The origins of 'Fawlty Towers' go back to 1971 when the 'Monty Python Flying Circus' team were filming scenes for their television series in the Torbay area (the fictional location of Fawlty Towers). They had been booked to stay at the Gleneagles Hotel (later mentioned in the episode The Builders). The owner of the hotel had a profound impact on the Python's and the history of television comedy.
The name of the hotel owner was Donald Sinclair, and it is he who must be afforded the title "the real Basil Fawlty". The details of the encounter between the Python's and Donald Sinclair are now legendary, mistaking Eric Idle's bag for a bomb and complaining about the way Terry Gilliam used his knife and fork. Graham Chapman, in his book "A Liars Autobiography" describes him as ".... completely round the twist, off his chump, out of his tree.", and that he ".... found the hotel intensely disagreeable in that it was impossible to get a drink".
All the Pythons except John Cleese transferred from the Gleneagles Hotel to the more agreeable Imperial Hotel. John Cleese remained to watch and observe this bizarre character, whose behaviour was a gift to a comedy writer such as John Cleese. He was later joined by his then wife Connie Booth, who could also see the comedy potential of this man.
In 1973, John Cleese having finished with 'Monty Python' (for the moment) began to look around for another project to employ his creative talents. He was approached by Jimmy Gilbert at the BBC to write a series for them, and it seemed only natural that he should team up with his wife Connie Booth for his next project. Remembering their experiences in Torbay in 1971, they decided to write a series about a hotel manager and the people who get in the way of the smooth running of the hotel, that annoying section of the general public who insist on staying at hotels - and the rest, as they say, is history... |
