Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers (1975)

6 suggested corrections

(6 votes)

The Germans - S1-E6

Visible crew/equipment: When Basil runs from the restaurant and into the office, as the door opens to the hallway you can see a monitor in the office, showing what we can see. The director must be watching the action from in there.

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Suggested correction: Most places like this are likely to have CCTV and the office would be the optimum place for the manager to watch on the monitor.

CCTV was very uncommon in 1975. It wasn't until the late 80s it became more popular and even then it was of poor quality. Not like what is in the mistake.

Ssiscool

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Suggested correction: The sound isn't glass as you can see just as he goes to smash the picture there is no glass on the picture.

The Builders - S1-E2

Revealing mistake: When Basil smashes Manuel against the wall where the dining room is meant to be, we can see it is made out of cardboard. Notice how it begins to fall off, even though it is meant to be sealed and covered in wallpaper. (00:16:05)

Casual Person

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Suggested correction: Perhaps this was due to O'Reilly's shoddy workmanship?

You could say that but Fawlty towers had wobbly sets all the time. I would say this would be covered under "mistakes".

The_Iceman

Codswallop. O'Reilly manages to do a half decent job. This is just a wobbly set.

Ssiscool

Where is the 'codswallop' as you so euphemistically put it? To me it looks like O'Reilly cut corners by shoddily placing a sheet of plasterboard in the doorway without attaching it well then shoddily wallpapering over it. Hence the reason for it falling out.

The Anniversary - S2-E5

Plot hole: Sybil leaves the hotel at 05:29 and returns with Audrey at 24:39. 19 minutes have elapsed in real time during which Basil has been 'entertaining' Sybil's friends. So Sybil had just enough time to visit Audrey, talk to her and return. There wasn't enough time to visit the homes of Alice, Kitty or Virginia. Sybil went straight to Audrey who must therefore be her closest friend. Also Audrey was free and knew nothing about the party. Would not Basil have invited Audrey to the party? Is not Audrey's presence just to allow Sybil to explain to the audience when it makes no sense she is not at the party? (00:05:30 - 00:24:40)

DVDpedant

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Suggested correction: In 'The Wedding Party' the Major comments about Basil not liking Audrey, so maybe he didn't invite her. Or maybe she was in the uncomfortable position of keeping the secret for Basil despite seeing how upset Sybil was.

The Germans - S1-E6

Character mistake: When the first German guest enters reception, he asks Polly, in German, if she would tell him what time lunch is served. She replies in German "at 9am, in five minutes." Which would be a strange time to be serving lunch! Actually her pronunciation of "9" sounds more like the German word for "no", so could be mistaken for "at no time. In 5 minutes."

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Suggested correction: He asks what time lunch is being served. Lunch would not be served at 9am, it would be served around midday. Polly's response is "In no time. In 5 minutes" is absolutely correct. She does say "nein", not "neun" but it is not a mistake.

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Suggested correction: This is way too vague to be accurate. The office (which has private on both doors) is visited by Basil on innumerable occasions throughout this episode and so needs to be more precise.

The Builders - S1-E2

Deliberate mistake: When Basil is arguing with Polly and eventually decides to call O'Reilly, he trips over the gnome. However when we see Basil come out from behind the desk, he takes the gnome out of a side gap in the desk, perfectly out of reach of Basil tripping over it. (00:14:30)

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The Anniversary - S2-E5

Trivia: Sybil's friend, Audrey, who Sybil is frequently seen talking to on the telephone, has only one on-screen appearence in 'The Anniversary'. She is seen at the very end, when Sybil has just walked out on Basil.

More trivia for Fawlty Towers

Answer: It's "Leisure Complex" by Dave Gold and Gordon Rees. Can be found on YouTube. The relevant clip is around 25 seconds in.

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