@@BenFleury I grew up in the 70s and people smoked everywhere! on the train, buses, in shopping centres and on the tv. My old primary school teacher used to smoke senior service, the ones with no filters. Kids today would find that very hard to fathom! It was a very different time.
"So I better let them in.." *On the phone* "Yes.." "I'll go then shall I?" *On the phone* "Mmm.." "Yeah, I agree.." Basil's sarcasm just cracks me up! 😂
@@franceshicks5337 Oh YES master, I've SORRY TO HAVE SAID A BAD WORD MASTER. ... Oh, I'm sorry... is this the slave trade? . People swear. Get used to it FUCK FACE. PS. cunt
I remember someone once saying that this scene is the key to the whole series, because it shows the Fawltys sleeping in separate beds. The marriage has reached a communication impasse, they're not sleeping together, Basil's feeling the worst of it and taking it out on the guests. It's tricky to write stuff this dark without relying on violence.
Prunella Scales has said that the reason Sybil married Basil was because his origins were of a higher social class than hers; in the episode "Gourmet Night", she recounts an anecdote about "Uncle Ted and his crate of brown ale" while drunk, which implies a working-class background, as do some traces of working-class speech in her accent.
As a kid I thought the Basil was crazy and bad tempered, but that Sybil was pretty smart, kind of normal, and pretty efficient. But my mum would makes cracks about her smoking, fussy wigs, spitting out chocolates she did not like, and wearing a black bra under a pastel coloured blouse - all put there to make her look tacky.
I love the BritBox edit where this scene is intercut with shots of Hyacinth Bucket on the phone, so it looks as if she and Sybil are talking to one another! Example: Hyacinth: I am waiting for your apology. Sybil: I understand dear, I really do. Hyacinth: Sounds as if someone is groaning on the line. Sybil: No dear, it's only Basil.
Funny how there’s an Audrey mentioned in this episode (but she can be seen in The Anniversary) and an Andre can be seen 2 episodes after this in Gourmet Night.
Also, you can see the time on the clock is about 23:15. Basil usually gets up about 05:30. So going by this, he probably gets about six hours sleep a night on average. That is not a healthy way to live your life. No wonder the man's miserable.
Landline phones next to the bed was really a TV thing. TV houses usually had a phone in a living area and one in the master bedrrom. That way they didn't need to dress multiple sets, they just made the call from the bedroom. As far as I can recall, most (Australian) houses at the time had just one phone. Usually it was in the kitchen I seem to recall, or maybe the entry hall.
They're so unhappy that they don't even sleep in the same bed. I think mummy and daddy bear in the story of Goldilocks and The 3 Bears were an unhappy couple too as they had 2 seperate beds aswell.
@@Sunset553 Actually, as far back as the mid 60s, they showed Fred and Wilma Flintstone in Bed together on TV... It was a question on a Pub quiz years ago, "who was the first TV couple shown in bed together?"
They seem to have got married in 1964 (the 1979 "Anniversary" episode says it's their 15th) and we have no idea how/why they met or ended up running the hotel. We just don't need to know and that's the beauty of it.
It's never mentioned on the show, but in an interview Prunella Scales, who plays Sybil Fawlty, mentioned that Sybil married Basil because he was of a higher social standing than her own family. It's possible that the hotel was in Basil's family or was bought for the most part with money from his side of the family and marrying him was the only way for her to get a piece of that action. Why Basil agreed to the wedding at all is anyone's guess, though, as he seems to utterly despise her in the show.
In comedies like these, it's standard to have the stereotypical "married couple with nothing in common who hate each other", so there was probably no real thought behind establishing a background for their relationship and marriage. Personally I like to imagine both Basil and Sybil did at one point have one thing in common; their desire for a better life, and that attracted them to each other. Basil obviously needed a partner that would share his will to run an establishment like a hotel and not simply be happy working in a 9 to 5 standard occupation and live in a suburban flat. Sybil on the other hand probably liked Basil's drive for success and was drawn to it due to her own background being lower class that simply accepted the status quo. It's sad to say, but I never really imagined them as ever being particularly lovey-dovey. They both saw each other as someone who made their circumstances in life better rather than someone they could love and depend on emotionally. That's not to say they never had feelings for each other, I just doubt it ever was anything strong or something they could not feel for lots of other people with similar personalities had they not met.
