A Touch of Class

The cracks were visible right from the start, as the first episode of BBC2's new comedy Fawlty Towers, 'A Touch of Class' was shown on 19 September 1975. The hotel's sign bore the name FAWLTY TOWERS, but the S on towers was already hanging wonky, ready to fall off.

'A Touch of Class' saw hotel proprietor Basil Fawlty being hen-pecked by his overbearing wife Sybil as Spanish Waiter Manuel blunders about incompetently and maid Polly demonstrates her common sense. So we met the four central characters of Fawlty Towers.

Leather wearing Cockney, Danny Brown, asks for a room to snobbish Basil's acute annoyance. However things do take an upturn as the admittedly somewhat shabby member of the aristocracy, Lord Melbury arrives in order to stay for a while. This is where we see Basil’s true class, as he fawns over Lord Melbury, treating him much better than his other guests, even to the extent of moving a family who were in the middle of their meal in order to accommodate his new guest. In so doing, he causes Lord Melbury to fall to the floor. An act which is followed by more of Basil doing what he does best, grovelling for forgiveness, which is granted by Melbury.

After dinner Melbury asks Basil to cash him a cheque for one hundred pounds. Basil is only too pleased, so Melbury pushes it further – up to £200! In the bar Basil neglects his other guests, ignoring their requests for drinks, whilst attending to Lord Melbury.

Meanwhile, Polly had been into town to withdraw the cash for Lord Melbury when she had bumped into Danny, who is actually a policeman on the trail of a confidence trickster masquerading as a Lord Melbury. When she tells him this, Basil refuses to believe her – his inherent snobbery towards Danny means that he cannot believe Polly’s story. But of course she is quite right. So with Sybil now in attendance, we see the opening of Lord Melbury’s briefcase containing the valuables that he'd previously left in Basil’s care. And what trinkets do we find? Why, naught but a pair of house bricks. Delicious!

As Danny and his colleague escort ‘Lord’ Melbury from the hotel, a real member of the aristocracy, Sir Richard Morris and his wife arrive to check-in. Unfortunately for Basil he chooses this exact moment to commence swearing and shouting at, not to mention kicking Melbury as he leaves.

But don't believe me. Why not have a look at this clip from BBCComedyGreats on YouTube.