Fawlty Towers
British comedy about a hotel and it's highly strung owner, Basil Fawlty (played by JohnCleese). One episode where he gives his car a "damn good thrashing" is mentioned in LifesJustTooShort. Among the other memorable moments:
"I expect to be able to see the sea. --You can see the sea. It's over there between the land and the sky." ""What's a Waldorf, a walnut that's gone off"
- "You are a waste of space," said to the waiter.
- "Anywhere they do French food?" "Yes, France, I believe!"
- "Coping is easy. Not pureeing your loved ones, that's the tricky bit."
- Mother about her young son: "He's very highly strung." Basil: "Well, he should be."
- O'Reilly: "Mr. Fawlty, if the Good Lord..." Basil: "Is mentioned one more time, I'll move you closer to Him!"
- Can we get you on Mastermind? Next contestant, Sybil Fawlty, specialist subject the BleedingObvious .
- Wanted, home for one large, savage rodent. Answers to the name Sybil.
- A prawn Goebbels, a pickled Goering and two Colditz salads! And whatever you do, don't mention The War! (from the episode entitled "The Germans").
- "Did you get the dead pigeons out of the water tower, dee-har?" "No, dee-har, I left them in. They're nearly done."
- "This is a hotel not the Burma railway."
- "There's nothing I could to please the pair of you short of putting straw in your room."
- "Most of our guests manage to struggle down in the morning."
- "Why don't you syringe the donuts out of your ears and use the dormant organ you keep hidden in that rat's maze of yours?"
- "Yes, my little piranha fish?"
- "Ho, yes, it's amazing to see the chef at work, opening a tin. He gets all of it in the bowl, none of it on the walls!" (To a family disgruntled the food wasn't preprocessed enough...)
Basil: "Don't drive over any mines, darling..."
Basil: "you cloth-eared bint"
Both series are on a 3-DVD set from the BBC and worth every penny.
Many people think Fawlty Towers is a comedy. It's actually a hard-hitting documentary about British hotels.
Britain: The land where the cops are more gracious and polite (to straight people) than the hotel managers.