Revisiting Fawlty Towers.

[mjwilson]

I don't think Basil would ever say anything about a piece of abstract art that he hadn't read off a card stuck on the gallery wall.

[Gurke and Hare]

...And he even has an action figure!:

There must be some dolls clothes you could buy to turn that into a Mr Hamilton action figure (R@RE! L@@K!), right?

[nec1974]

Bruce Boa plays a right wing American politician who gets assassinated in an episode of the Professionals (Heroes). He's not in it for long but gives it the full Mr Hamilton throughout ("Is this some kinda joke?").

[Jim Bob]

I don't think Basil would ever say anything about a piece of abstract art that he hadn't read off a card stuck on the gallery wall.

Agreed.  One need only look to the episode where Bazil completely fails to see the worth in Polly's drawing of garbage exploding from the neckhole of a suit and tie (much less the fact that it's obviously representative of Basil himself), to see that he has no time, nor appreciation for abstract art.

[famethrowa]

I think you'll find that's a slightly older Gavin Millarrrrrrrrrr

[Phil_A]

And among other things he's also in The Empire Strikes Back:



...And he even has an action figure!:



I've collected Star Wars figures from all over the world, but this is the crummiest action figure I evah seen!

That's actually part of the John Kerry Extended Universe range

[Glebe]

RIP Gay Byrne.

[Glebe]

Still don't think it's an intentional Fourth Wall break.

[Glebe]

So it's time to explore the FT-Terry and June connection... Ballard Berkeley appeared in two TaJ episodes ('Swingtime' and 'They Also Serve') as two different characters (both a bit dappy like the Major, of course), but Alan Cuthbertson, who played Colonel Hall in 'Gourmet Night', was a regular as snooty neighbour Tarquin Spry from series 3-6... and thanks to Wiki, I've discovered that Diana King, who played Mrs. Lloyd in 'The Wedding Party',  played his wife Melinda in series 5 and 6 (I thought she looked familiar). The lovely Sabina Franklyn, who played Quentina in 'Basil the Rat', appears as a young woman Terry flirts with (for shame!) on a train in TaJ episode 'Thanks for the Memory'. Also, Gilly Flower (Miss Tibbs) appeared in TaJ episode 'The Auction', while according to Wiki/IMDb, Jeffrey Sega,l who played Mr. Heath in 'Gourmet Night', has a voice-only role in TaJ episode 'Eyeball, Eyeball' (the infamous CB radio one).

The most surprizing thing Wiki has thrown up for me, however, is that Renee Roberts, who played Miss Gatsby, is the mother of Rosemary Frankau, who played Terry's shifty friend and work superior Malcolm's wife Beattie in all nine series of TaJ!

Some other things from Wiki and that... didn't realise that the actress you played Mrs. Abbott in 'The Psychiatrist', Elspet Gray, played the Queen/Blackadder's Mum in The Black Adder... thought the actress who played Mrs. Arrad (Stella Tanner) in 'Waldorf Salad' was the actress who played Vivian's Mum in The Young Ones and Mrs. Scratchit in Blackadder's Christmas Carol, but that's Pauline Melville.

Louis Mahoney, who plays Dr. Finn in 'The Germans', is still truckin' and appeared in Tom Hanks-starrer Captain Phillips a few years back, while Nicky Henson, who played Mr. Johnson in 'The Psychiatrist', has appeared in the likes of Vera Drake and George Clooney vehicle Syriana in recent years.

Oh yeah, and I imagine a number of you boffins are already aware of this, but I was surprised to discover that Kurt actor Steve Plytas played the plastic Surgeon in Batman ('89)!:

[Jerzy Bondov]

I only recently realised it's Robin Ellis, first incarnation of Poldark, as Danny Brown the undercover cop in A Touch of Class. Poldark started just a few weeks after A Touch of Class aired. I found Ellis reminiscing on his blog:

This weekend the classic comedy series Fawlty Towers celebrates its 40th birthday!

In December 1974 John Cleese cast me as cockney detective Danny Brown in the pilot episode of the series that is now celebrated as one of the great comedy shows of TV history.

Quite why he cast me I have never been able to figure out–until this morning!

The only time I'd met him before was when we were both in an undergraduate production of Much Ado About Nothing directed by Trevor Nunn at Cambridge University in 1961. Although we were both in the same scene–Act IV Scene II–I can't remember spending any time with him.

He was on the comedy side of university theatre in The Footlights and I was on the straight side, the ADC–the Amateur Dramatic Club.

This morning I pulled out my volume of The Works of Shakespeare (purchased, second hand, in 1960)–and looked up the scene.

John played a member of the Watch (comedy) and I was Borachio (straight)–a henchman of the villainous Don John.

Borachio and his fellow fixer, Conrad, are being arraigned by Constable Dogberry, having been caught red-handed by members of the watch.

Was John so impressed with my cockney accent that 13 years later he reincarnated a reformed Borachio as Detective Danny Brown?!

I was too nervous to ask him in rehearsal–seems the likely explanation though.

A week's TV work just before Christmas after three years earning peanuts in the theatre was very welcome.

But it involved recording in front of a studio audience–something I'd never done–and I was nervous!

Snooty Basil didn't like having his hotel foyer polluted with Danny's broad Cockney accent, but was forced to show him a bit of respect when, failing to make Manuel–the waiter–understand his instructions to take the luggage upstairs–Danny steps into the breach with a surprising display of fluent Spanish.

I don't speak Spanish–so I learned the lines by rote.

