Only twelve to choose from...

With Fawlty Towers, the hardest part was trying to decide which two episodes to show Abigoliah. I wanted one from each of the two seasons, and I do think generally season two is more consistent than season one. So, then it’s obvious, right? The Germans from season one and Communication Problems (with Joan Sanderson as the deaf Mrs Richards) from season two. My favourite episodes, and obvious stand-outs from twelve pretty amazing television half hours.

Except that… I want Abigoliah to love it, and if those are the best two (and they probably are) then it will be downhill from here. A gentle downward slope, but downwards nevertheless. Also, these are two of the three episodes which have been mashed together to form the stage play, and maybe we’ll do a field trip to see that one day. Okay, so we scrap those two, and The Hotel Inspectors, also used for the stage play.

From season one, I’m now drawn to Gourmet Night, which is one of the ones where I feel almost too much for Basil (along with The Anniversary Party which is my least favourite by some distance, and John Cleese’s favourite – make of that what you will). But it has an amazing punchline and it includes the famous beating-the-car-with-a-branch sequence which is not only very funny, it’s also a good insight into Cleese’s comedy mind. On location, with time running out, he insisted on trying something like a dozen different branches, realising that if the instrument of vehicular discipline was too floppy then the scene would lack power, but if it was too rigid, then it would be grim.

Then for season two, I went for The Psychiatrist, with its wonderful escalating farce and its spectacular moment of Basil finally venting his fury at Sybil “Listen you rancorous, coiffured old sow…” Except… some of this feels a bit old-fashioned, and that pivotal scene would mean more after spending more time with the characters. Speaking of which, there’s precious little for Manuel here, or in Gourmet Night for that matter. And why am I showing her these two when we could be watching Basil the Rat or The Kipper and the Corpse?

Okay, The Kipper and The Corpse is in, but I still need something from season one. A Touch of Class feels like the pilot that it is, I’m not the hugest fan of The Builders, we’re saving The Germans, and The Wedding Party has that same old-fashioned attitude to sex that was the reason for excluding The Psychiatrist. Oh, to hell with it, let’s go for The Hotel Inspectors. It’s quintessential Fawlty Towers, it has good stuff for Manuel and it has Bernard Cribbins in it.

What it doesn’t show off is a comedy writing technique which Cleese and Connie Booth really perfected, and which is seen most clearly in Communication Problems. The set-up and payoff is a well know device, but Cleese stressed the importance of not letting the audience catch you setting up the elements you are going to depend on later, and explained that when writing Fawlty Towers, they would cover their tracks by putting all their best jokes into the set-up scene.

In Communication Problems, an entirely superfluous scene sees Basil reminding Manuel that his visit to the betting shop on Basil’s behalf is a secret. The scene contains not a scrap of new plot information but is stuffed with brilliant one-liners to ensure not just that we remember it, but that we also don’t realise why we have to remember it.

BASIL: You know nothing about the horse.
MANUEL: Which horse? Which horse I know nothing?
BASIL: My horse, nitwit.
MANUEL: Your horse “nitwit”.
BASIL: No, no, “Dragonfly”.
MANUEL: It won!
BASIL: Yes, I know.
MANUEL: I know it won too. I go to betting shop for you…
BASIL: Yes, I know, I know, I know.
MANUEL: Then why you say I know nothing?
BASIL: Oh… Look, you know the horse?
MANUEL: Er, Nitwit or Dragonfly?
BASIL: Dragonfly! There isn’t a horse called Nitw… You’re the nitwit.
MANUEL: What is “witnit”?
BASIL: It doesn’t matter. Oh, I could spend the rest of my life having this conversation. Please, please try to understand before one of us dies…

And so on, for another minute or so. At the end of the programme, Basil needs to prove to vile Mrs Richards that the money is his, and so summons Manuel to explain where it came from. Manuel clears his throat, and to Basil’s horror, proclaims “I know nothing!”

Masterly stuff. But Abigoliah can watch that on her own time.

If you’d like to hear her reactions to the two episodes I did choose, the latest edition of All British Comedy Explained is out now.