The Psychiatrist

The best episode in the best series of the best sitcom ever put on TV. The Germans may be the most famous but as brilliant as it is, The Psychiatrist surpasses it. It's better written and produced with 4 years to perfect episodes and get them even tighter and funnier than series 1. There is so much going on in this great episode it makes me dizzy still.

Pure farce as busy as it comes with cripplingly funny scene after scene, it is relentlessly funny from start to finish with hardly a wasted line. Inspired with possibly even a hint that Cleese himself was in need of psychiatric assessment. Everything ties together make the funniest half hour of comedy I've ever witnessed. A classical lesson of what can be achieved in a half hour sitcom if you really try. But you probably need a genius at the helm to do it.

"The Psychiatrist" is a brilliant, brilliant farce. Basil Fawlty is probably the world's greatest ass-kisser, and this story features his fawning over the two (or three??) Dr. Abbott's, who are down in Torquay for a holiday out of London. Meanwhile, a hippie man named Johnson is staying at the hotel, and sneaks his girlfriend into his room (sign of the times, eh?), making for a highly entertaining subplot as Basil tries to catch sight of her and throw them both out. But there's yet another subplot - the appearance of a beautiful lady named Raylene Miles from Australia who shows up, and Basil can't help but become infatuated with her (or so Sybil thinks.) Sybil's hair is at its beehive-best in this one, complete with Basil's reference to it: "the dormant organ you keep hidden in that rat's maze of yours!" The two 'hand on boob' scenes and Basil's breaking into guest rooms "just to check the walls"' are side-splittingly funny, as is the entire episode. Definitely one of the best-written ones in the series.

I agree with the reviews of both Jellybeansucker & Theo Robertson. This is not only the very best of the 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers, it is the funniest half hour of comedy that has ever been written, in my opinion. John Cleese & Connie Booth packed so much into it that it is really quite incredible. A married couple of doctors (the Abbotts) check in to the hotel & Basil Fawlty does his his usual fawning routine, that is until he finds out that the male doctor (played by Basil Henson) is a psychiatrist. This knowledge turns Basil into a nervous wreck suggesting that he is in dire need of help from Dr. Abbott himself!. A handsome & personable playboy type of young man (Mr. Johnson played by Nicky Henson) also checks in. Basil's wife Sybil takes a shine to him & tries chatting him up. He is wearing a shirt with the buttons undone flashing his hairy chest & the medallion he is wearing. Basil takes an instant dislike to him & suggests he is an ape calling him a "Piltdown ponce". Basil gets wind of the fact Mr. Johnson has also smuggled a girl into his room & becomes obsessed with trying to catch her. A beautiful young Australian lady called Raylene also checks in to the hotel. When she bends down to sign the register she flashes her ample cleavage & Basil can hardly divert his gaze away. She is played by Luan Peters & whilst trying to prove that Mr. Johnson has indeed smuggled a girl in he inadvertently ends up in Raylene's room. Sybil naturally gets the wrong idea & thinks he is infatuated with the beautiful Aussie lady. To fully appreciate this utterly hilarious episode of Fawlty Towers it simply has to be seen because anything I write can hardly do it justice. It is just the most fabulous piece of situation comedy I have ever seen. 10/10 with five gold stars!!!.

I like the bit where he said he had sex three or four times a week

Basil quickly overcomes his disgust with a particular guest, the tacky Mr. Johnson (Nicky Henson, "Syriana"), to be delighted when a married pair of doctors come to stay at the hotel. Then his delight turns to paranoia when he learns that the husband (Basil Henson, "The Final Programme") is a psychiatrist, due to his preconceived notions about psychiatrists. He is further driven to distraction when he becomes convinced that Mr. Johnson has smuggled in a young female.

Watching Mr. Cleese go through one farcical sequence and slapstick situation after another is pure hilarity. To add to his existing woes, he is *also* distracted by a sexy blonde Australian guest (Luan Peters, "The Flesh and Blood Show"). The writing by Mr. Cleese and Ms. Booth perfectly sets up all these instances where Basil is often getting the wrong idea, or being caught whenever he is acting in a particularly silly manner. It's a true tour-de-force comic performance from Mr. Cleese, and the rest of the cast is equally strong.

My favorite moment is when Basil encounters Ms. Miles after coming out of the storeroom, although all of their scenes are comedy gold, really.

10 out of 10.