Basil the Rat

Fawlty Towers faces a shut-down when the public health department pays them a visit, finding such things as storage of cooked and raw meats being stored in the same tray, and dead pigeons in the water tanks! During the cleanup process, Basil finds a 'filigree' Siberian hamster in Manuel's room - which has been his pet for awhile. Worried that this will only contribute to the hotel's list of infractions, Polly finds a new home for him...much to Manuel's dissatisfaction (as he wears a black mourning arm band!) The "new home" is the shed out back, but the rodent loves the hotel so much that he finds his way back in!

This episode is one of the funniest - and is filled with the usual comedic failed attempts to discreetly rectify the problems. We all knew it was coming - the day Fawlty Towers gets threatened with shut-down. John Quarmby is superb as the anal Mr. Carnegie, the public health inspector. The look on his face when Basil opens up the tin of biscuits at the very end is absolutely priceless. A nod of approval should go to Brian Hall, who plays Terry the chef - he does quite well in the part.

The bit where Basil tries to capture the hamster by rummaging through the lady's purse - and gets clawed badly before it jumps out and scurries across the floor, is classic. The scene in the bar where the Major spots the hamster on a table in the bar is also a hoot (quick cut to Polly running in with a moth net!) Supposedly the cast got extra rehearsal time for this particular episode, and it definitely paid off. "Basil the Rat" is a beaut, and it ends the series pretty much as it began, as a fainted Basil gets dragged off by Manuel. Sybil, unfazed by this, gets the last words: "Oh, I'm afraid it's started to rain again...."

After a couple of somewhat disappointing episodes, Fawlty Towers finishes in style with the brilliant Basil The Rat, which offers up lots of crazy comedy and a cute furry critter to boot. After a health inspector declares that the hotel doesn't come up to standard, he give Basil twenty-four hours to address all of the problems. This means not just cleaning the kitchens, but also getting rid of Manuel's pet hamster, in reality, a brown rat.

Instead of taking the rat away, Manuel keeps it in the shed, but accidentally allows the animal to escape. A desperate Basil and his staff try to locate the rodent before the hotel inspector, back to check on the improvements, sees the animal and closes down the hotel.

Madcap humour abounds, much of it revolving around the preparation of veal which might just have rat poison on it, but the best moment is saved for the very end, when the rat pops up in a tin of biscuits, right before the inspector's very eyes. Classic stuff and a great way to end the series.

My favourite episode of the series.

Instead of using Sybil as the antagonist, this has all the regulars in league to pass the health inspection. The story uses each regular well - each doing what makes that character funny.

John Quarmby is great as the inspector and the scene where he rattles off the list of infractions to reaction shots from Basil and Polly and Sybil is fantastic.

I like the bit where the rat pops out of the biscuit tin

I'm Not Saying that this is my favorite episode of Fawlty Towers but I'd like to say that this is by far the funniest episode of the entire Fawlty Towers Series I do loving see this one. Unless you're a fan of the Simpson's or futurama you'll love watching this fable episode and enjoy every second of it. hey if you like fawlty towers watch this one it's funny as hell. Basil the Rat is most likely the key to the funny side of the show and or episode plus basil fawlty and manual are very talented comedians though i like to call them the mario bros. talented episode 8/10 and to all you fellow Americans out there there is no excuse for criticising this show