The Psychiatrist

Basil tries to catch an unmarried guest with a girl in his room whilst avoiding appearing mad in front of a psychiatrist.

Another great episode with Basil doing everything he can to enforce his puritanical values on someone else whilst simultaneously making himself appear to be a sexual deviant.

John Cleese is as madcap as ever but this is a particularly strong episode for Prunella Scales as Cybil dealing with Basil's behaviour whilst doing some outrageous flirting herself.

My favourite parts of the episode involve Basil's interaction with the two doctors which are all extremely funny and at the same time make me feel mortified ever time he opens his mouth.

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.

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.

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

I wouldn't say that The Psychiatrist has got the strongest of plots, but it doesn't matter much because there are so many great jokes and brilliant moments of physical humour that the story-line itself is of little consequence. On gags alone, this is one of the best.

For what it's worth, the episode sees hotel owner Basil in serious fawning mode when a married couple, both doctors, book a room; when he's not being obsequious, he's trying to catch another guest, ladies' man Mr. Richards (Nicky Henson), with a woman in his room after hours. The introduction of another customer, sexy Australian Raylene Miles, only adds to Basil's problems, as he seemingly cannot avoid being caught by Sybil in compromising situations with the Antipodean babe.

Best moments: Basil mistakenly looking in the wrong window while up a ladder, and Basil reaching round a doorway to find a light switch only to grab Miss Miles' breast.