Not quite to that degree of almost hatred for each other, but that is mainly there for the sake of the show. It's obvious that after spending everyday with someone day in and day out that you will have disagreements as you do with anyone but you will have more disagreements with your significant other simply because you spend more time with them than any one else. Because of this some disagreements just don't get solved and one of you will have to compromise. After years and years you end up not liking them as much as you did when you first met because now you'e seen them, at their best but also their worst. Problem is nowadays most people get divorced because they can't understand that marriage isn't meant to be perfect and you will argue with your partner a lot no matter what and divorce is a lot easier than it used to be. The problem with Basil and Sybil is both of them married each other partly because it would allow them to start a business together so even though the divorce rates were incredibly high during the time this show was set (1970's) if Basil and Sybil divorced neither one of them would be able to run the hotel alone and Sybil would possibly be back to her lower social class even with her share of the money she'd get and she doesn't want that at all, and Basil would possibly be worse off than he was before marrying Sybil due to the fact it would mostly be split 50/50 and then he would almost certainly have to sell the hotel. So even though they dislike each other a lot, it is more logical to stick together so they can live fairly comfortably. I'm sure they did once have a happy relationship or at least some things in common but by this point they don't particularly like each other and the stress of running a hotel has taken its toll. It probably doesn't help that they obviously don't even have sex, hence Basil's unreasonable level of dislike towards the idea of guests having sex in the hotel. Note how they even have separate beds! Poor Basil doesn't get any and to be honest I don't think Sybil is too bothered by whether she gets any or not. Whilst sex isn't everything in a relationship it is an important part of a healthy and happy relationship. A sexless marriage isn't going to be a happy one which is why at least one partner is highly likely to cheat in a sexless marriage. Out of Basil and Sybil I think it's far more likely to be Sybil who would cheat. Just by judging her character, i don't think its too far fetched to say she could be having an affair, but I wouldn't think so as she was very upset when Basil acted as if he didn't care that she was leaving during the anniversary episode and even cried over it so she does still love him to some degree.
a box of 'weekend' chocolates perhaps. They were common in the 1970s and i miss them dearly, especially the lime one and the fruit jellies. They were a great selection.
I was wondering the same thing...I don't think it's chocolates though, as she spits part of it out? Between smoking, turning pages, putting food in and spitting something out, it all seems a bit tedious! I've watched this too many times and should get out more.
Haha, separate beds, yep its Gold that laugh, Basil reading Jaws, always notice how one part she laughs as soon as page turned, Basil saying he will go and clean the roof I always picture him Doing it, The Karma Sutra pair, my Favorite Episode BTW I love Trevor Adams As Alan, Basil Thinking he wanted to know if a Chemist was open so he could buy Condoms, and then Batteries for a sex toy haha, the mind Boggles, back then Batteries only sold mainly in Chemists! And when Jean asked has it got a breeze? The Room, is it Airey? Basil says well there's Air in it!! I mean??
"I know."
"Why's she telling you, then?"
🤣
Eating chocolates and smoking in bed, absolute class 🤣
And that annoying laugh from Sybil was priceless.
I'll never get even close. 😥
@@stephenhosking7384 you will!
Oh, I know. 😂😂
Old school
Love that he’s reading Jaws, a clear reference to Sybil always biting and barking orders at him! 😂
ifinde that ffunie
Only because there isn’t a book called “How to kill your wife”
Probably he wants to bite her head off 😂
@@thomashninan3825 Yeah or that. 🤣
@@SJMJ91or feed her to the sharks
I love the part where Sybil says “oh I knoww”
Oh I knowwwww
I love the cliched meme responses to a great comedy series.
Why is she telling you then 😂😂
It's a totally fair point!
wi is she smoking bed wenhollhotel gose upu[p flames inower howtellllllll theris nosmoking wi doothe bbrits getaway withit
KingB 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Lachlan Jones Smoking back in the 70’s was nearly everywhere unlike today.
@@BenFleury I grew up in the 70s and people smoked everywhere! on the train, buses, in shopping centres and on the tv. My old primary school teacher used to smoke senior service, the ones with no filters. Kids today would find that very hard to fathom! It was a very different time.
0:35 Subtle thing, but Basil’s instant change in mood the moment he hears “Audrey” 😂
Didn’t notice the ‘Jaws’ reference. So clever were John and Connie. Precision comedy at its best
Sybil is reading a magazine called Sexy Laughter while doing a seal impression XD
Greatest sitcom of all time. Cleese and Scales played so well off each other.
