History Trivia / FawltyTowers

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: Since the pun in the title is LostInTranslation in most other languages, many broadcasters opted for localized titles when it was broadcast in non-english speaking countries, some more creative than others:

* BeamMeUpScotty: A popular quote being spread on the internet is Basil allegedly saying "For someone called Manuel, you’re looking terribly ill…". Said line is not in any episodes, and [[http://www.dirtyfeed.org/2020/11/faulty-whats-wrong-with-him/ an attempt]] to track down the source of the quote has only led to an article in [[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers The Metro]] claiming it as a quote from the show.

* InspirationForTheWork: The series was inspired when Creator/MontyPython stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, run by Donald and Beatrice Sinclair. Mr Sinclair's irascible antics included: berating Creator/TerryGilliam for eating his meals in "too American" a way; throwing Creator/EricIdle's suitcase over a wall because of a "bomb scare" (the scare was that Idle had an alarm clock in his suitcase); disbelief at Creator/MichaelPalin asking to pre-book the Gleneagles TV to catch a show; after Creator/GrahamChapman requested an omelet made with three eggs, Sinclair brought him an omelet with three fried eggs perched on top; when asked by Cleese to call for a taxi, he argued with Cleese and took his time calling for the cab. Cleese was fascinated by what he described as "the most wonderfully rude man I'd ever met" and called Connie Booth down to experience it, and the rest is history.

** George Lee appears as a delivery man in "The Builders" in Season 1 and another delivery man in Season 2's "Communication Problems" (it is not made clear whether his two appearances are as one and the same person or two different characters).

* YouLookFamiliar: Terence Conoley appears as two different characters in the series. He plays Mr Wareing in "A Touch of Class" in Season 1, and Mr Johnston in Season 2's "Waldorf Salad".

* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/JohnCleese's favourite episode is "Basil the Rat".

** While it is still hands on knees hilarious today, the entire "Fire" scene in "The Germans". Not only are there no alarms Manuel could ring in the kitchen he just lit on fire, there are also no smoke detectors. Also they have to call the fire department instead of just an emergency number.

* DoingItForTheArt: Creator/JohnCleese and Creator/ConnieBooth put enormous amounts of effort into the show, with each script requiring months of writing an editing before shooting. Also, the scripts were very dense and ran more than 120 pages at a time a typical half-hour sitcom script was only around 60 pages long. The cast rehearsed everything very thoroughly so that they could complete tapings in just two hours. The sheer exhaustion this caused was the reason why there was a long gap between the two series and why no more were made.

-->The most extraordinary remake was with Bea Arthur. I remember at a party I met these chaps from Viacom, who said they were working on a new ''Fawlty Towers''. My ears pricked up at the sound of cash registers and said, "That's wonderful, are you going to change anything?" They said, "Well we have changed one thing, we've written Basil out". And that's absolutely true, they took Basil and Sybil's lines and gave them all to Bea Arthur.

* InspirationForTheWork: The series was inspired when Creator/MontyPython stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, run by Donald and Beatrice Sinclair. Mr Sinclair's irascible antics included: berating Creator/TerryGilliam for eating his meals in "too American" a way; throwing Creator/EricIdle's briefcase over a wall because of a "bomb scare" (the scare was that Idle left the briefcase in the reception area); disbelief at Creator/MichaelPalin asking to pre-book the Gleneagles TV to catch a show; after Creator/GrahamChapman requested an omelet made with three eggs, Sinclair brought him an omelet with three fried eggs perched on top; when asked by Cleese to call for a taxi, he argued with Cleese and took his time calling for the cab. Cleese was fascinated by what he described as "the most wonderfully rude man I'd ever met" and called Connie Booth down to experience it, and the rest is history.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
** The show is timeless for the most part, except for occasional references to Prime Minister Harold Wilson and General UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco. Basil's obsession with social class also has a distinctively 1970s vibe, as the neoliberalism and dismantling of traditional working-class industries of the 1980s majorly changed the way the British class system worked.
** Sybil getting annoyed about Basil spending £40 on a newspaper ad seems strange until you consider that's something like £320 in today's money. Also Mrs Richard's declaration "I am not paying £7.20 per night plus VAT for a room without a bath".
** Basil reading Peter Benchley's ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'' at the height of its popularity. Now, the book has been totally eclipsed by the film released in the same year as the episode, 1975.
** In "The Germans" Basil keeps talking about how "we're all in this together now," as England had just joined the European Common Market.
** At least half of the episodes depict Basil and the Major complaining about British car industry strikes that they read about in the newspapers, which were an almost daily occurrence in 1970s Britain.

* {{Jossed}}: A rumour circulated for years about a MissingEpisode involving a blackout in the hotel. This was covered in Fawlty Towers: A Worshipper's Companion. Cast and crew have all denied this, and there is no BBC documentation for filming/recording dates.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/JohnCleese's favourite episode is "Basil the Rat".

* CreatorsFavouriteEpisode: Creator/JohnCleese's favourite episode is "Basil the Rat".

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/JohnCleese's favorite episode is "Basil the Rat".

** "The Kipper and the Corpse" was going to end with the dead guest's identical twin brother appearing, naturally causing Basil to explode as he thought the man had been pranking him the whole time. Cleese eventually nixed the idea as he couldn't figure out how to keep the humor going after the inevitable moment where the twin catches on that his brother is dead.

* BigNameFan: Creator/MartinScorsese has said he's a big fan of the show.

* FakeNationality: Manuel, who's from Barcelona, was played by Andrew Sachs, a German-born British actor. This continues into the German dub, where Andrew Sachs dubbed himself, and had fun trying to speak German with a Spanish accent.

** Sybil getting annoyed about Basil spending £40 on a newspaper ad seems strange until you consider that's something like £320 in today's money.

* YouLookFamiliar: Terence Cooley appears as two different characters in the series. He plays Mr Wareing in "A Touch of Class" in Season 1, and Mr Johnson in Season 2's "Waldorf Salad".

* RomanceOnTheSet: Creator/JohnCleese (Basil) and Connie Booth (Polly) were married when they wrote and acted the first series (1975). By the time of the second, in 1979, they were divorced, although they were on good enough terms to keep working together.

** Bridget Turner turned down the role of Sybil, feeling it wasn't right for her.

* ThrowItIn: The series mostly kept to the script, although there was one case in "Basil the Rat", where Basil and Manuel are busy talking about a rat, with Manuel denying that it is a hamster. Normally, he speaks in broken English, but in one instance mutters, in perfect English, "[[spoiler:It's not a rat, it's a hamster!]]". The shock on Creator/JohnCleese's face is priceless, and as a result it's become rather memetic.
** The scene in "The Hotel Inspectors" in which Basil needs [[RuleOfThree three tries]] to open a wine bottle because the cork keeps breaking, was a complete accident. Cleese admits that it could never have worked that well if they'd tried to do it deliberately.
* TropeNamer: For FawltyTowersPlot.

* FakeAmerican: The actor (Bruce Boa) who played the American Mr. Hamilton was actually Canadian.