodent.
Directed by Beryl-Anne Whitehead
The Cast
Sybil – Abbie Myers
Basil – Alex Wales
Polly – Charlotte Russell
Manuel – Michael Hudson
Terry – Matt Valentine
Mr Carnegie – Tom Ashton
Mr Taylor – Callum Pitt
Mrs Taylor – Milly Bewsher
Ronald – Lizzie Vialls
Quentina – Aimee Johnson
In all three productions –
Miss Tibbs – Francesca Stephens
Miss Gatsby – Lizzie Vialls
Major Gowen – Alex Valentine
The Crew
Set Construction – Mike Gledhill and John Anderson
Costumes – Margaret Gledhill
Sound and lights – Adrian Wadey
Front of House – Heather Livermore and Eric Joyce