I know !!!
@@ElvarMasson 😂😂😂
Perfect scene after 15 years of marriage.
I know !!!
@@ElvarMasson Oh I know!
@@dublinjazz1 😄
noooo
"Well, why's she telling you then?!"
Absolutely top-draw writing in this scene, it's so perfectly wrought.
Tight af.
Sybil was one of the best comedy creations ever 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
"So I better let them in.."
*On the phone* "Yes.."
"I'll go then shall I?"
*On the phone* "Mmm.."
"Yeah, I agree.."
Basil's sarcasm just cracks me up! 😂
Fawlty towers i know nothing
We used to watch this all the time, and "oh, I KNOW" is something I remember. 40 + years later.
"why is she telling you then" lol
Sybil is a camp icon ❤
One of my favourite scenes
The "Oh I know" became a bit of a meme and Prunella Scales sometimes reprised it in other roles.
Oh I know! One of my fav bits from Faulty Towers
How my mum used to sound on the phone when I was a kid lol
Yeah, our mom would do the "yeah, uh-huh...uh huh".
We joke, but I ACTUALLY know someone who speaks like this. It's... fucking amazing.
You know my wife, pal?
@@zedwart8534 Sure do. She stayed over mine last night buddy. ;-)
Y u use the F word
@@franceshicks5337 Oh YES master, I've SORRY TO HAVE SAID A BAD WORD MASTER. ... Oh, I'm sorry... is this the slave trade? . People swear. Get used to it FUCK FACE. PS. cunt
We can feel his pain
They weren't sure about Cybil/Scales at 1st but she was a brilliant foil to Cleese.
Sybil's magazine is called "Sexy Laughs"
' I know '
while doing her best seal impression
I love her so much that laugh 😂😂
Love them. Pure genius!
I remember someone once saying that this scene is the key to the whole series, because it shows the Fawltys sleeping in separate beds. The marriage has reached a communication impasse, they're not sleeping together, Basil's feeling the worst of it and taking it out on the guests. It's tricky to write stuff this dark without relying on violence.
Er.. Basil certainly was violent... to Manuel!
Prunella Scales has said that the reason Sybil married Basil was because his origins were of a higher social class than hers; in the episode "Gourmet Night", she recounts an anecdote about "Uncle Ted and his crate of brown ale" while drunk, which implies a working-class background, as do some traces of working-class speech in her accent.
Except a lot of people back then slept in separate beds, it was pretty normal.
@@GggmanlivesThey did?
@@Gggmanlivesespecially on tv.
Basil is reading the Jaws book. Both the film and the first series (this was episode 3) came out in 1975. Easy reference to date the series.
I've been saying "Oh, I knooooww" for years, and few get the reference. Meanwhile, this is one of the funniest things I ever heard on TV.
I love them both xD
I’ll go clean the roof or something 😂
It's actually hazardous to smoke cigarettes in bed.....
Sybil- "Oh I Know......" XD
I love how Basil is reading a first edition of jaws
I know !!!
@@ElvarMasson he didn't have a copy of How to murder your wife.
@@masterfarr8265 😆😁😄
Oh I know oh I know oh I know. CLASSIC
Only just realised that Basil is reading the Jaws book
I know !!!
This is me in thirty years
Are you 6? Cuz John was 36 back then.
"Oh, I know."
"Why's she telling you then?" 🤣🤣🤣
I love this 😃
You know 😆
I never even noticed the smoking when this first came out now it stands out so much.
As a kid I thought the Basil was crazy and bad tempered, but that Sybil was pretty smart, kind of normal, and pretty efficient. But my mum would makes cracks about her smoking, fussy wigs, spitting out chocolates she did not like, and wearing a black bra under a pastel coloured blouse - all put there to make her look tacky.
I would have cut the phone wire myself....
mmMM I knauuw!
\gerlefrend ear wi did he not hang phone upinhis wife g
wi did not discon netck phone wileshee wostorking wi ddid take the re
she knaauuw! she knaauuw!
THIS is brilliant.....Oh I know!
Brilliant
I always thought that "Sybil" was quite an attractive woman. She had a great figure and a pretty face.
Superb .....!!...😂😂😄🌟⭐
I love her voice on this scene❤🎉
He reads Jaws, she reads Sexy laughs. Watching the whole Episode its simply so meaningfull, ROFL!!!!
I think this scene cemented my crush on Sybil.
