September 19, 1975 — a day that will live on in history as the day one of the most brilliant situation comedies of all-time debuted on the BBC. Born out of a seemingly uneventful trip to the Torquay Gleneagles Hotel by the original members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Fawlty Towers is comedy greatness that has not seen its […]
Read more
Every so often, I feel the need to get a weekend dose of the greatest British comedy of all time, Fawlty Towers. Perhaps this is because FT is as close to comedy perfection as there is, even after some 40 years since it was produced. In between, there’s nothing better than a bit of Monty Python and […]
Read more
Fawlty Towers, the quintessential British sitcom and, perhaps, the best all-around television sitcom of all-time, is headed down under courtesy of series co-creator/writer, John Cleese. Uneasy about the reception the show might get from UK audiences and critics, more than 40 years after the original was aired on the BBC, Cleese has chosen an all-Australian cast for the […]
Read more
Fawlty Towers has to be the greatest 12 episodes of comedy ever. The UK version of The Office is a close second (much better, I think, than the American version, but that’s a debate for another day). In 2000, the British Film Institute selected Fawlty Towers as the best British television show. After a year-long poll looking for Britain’s Best Sitcom, the BBC […]
Read more
A huge TOH to the folks over at Radio Times who dug deep and found what appears to be the most brilliant British Telly map ever. This is better than sliced bread! For TV fans residing in the UK, the fact that the setting for both Doc Martin and Poldark take full advantage of the gorgeous Cornwall coastline or that Happy […]
Read more
Several years ago, 21-year-old Nathan Feist, a student at Cornell University in New York, succeeded where Basil Fawlty (and, O’Reilly) failed by bringing a semblance of functionality to the most dysfunctional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the ‘English Riviera’. Exhibited at the BrickFair, Virginia LEGO convention back in 2014, his intricate LEGO recreation of the famous […]
Read more
It has been (gulp!) just over four decades now since John Cleese (a.k.a. Basil Fawlty) last gave an automobile a ‘damn good thrashing’ for not starting. It was a cold October night in 1975 when Basil, in yet another attempt to climb the Torquay social ladder, left his friend Andres’ restaurant with duck in hand during […]
Read more
The last surviving member of the original Are You Being Served? cast, Nicholas Smith, has died at the age of 81. Smith starred as Cuthbert Rumbold, the manager of the fictional Grace Brothers Department Store, having appeared in every episode from 1972 to 1985. Created and written by Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, the series was […]
Read more
Not the Nine O’Clock News, the late 70s/early 80s television sketch comedy series designed as a comedic alternative to the Nine O’Clock News on BBC1, featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture. Produced by John Lloyd (best known for his work on such comedy television programs as Spitting Image, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Blackadder and QI, Not the […]
Read more
Last Spring, I had the great good fortune to speak to Robin Ellis prior to the return of Poldark to both the BBC and PBS line-up. Without question, one of the most enjoyable individuals and an absolutely delightful interview. Most likely, you know that it was Ellis who starred in the original 1975 series as Captain Ross […]
Read more