Communication Problems

"Communication Problems"
Fawlty Towers episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 1
Directed by	Bob Spiers
Written by	John Cleese & Connie Booth
Original air date	19 February 1979
Guest stars
Joan Sanderson
Episode chronology
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List of Fawlty Towers episodes

"Communication Problems" is the first episode of the second series of BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers and the seventh episode overall. It is also known as "Mrs. Richards".

Cast

Episode Credited cast:

• John Cleese as Basil Fawlty
• Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty
• Joan Sanderson as Mrs. Alice Richards
• Andrew Sachs as Manuel
• Connie Booth as Polly Sherman
• Ballard Berkeley as Major Gowen
• Brian Hall as Terry the Chef
• Gilly Flower as Miss Abitha Tibbs
• Renee Roberts as Miss Ursula Gatsby

With:

• Bill Bradley as Mr. Mackintosh
• Robert Lankesheer as Mr. Thurston
• George Lee as the delivery man
• Mervyn Pascoe as Mr. Yardley
• Johnny Shannon as Mr. Firkin

Plot

Mrs. Richards, a short-sighted, deaf, and aggressive old woman (but who believes she is in perfect condition and accuses others of being blind and deaf), arrives at the hotel and instantly starts arguing with Polly about who is being served first. Polly mischievously asks Manuel to assist Mrs. Richards and his poor English leads her to believe that the hotel manager is named "C.K. Watt," aged forty. Meanwhile, Basil gets a horse racing tip from a satisfied customer and, although Sybil has banned Basil from gambling, he plans to discreetly bet on it anyway.

Mrs. Richards then complains to Basil about her room, saying that it's cold, her radio doesn't work (it does; she just cannot hear it), there is no bath (it's too small for her taste) and such view as there is from her window is uninteresting (as she can't see it properly). Mrs. Richards demands a reduction in the price (to which Basil responds softly: "60% if you turn that hearing aid on"). He also secretly asks Manuel to go to the betting shop and make a bet on the horse, which subsequently wins the race. Manuel collects the £75 winnings and gives them to Polly to give to Basil, just as Mrs. Richards demands lavatory paper, and her referring to it as "paper" leads Polly, assuming she wants writing paper, to tell her that it is kept in the lounge. Mrs. Richards is convinced Polly is being rude and complains to Basil, as he collects his winnings.

By remarkable coincidence, Mrs. Richards announces that £85 is missing from her room, and she is convinced someone has stolen it. Sybil, who saw Polly counting Basil's money in the office, assumes that Polly found it. So as not to give away Basil's gambling, Polly says she herself won it on the horse, although her forgetting the name of the horse makes Sybil suspicious. Foolishly, Basil gives the money to the Major for safekeeping. Expectedly, when Basil asks the Major for the money the next morning, the senile old man has forgotten that Basil gave it to him. Eventually he produces it, but when he declares to have "found it" in front of Mrs. Richards, she is convinced it is hers, even though it is £10 short. Basil tries to persuade her otherwise, but is hindered by the Major and Manuel: the Major having entirely forgotten and Manuel, under Basil's previous instructions, says "I know nothing." He is distraught and is about to take the missing £10 from the till when a delivery man arrives with a vase for Mrs. Richards. He then produces £95 which she left behind in the shop: the money she thought had been stolen. Basil is elated and gives Mrs. Richards her remaining £10, leaving him still £10 up. When Sybil sees Basil with the money, she quizzes him and Polly chimes in that it is hers. Basil adds that he is putting it in the safe for her. Unfortunately, the Major suddenly blurts out, right in front of Sybil that he has remembered that Basil gave him the money last night and he won it on a horse (apparently not remembering that it was a secret from Sybil). In horror, Basil drops and breaks Mrs. Richards' vase and the episode closes with Sybil repaying Mrs. Richards the £75 cost of the vase with the money Basil had won, leaving Basil with only £10 from his successful bet.

Connections and errors

• This episode marks the first appearance of Terry the chef (played by Brian Hall); he is the only new regular character in the last series.
• When Sybil throws coffee at Basil, some accidentally lands on the Major – however, in a later shot, Ballard Berkeley has a dry suit, showing through the continuity error that a break in filming was needed to clean him up.
• This episode's original audio LP release was under the title "Mrs. Richards". In later re-releases, it was changed back to "Communication Problems".
• The following line was originally cut in rehearsal: Basil picks some morsel off the floor after Mrs. Richards hits her head in the office, and asks, "Is this a piece of your brain?" After seeing it had been cut, Andrew Sachs convinced John Cleese it was a funny moment and talked Cleese into putting it back in the script.
• Joan Sanderson and John Cleese would later co-star again as a married, aristocratic couple in The Great Muppet Caper.

References

• Fawlty Towers: A Worshipper's Companion, Leo Publishing, ISBN 91-973661-8-8
• The Complete Fawlty Towers by John Cleese & Connie Booth (1988, Methuen, London) ISBN 0-413-18390-4 (the complete text)

External links

• Communication Problems at Fawltysite.net