I wish he grabbed the phone off her, and went "Yes, she knows. She knows."
As you said that, I visualised him doing it, hearing his words in my head.
Nah, he is too afraid of her :D
Imagine sybil on loose women she'd fit right in with that laugh and saying oh I know lol
I know
I experience this often myself (being the Basil in the relationship)
Oh, I know!
It's funny how the seperate beds don't seem unusual in their marriage!
Too funny, still after all these years.
So funny hearing her talking.
Separate beds, separate heads.
oh I know
@@masterfarr8265 hehhhhhh!
Oh I know
God this is my parents in a nutshell.
Oh, I know
I know
That's really sad.
Sounds like somebody machine-gunning a seal
I love the BritBox edit where this scene is intercut with shots of Hyacinth Bucket on the phone, so it looks as if she and Sybil are talking to one another! Example:
Hyacinth: I am waiting for your apology.
Sybil: I understand dear, I really do.
Hyacinth: Sounds as if someone is groaning on the line.
Sybil: No dear, it's only Basil.
It doesn't show that on my BritBox?
Funny how there’s an Audrey mentioned in this episode (but she can be seen in The Anniversary) and an Andre can be seen 2 episodes after this in Gourmet Night.
Purealternative FM Through the night Interlude
Also, you can see the time on the clock is about 23:15. Basil usually gets up about 05:30. So going by this, he probably gets about six hours sleep a night on average. That is not a healthy way to live your life. No wonder the man's miserable.
I’m lucky if I get 5. 😢
Six hours is quite enough for a lot of us!
Bazil: «Are You going to go on like that all night»???😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Smoking in bed, weekly baths, unshaved mega-hot broads, ah, the 70's...
oh I know 😂
The first few seconds I thought Sybil was bracing for an asthma attack!
Genius
Its so strange now days to see someone smoking indoors and what is the point of the person on the phone telling her that cus shes knows it all
Who has telephone conversation like that in bed (or a landline telephone next to it, especially at that time)...?! Oh heavens.
I knaauuw
Landline phones next to the bed was really a TV thing. TV houses usually had a phone in a living area and one in the master bedrrom. That way they didn't need to dress multiple sets, they just made the call from the bedroom. As far as I can recall, most (Australian) houses at the time had just one phone. Usually it was in the kitchen I seem to recall, or maybe the entry hall.
They're so unhappy that they don't even sleep in the same bed. I think mummy and daddy bear in the story of Goldilocks and The 3 Bears were an unhappy couple too as they had 2 seperate beds aswell.
Separate beds was normal not a sign of an unhappy marriage. It was considered proper, whereas 1 big bed was too suggestive, especially on television.
@@Sunset553 Actually, as far back as the mid 60s, they showed Fred and Wilma Flintstone in Bed together on TV... It was a question on a Pub quiz years ago, "who was the first TV couple shown in bed together?"
@@Sunset553you would agree though that Basil and Sybil were an unhappy couple wouldn’t you?
@@Iggywiggywoo I would. I don’t know why 4 years ago, I gave examples of couples sleeping in separate beds
Prunella - What a Superstar. 😄
So sad she doesn't even recognise her own children now. Her Alzheimer's has advanced 😭
Mammorie deliziose
oh dear. so familiar
“Hrmmm…!”
In the episode 'A Touch of Class', Sybil says "22 rooms is the limit", but at 1:37 you can clearly see a door with the number 58 on it.
It says 38 and the numbering system doesn’t have to mean anything. Could just mean Room 8 on the third floor.
John Cleese was a keen observer of human behavior - this is pretty much most women I've heard on the phone.
Classic
So funny like most couples lol.
I still think John looked like a school master with that 'tache! I think he looked the part in Clockwise!
Do they love or despise eachother?
Both
Prunella Scales said of their characters it's as if they got married in a hurry after the war and are now repenting at leisure.
Mr. Bean’s in the same situation on the train at the moment 😂
Why did these two get married anyways😅
They seem to have got married in 1964 (the 1979 "Anniversary" episode says it's their 15th) and we have no idea how/why they met or ended up running the hotel.
We just don't need to know and that's the beauty of it.
It's never mentioned on the show, but in an interview Prunella Scales, who plays Sybil Fawlty, mentioned that Sybil married Basil because he was of a higher social standing than her own family. It's possible that the hotel was in Basil's family or was bought for the most part with money from his side of the family and marrying him was the only way for her to get a piece of that action. Why Basil agreed to the wedding at all is anyone's guess, though, as he seems to utterly despise her in the show.
