Sybil Fawlty named head of ‘Hotel Babylon’
As if I needed yet another reason to pack my bags and work remote from a flat on the banks of the Thames, Notting Hill, South Kensington or any point in-between, here comes the news that Sybil Fawlty has assumed control of all the beautiful people that had previously run Hotel Babylon.
In this 2007 sketch from Children in Need, the Hotel Babylon staff readies themselves for the new ‘owner’. While staff and guests alike are used to 5-star luxury, 5-star treatment and 5-star satisfaction, audiences were presented with an endless array of beautiful people with an odd, quirky character mixed in every so often, glossy fabulousness and dynamic ‘wooshy’ camerawork. Little did they know, all of that was about to change.
Enter one Sybil Fawlty, the new owner of Hotel Babylon sporting strong experience at running a hotel. Armed with and sharing the BBC’s belief that ‘young and gorgeous has a limited shelf life’ and ‘a proven desire to return to iconic familiar characters’, Mrs. Fawlty immediately presents the current/former hotel manager with a stack of P-45’s, a.k.a. pink slips to be distributed to current staff.
Sybil immediately transforms Hotel Babylon into Babylon Towers with the promise of less sex but much funnier, a recognizable setting staffed by a team of reasonably recognizable iconic characters and a format the audiences understand. Audiences will immediately recognize the talent and experience of the new Babylon Towers staff such as Captain Stephen Peacock (Frank Thornton) and Yvette Carte-Blanche (Vicki Michelle) among others.
With Sybil Fawlty in charge, I know where I’m staying next time I’m in London!
In: Comedy