Fawlty Towers corrections

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Fawlty Towers (1975) - 12 corrections

Directed by John Howard Davies, starring Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth, John Cleese, Prunella Scales

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "make changes" when viewing mistakes, and click "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.

Only show series: Whole show 1 2 All

Across whole show

The Grandfather-Clock in the lobby is often showing the incorrect time for the time of day. I think in the "Wedding Party" episode it says 6.15 at breakfast time and in "The Hotel Inspector" it says 4.05 at lunchtime. Possibly deliberate, given the shambolic nature of the hotel, but worth looking out for. ["Possibly deliberate". Not a film mistake, then.]

Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise) (series 1)

At the start of the episode, when Basil reaches into the car bonnet and the horn starts blaring, it's almost a full second before he jumps in fright. [Not true, I've just watched this and his reaction time is perfectly natural. It's certainly not one second.]

When Basil hands the guests the new 'duck-or-nothing' menu, one of the guests says "how extraordinary", then Basil says "Lobster, tournedos, you name it, it's in the bin". Later on, Basil frantically starts preparing salmon mousses and mullet with mustard sauce, dishes that were never specified on the new menu. So how were the guests able to order these if everything from the first menu was scrapped and not listed on the second menu? [The duck was the main course, the other dishes could quite reasonably be starters or similar. It's extremely common to see menus with a number of fixed dishes and the option to choose the main course.]

The Hotel Inspectors (series 1)

When Mr Hutchinson is complaining that they keep getting his order for a cheese salad wrong, he says "I've had the omelette, then prawn cocktail with a silly name, then the plate of stew then the omelette again." However earlier on he was given a plate of paté NOT prawn cocktail. [Mr. Hutchinson is not happy about the service at the hotel, and people who are complaining vocally often get themselves onto a soapbox and slightly distort the truth while ranting. This is at best a character mistake.] Corrected by Neil Jones

The Wedding Party (a.k.a. Sex) (series 1)

When Basil and Sybil are in bed, the doorbell rings and Basil says "Someone must have forgotten their pass-key". Yet when Basil goes downstairs to open the front door, he slides back two bolts. So even if the person trying to enter the hotel did have his key, he still couldn't get in. [Its perfectly normal for hotels to provide pass keys to a side door, not the main entrance. But there is unlikely to be a doorbell on the side door, so if a guest forgets their pass key, they have to go round to the main entrance and ring the doorbell there to be let in.]

A Touch of Class (series 1)

When Basil is examining the bricks, Polly is visibly laughing in the background. [No she isn't, it could well be a wry smile of "I told you so", considering the facts of the situation and that it adds authenticity to her claims against Lord Melbury.] Corrected by Neil Jones

Basil the Rat (a.k.a. Rats) (series 2)

When Basil, Polly and the Spanish waiter are talking in the kitchen, watch as Polly almost slips over on her high heels on rat poison. [Well there was rat poison wasn't there? People slip on and trip over things all the time.]

When Mr. Carnegie is running through the list of things he has found wrong in the kitchen, one of them is the lack of a wash-hand basin. However in the episode "Waldorf Salad" Terry is seen washing his hands in the kitchen sink (wash-hand basin) and in this episode when Polly closes the fridge door the sink is visible. So why is Mr. Carnegie complaining about the lack of a wash-hand basin when there is one already present? [Perhaps he considered just one not enough for the size of the kitchen, thus a "lack" of hand wash basins would be correct.]

The Kipper and the Corpse (a.k.a. Death) (series 2)

In the scene where Basil and Manuel are trying to hide the corpse, just after the corpse's work partner come to 'collect' him, Basil and Manuel try to hide the body in the kitchen (where the Doctor is cooking sausages). If you look in the background, towards the room behind the reception, you can see the actors standing there, watching John Cleese finish his scene. [Already established they wanted to talk to him, and as it's not polite to go barging in we was simply waiting for the appropriate moment.]

In the scene where Basil, Polly and Manuel take the corpse back into it's previous room and find the new guest blowing a doll, just after they go back out of the room with the corpse watch the right side of the screen and you will see the Major briefly appear, mistakenly, and disappear again when he sees that the scene is still in progress. [This could well be the Major just wandering around in the hotel going about his business.]

Waldorf Salad (series 2)

After the Hamiltons have ordered their drinks (screwdrivera), Basil asks 'Nothing to drink?' Mr Hamilton then says 'What?', and then if you listen carefully Basil replies 'Well, you can't drink a screwdrivers (sic) can you?' [He says "You can't drink your screwdrivers", reflecting the fact that both Mr and Mrs Hamilton asked for one.] Corrected by Moose

Communication Problems (a.k.a. Theft) (series 2)

In the opening scene, Mrs Richards is demanding change for the waiting taxi driver. However we never ever see her go outside to hand the taxi driver his change. Mrs Richards remains inside the hotel at all times throughout this scene. [In this scene, the taxi driver carries Mrs Richards' cases in for her, and then waits for his money. When Mrs Richards interrupts Polly for the second time, you see the taxi driver leave the hotel.]