The Builders

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.

I like the bit where the builders did a really bad job

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

Having established the characters in the opening episode, The Builders sees John Cleese and company in riotous full swing, their impeccable situation comedy resulting in a barrage of non-stop laughs.

This time around, Basil is tasked with arranging some building work on the hotel while he and his wife Sybil are away for a couple of days. Rather than hire a reliable builder, as Sybil suggests, Basil goes for the cheaper option, cowboy outfit O'Reilly's. The results are, unsurprisingly, far from perfect, and when Basil comes home to check on the work, he slips into panic mode, afraid of what his wife will say.

Priceless moments abound, with a hilarious pair of dotty old women who inexplicably adore Basil, and hapless Manuel left in charge of the hotel while the far more capable Polly takes a nap. But the best moments are, of course, all Basil's, John Cleese performing some wonderful histrionics guaranteed to entertain.

Best line: 'Cloth-eared bint'.