The Builders

I always thought this was a great episode for fans of Manuel, Sachs is super funny, thrown to the wolves by Basil as he battles with O'Reilly's hapless team of builders.

David Kelly is terrific as the useless O'Reilly, but it's the annoyance and frustration that Sybil feels towards her husband for trying to get the job done on the cheap. I love how utterly zany Miss Gatsby and Miss Tibbs were. Best scene must be Sybil battering Basil and O'Reilly with her umbrella.

It's not my favourite, but along with the first episode, it helps to cement Fawlty Towers place as the ultimate comedy.

My main criticism of this particular episode is that is has been placed way too early in the life of the series. We haven't had nearly enough time to get sufficiently accustomed to the hotel's interior structure, and one of the primary scenes wants us - alongside Basil - to be deeply shocked by how there is now a door at the stairway, and a door still being present next to the reception area. Also saddens me to bits but i have to say this is a weaker Manuel presence compared to anything else in any other episodes. It is just chuck full of those if you love the series, lovable but not very well landing scenes and bits to it. The drawing is of Mr. Fawlty huh, well would have been great to actually see it. The overall acting is not yet very defined, the two permanent old lady guests give the kiddiest acts, Basil is a bit raw at certain places. But the main Irish builder guy is a stand-out performance, and while Sybil is obviously afraid to hit hard enough is great at the end. Overall thee least great episode, definitely not the one to initiate someone to Fawlty Towers, you will ruin the show for someone if you do that.

After deconstructing the British class system in the opening episode of the show Cleese and Booth now aim their sites towards another taboo of British culture - Irish builders . Of course it's something of a stereotype and there's not much truth in it but no one can ever put their hand on their heart and say they have never heard of someone getting a knock on their door to be met by two chirpy Irishmen saying " Tarmac your drive sir " only to regret it at a later date

This is a slight change of pace from the opening episode where Basil and his wife were centre stage . Here the characters of Polly and Manuel are left to carry much of the episode though it's probably one of the lesser ones . Much of this lies in the premise of having some cheap and dodgy Irish builders building an internal wall with the premise not allowing much of a situation beyond . That said there are some genuinely funny moments involving cruelty to Manuel and FAWLTY TOWERS is so brilliant even a substandard episode is funnier than anything you'll see on television produced today so The Builders isn't a dead loss

Basil & Sybil will be away for the weekend, deciding to leave the normally reliable Polly in charge. But SHE decides to take a nap, and a typically fumbling, English language-challenged Manuel has to try to step up. All of this while a team of builders - whom Basil likes to use for no other reason than that they come cheap - manages to screw up a job involving putting in / removing doors.

'The Builders' is downright hilarious at times, with Manuel rating as my absolute favorite character; Andrew Sachs just nails the role. Overall, this farce and slapstick-heavy episode does a memorable job of skewering the whole construction business. Guest star David Kelly ("Waking Ned") is a treat to watch as the boss of the cut-rate O'Reilly company; naturally, Stubbs (James Appleby, a veteran of British television), the man whom Sybil would prefer to utilize, has to point out some truly shoddy workmanship.

Some of the most riotous moments involve Basil just completely blowing his top and venting at his employees. "Don't panic!" "What else is there to do?????" And Basil, of course, ends up making a fool of himself trying to pull the wool over his wifes' eyes.

Great fun; a solid follow-up to the pilot episode.

Eight out of 10.

Basil hires some cheap builders who do a botch job.

What impresses me the most about this episode is that 99% of it takes place in the hotel reception area and it still manages to keep me 100% entertained for the duration.

It depicts Basil's relationship with Cybil brilliantly. He gives the usual witty one-liners at her expense but then reveals how utterly terrified he is of incurring her wrath at the same time. Prunella Scales is on top form in the scenes where Cybil has to take a firm hand with Basil and the builders.

Andrew Sachs carries the show for quite a bit of time whilst Basil is out of the hotel and Manuel takes charge of a number of situations that end in disaster. Sachs shows how funny he can be without sharing the stage with John Cleese.

There is some racial stereotyping here that would not see the light of day in modern comedy writing, but allowing for the time period it was written and how the biggest buffoon depicted as always is Basil, I think it is relatively harmless.