Revisiting Fawlty Towers.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

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.

Didn't he say it was because of the bad racism with the Major and his cricket tales? It came across like he was trying too hard to be woke, or whatever the equivalent was back then.

[DrGreggles]

It came across like he was trying too hard to be woke, or whatever the equivalent was back then.

I believe it was 'woman-beating drunk'.

[Bennett Brauer]

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.

To be fair he had a tough childhood.

[David Pielingtonburygrot]

Didn't he say it was because of the bad racism with the Major and his cricket tales? It came across like he was trying too hard to be woke, or whatever the equivalent was back then.

I don't remember that (although he may have said it). They showed a clip of the Gourmet Night scene where Basil melts down over having to introduce the Twitchens to the Halls. McGrath didn't think it was good enough.

[Dusty Substance]

Nicky Henson, who played Mr. Johnson in The Psychiatrists, as well as being the former Mr. Una Stubbs, has gone to the big Torquay Hotel in the sky: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-50807031

[Jim Bob]

[Nicky Henson] stated that despite his 50 years of professional acting, his tombstone will probably read "Here lies Nicky Henson – he was in one episode of Fawlty Towers".

[Glebe]

Aw, sad news. Hope he's enjoying a glass of champagne up there.

[oy vey]

With one glass. Unless Cleese wants to join him.

[Glebe]

With one glass. Unless Cleese wants to join him.

Not while he's on the job!

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

"Mort, moi?"

[Glebe]

DVD Beaver Blu-ray review.

Clean, fairly sharp looking picture.

[Bennett Brauer]

DVD Beaver Blu-ray review.

Clean, fairly sharp looking picture.

Not true HD as the DVD back cover claims, and the extras seem to be generally the same as for the DVD release.

There does seem to be a definite visual improvement though - eg you can tell the rat in the biscuit tin is fake. That was a joke

[Rich Uncle Skeleton]

Yeah googled the blu ray as soon as I saw glebes post as I had no idea they were even doing one and one of the first results says this

[No the outdoor 16mm hasn't been remastered in HD.] This is an upscale of the same masters used for the DVD version, so no, the film has not been replaced in actual HD. Anyone expecting restoration of the level used on Monty Python's Flying Circus is going to be sorely disappointed.

They're right that is a disappointment and my excitement is immediately gone haha. However despite only knowing about it for 5 seconds my expectations were definitely high simply because of the praise for the python set like they said. Surprised the BBC appear to have really half assed it given how they'll have seen the work that went into the python set too.

[Glebe]

Oh yeah there was an episode of George & Mildred on ITV3 the other morning, featuring David Neville, who played toffee-nosed Ronald in 'Basil the Rat' as a very similar, cravat-wearing snob called Roland.

Oh yeah, and there was an episode of Porridge on GOLD the other night, with the late John Quarmby (Mr. Carnegie the health inspector, from the same episode, of course) as a prison guard.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

"MRS RICHARDS! YOUR GLASSES ARE THERE!" (looks at Polly with huge, irritated sigh)

And the little moment at the end of the "is this a piece of your brain?" scene when Basil puts his arm on Sybil's hip and says "Seriously Sybil, do you remember, when we were first... manacled together, we used to laugh quite a lot." There's a wistfulness to it that's lovely.

[neveragain]

I heard somewhere (forget where) that the 'piece of your brain' line was suggested by Andrew Sachs.

[lankyguy95]

I might be wrong but I think it was improvised by Cleese in a rehearsal and Sachs insisted that he do it on the night.

[Glebe]

Bergerac on Drama today guest starred Connie Booth (and Michael Gambon).

[Gurke and Hare]

The Good Life on Gold has just had Raymond Mason (Mr Zebedee [one of Mr Leeman's colleagues. The one with the hat.] in The Kipper and the Corpse) in it.

[kalowski]

The Good Life on Gold has just had Raymond Mason (Mr Zebedee [one of Mr Leeman's colleagues. The one with the hat.] in The Kipper and the Corpse) in it.

Good parentheses there.

[Glebe]

The Good Life on Gold has just had Raymond Mason (Mr Zebedee [one of Mr Leeman's colleagues. The one with the hat.] in The Kipper and the Corpse) in it.

Yeah I was actually gonna post that but I can add that the Minder episode with Andrew Sachs was on ITV4 last night (apparently it was the 100th episode).

Not that I sit around 24/7 watching TV and trying to spot people who appeared in FT or anything.

[Harry Badger]

The Good Life on Gold has just had Raymond Mason (Mr Zebedee [one of Mr Leeman's colleagues. The one with the hat.] in The Kipper and the Corpse) in it.

Isn't Mr Zebedee the one with the red-headed woman who Sybil gossips on the phone about?

[Gurke and Hare]

No, he's just Guest.

[Gurke and Hare]

Yeah I was actually gonna post that but I can add that the Minder episode with Andrew Sachs was on ITV4 last night (apparently it was the 100th episode).

Not that I sit around 24/7 watching TV and trying to spot people who appeared in FT or anything.

I doubt there's an episode of Minder without a guest star of interest to CaB. There was one a few weeks ago with Lennard Pearce and Nick Courtney.

[Glebe]

Watching Tales of the Unexpected episode 'The Landlady' on YouTube yesterday, the vicar's face is instantly recognizable, yet I couldn't place it... turns out the actor (Anthony Dawes) played Mr. Libson, the guy in the dining room who gets an earful from Sybil at the start of 'Waldorf Salad'.

[SteK]

I read somewhere Mr Leeman who was the Corpse in the The Kipper and the Corse, is actress Carol Royal's Dad. I used to fancy her.

At one place I worked at when you could do these things we named our servers after Fawlty Towers characters - we got as far as (Mr) Xerxes......

[Spiny Norman]

Snavely, the first attempt at a US Fawlty Towers. The pilot's finally turned up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxPUpq-vV54

[lankyguy95]

"I'll ruin you. You'll never waitress in Torquay again."

Came into my head yesterday for some reason. Made me smile.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Hello, Fawlty Titties?

[oy vey]

Snavely, the first attempt at a US Fawlty Towers. The pilot's finally turned up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxPUpq-vV54

They're off the shelf cunts. No customization for the task at hand. Like UKIP in that respect.