Come the "take"–nails biting into my palms–I managed a faultless rendition of the Spanish lines–only to be told by the floor manager that there was a camera in shot–and we would have to go again!

AAGH!

There I am on the DVD, speaking fluent Spanish, so I must have managed it again–but I have no memory of it!

I had just been cast as Ross Poldark and after Christmas began work on the epic that changed my life.

It wasn't the end of Fawlty Towers for me though.

The pilot was approved and the series got the go-ahead. Six half-hour episodes were in the can, but a late plot change involving Polly–played by Connie Booth, John's writing partner and wife at the time–meant they had to re-record part of my dinner scene exchange with Polly.

My hair had grown and changed color for Poldark–so for one afternoon at Television Centre in mid-summer, they dyed my hair dark brown and pinned it up at the back–and I was briefly Cockney Danny Brown again.

I just read a newspaper piece about the anniversary, in which actor Nicky Henson, who appeared in a later episode, rejoices that 40 years later the residuals (those were the days!) are still enhancing his pension.

I concur–we were lucky boys!

I doubt playing Borachio has ever paid off so well in the life of an actor!

Does anyone know what the plot was before they reshot part of the pilot?

[neveragain]

I believe it was simply to change Polly from a philosophy student to an art student (reflected in the dialogue).

[Jim Bob]

I believe it was simply to change Polly from a philosophy student to an art student (reflected in the dialogue).

And to make it more clear that she's an American.

[sheddyian]

And to make it more clear that she's an American.

Mistakenly replied to wrong reply. Ignore this. I have a cold.

[sheddyian]

And to make it more clear that she's an American.

On the Cleese commentary/intro to each audio episode on the CD versions of the original BBC records/tapes, he says as much. The pilot had Connie Booth as a philosophy student, and in the intro Cleese says (as I recall) that Connie wasn't happy with the character and so she was changed to be an artist/art student.

Not sure if the 3-5 minute brief introduction/commentaries on the CD issues of Fawlty Towers are available anywhere else (or where they originated from) but they offer some little insights to the recordings.

Cleese observes that the audience hardly laughed at one episode, blames it on foreign dignitaries given tickets but didn't understand English, and admits to laughter being tweaked a little.

Also insights into the pacing of episodes, and writing process.

[sheddyian]

I still got reply wrong. I'm an idiot and I am Ill.

Reply was about Polly's character change from philosopher to artist/art student.

I don't recall Cleese discussing Polly being American or English on the audio CD intros.

[Kelvin]

I don't recall Cleese discussing Polly being American or English on the audio CD intros.

I don't even remember it being mentioned in the show, other than the time he does an "Aw gee, Mr Fawlty" pisstake of her accent.

[Virgo76]

I seem to remember Rory McGrath doesn't rate FT at all.
Not that I'd want to kick a man when he's down or anything.

[David Pielingtonburygrot]

I seem to remember Rory McGrath doesn't rate FT at all.
Not that I'd want to kick a man when he's down or anything.

Yes, McGrath was first exposed to Fawlty Towers on "I've never seen Star Wars" and was hugely unimpressed with it, presumably thought he would've done much better.

[Captain Z]

Polly definitely sounds American when she tells Basil to 'fuck off' in the scene where they're arguing about Pete Best's album.

[Gurke and Hare]

"It's a P isn't it?"
"I suppose so."
"P Off!"
"I beg your pardon?"

[SteK]

"It's a P isn't it?"
"I suppose so."
"P Off!"
"I beg your pardon?"

Who ever heard of a Bost Office?

[oy vey]

Here I'll write it down for you.

[Dogbeard]

I've been watching the Cleese commentaries thanks to this thread, and they are really great: very candid and frank, both on the positive and negative aspects. It's very interesting to hear his criticisms of how certain things were done, including by him in both a writing and acting sense, and as such you don't mind at all when he bigs himself up for doing something particularly well.

It's kind of weird to hear him lusting after Connie Booth while watching ("Look at her... no wonder I fell in love with her"), but at the same time one can't help but agree.

Are the commentaries by the other person (can't remember who it is) any good also?

[neveragain]

By the director? I remember them being dull and full of silences.

[Satchmo Distel]

How much authority did the director have when instructing actors who wrote the script?

[Jim Bob]

By the director? I remember them being dull and full of silences.

Indeed.  It is by far the worst commentary track that I've ever listened to (I made it 2 episodes in and gave up, because it was so bad and I'm generally a sucker for commentary tracks).  Whole stretches of 5 to 10 minutes will go by, without him saying a word.  If you're lucky, you might get a mention of an actor's name.  For the most part, it's nowt but silence and coughs.

[neveragain]

And what was worse, on the original DVD releases, if you selected his commentary the audio for the actual episode was muted.

[Jim Bob]

And what was worse, on the original DVD releases, if you selected his commentary the audio for the actual episode was muted.

Ah, yes, that's right!  I remember having to play it back on my PS3 at x1.5 speed to try and skip through the long stretches of silence as quickly as possible.  Worst. Commentary. Ever.

[Dusty Substance]

Yes, McGrath was first exposed to Fawlty Towers on "I've never seen Star Wars" and was hugely unimpressed with it, presumably thought he would've done much better.

Yeah, me too. And that's definitely the only time the phrase "me too" can apply to something related to Rory McGrath. Definitely.

[Dogbeard]

I'll avoid those, then! Glad in a way. Too much stuff to watch these days, especially when you factor in extras and stuff.