The Hotel Inspectors

I'm no stranger to the hospitality industry . Some of the most senseless and mindless cruelty I have seen in my life has involved customers making waiting staff suffer , so much so I've seen teenage waitresses run off in tears and later give their jobs up . Of course the restaurants tolerate this . Instead of asking the kitchen staff to come out and beat the customer unconscious they have the attitude that the waiting staff should grow a pair and get on with . It's interesting that FAWLTY TOWERS was inspired by a hotel Cleese stayed at when he was getting his big break with the Python team and for a rare instance Basil Fawlty is only the second most obnoxious character in the show and by the end of the episode you'll be wanting to give Basil a medal

The episode revolves around a very difficult customer called Mr Hutchinson arrives at the hotel and Basil gets it in to his head that Hutchinson is one of the Hotel inspectors who are visiting Torquay . This means Basil has to kow tow to the irritating and arrogant Hutchinson who seems to make it his ambition in life to alienate everyone he comes across . Everything about Hutchinson from his pedantic use of flowery prose while speaking to his general attitude made my skin crawl and Bernard Cribbins gives a very memorable performance , so memorable in fact you do wonder if perhaps he should have got his own spin off show . As it stands Cribbins makes this episode his own . BTW did anyone else think Basil was played by a stunt double in THAT scene ?

In this episode, we really get to see how awful Basil Fawlty is. He is extremely rude to a guest called Mr. Hutchison, then he learns that some hotel inspectors are in town. Thinking that Hutchison might be an inspector, Basil begins treating him like royalty. Sybil eavesdrops on one of Hutchison's phone calls and learns his true profession: He is a cutlery salesman! When Sybil informs Basil of this, he goes back to treating Hutchison poorly. Another guest, Mr. Walt, also gets the usual Basil Fawlty treatment when he first arrives. When Basil believes he is the inspector, his behavior takes another 180 degree turn. A memorable scene in this episode has Basil attempting to uncork a bottle of wine with hilarious results. Want to know what Basil Fawlty is all about? Watch this episode!

Basil hears that some hotel inspectors are in town and suspects everyone.

This is a funny episode but you can't help for once feeing more sorry for the ones providing the service than the ones being served. One character played superbly by Bernard Cribbins is loathsome with his outrageous sense of entitlement as a paying customer.

There is a certain level of Britishness satirised in Fawlty Towers that works perfectly in the setting of the hotel industry. Usually its the outrageously bad level of service and Basil's blatant resentment towards his customers that is centre stage, but on this occasion its the ridiculous demands of the customer. What makes the madness seem plausible is that you know there are people out there with that level of expectation. Adding the possibility of an inspector showing up any minute, just makes everything funnier.

'The Hotel Inspectors' contains the usual highly organised chaos and brilliance from John Cleese. The two standout moments for me are Basil's response when asked about a table tennis table and his reaction to three guests that arrive on reception in the last few seconds.

I like the bit where he hit the man in the face with a pie

Anyone that's worked in hospitality, or retail can definitely relate to this, the fear of an inspection or Mystery shop is great, so you can kind of understand Basil's frustrations, sadly it's poor Mr Hutchinson that suffers Basil's wrath. Fawlty truly is at his very worst behaviour, the scenes where he loses his cool with his demanding guest are achingly funny. Cribbins gives a memorable performance as Hutchinson, and who can ever forget the reply to that question 'I understand you're in the spoon trade.'

Arguably one of the most memorable episodes, it's chaos and misunderstanding all the way. It closes with that wonderful line 'What can I do for you three gentlemen?' so wonderfully frustrating, you cannot help but howl at Fawlty's frustrations.