In comedies like these, it's standard to have the stereotypical "married couple with nothing in common who hate each other", so there was probably no real thought behind establishing a background for their relationship and marriage. Personally I like to imagine both Basil and Sybil did at one point have one thing in common; their desire for a better life, and that attracted them to each other. Basil obviously needed a partner that would share his will to run an establishment like a hotel and not simply be happy working in a 9 to 5 standard occupation and live in a suburban flat. Sybil on the other hand probably liked Basil's drive for success and was drawn to it due to her own background being lower class that simply accepted the status quo. It's sad to say, but I never really imagined them as ever being particularly lovey-dovey. They both saw each other as someone who made their circumstances in life better rather than someone they could love and depend on emotionally. That's not to say they never had feelings for each other, I just doubt it ever was anything strong or something they could not feel for lots of other people with similar personalities had they not met.
Don't all couples end up like this?
Not quite to that degree of almost hatred for each other, but that is mainly there for the sake of the show. It's obvious that after spending everyday with someone day in and day out that you will have disagreements as you do with anyone but you will have more disagreements with your significant other simply because you spend more time with them than any one else. Because of this some disagreements just don't get solved and one of you will have to compromise. After years and years you end up not liking them as much as you did when you first met because now you'e seen them, at their best but also their worst. Problem is nowadays most people get divorced because they can't understand that marriage isn't meant to be perfect and you will argue with your partner a lot no matter what and divorce is a lot easier than it used to be. The problem with Basil and Sybil is both of them married each other partly because it would allow them to start a business together so even though the divorce rates were incredibly high during the time this show was set (1970's) if Basil and Sybil divorced neither one of them would be able to run the hotel alone and Sybil would possibly be back to her lower social class even with her share of the money she'd get and she doesn't want that at all, and Basil would possibly be worse off than he was before marrying Sybil due to the fact it would mostly be split 50/50 and then he would almost certainly have to sell the hotel. So even though they dislike each other a lot, it is more logical to stick together so they can live fairly comfortably. I'm sure they did once have a happy relationship or at least some things in common but by this point they don't particularly like each other and the stress of running a hotel has taken its toll. It probably doesn't help that they obviously don't even have sex, hence Basil's unreasonable level of dislike towards the idea of guests having sex in the hotel. Note how they even have separate beds! Poor Basil doesn't get any and to be honest I don't think Sybil is too bothered by whether she gets any or not. Whilst sex isn't everything in a relationship it is an important part of a healthy and happy relationship. A sexless marriage isn't going to be a happy one which is why at least one partner is highly likely to cheat in a sexless marriage. Out of Basil and Sybil I think it's far more likely to be Sybil who would cheat. Just by judging her character, i don't think its too far fetched to say she could be having an affair, but I wouldn't think so as she was very upset when Basil acted as if he didn't care that she was leaving during the anniversary episode and even cried over it so she does still love him to some degree.
What is she eating?
Chocolates?
Luke Montgomery milk tray
a box of 'weekend' chocolates perhaps. They were common in the 1970s and i miss them dearly, especially the lime one and the fruit jellies. They were a great selection.
I was wondering the same thing...I don't think it's chocolates though, as she spits part of it out? Between smoking, turning pages, putting food in and spitting something out, it all seems a bit tedious!
I've watched this too many times and should get out more.
chocolate coated clits.
why is she telling you then............................................
How come they're in separate beds?
Helena Bonham Carter to play Prunella in biopic . Have a crush on them both
#MeToo
I thought the magazine she was reading was called "Sexy Ladies" at first 😂
The only '70s "bedroom scene" that was funny 🙂
Cut the first 30 seconds
Way b4 cell phones etc!
I know
LOL!!!!!!
Haha, separate beds, yep its Gold that laugh, Basil reading Jaws, always notice how one part she laughs as soon as page turned, Basil saying he will go and clean the roof I always picture him Doing it, The Karma Sutra pair, my Favorite Episode BTW I love Trevor Adams As Alan, Basil Thinking he wanted to know if a Chemist was open so he could buy Condoms, and then Batteries for a sex toy haha, the mind Boggles, back then Batteries only sold mainly in Chemists! And when Jean asked has it got a breeze? The Room, is it Airey? Basil says well there's Air in it!! I mean??
my mums sister andherhuzben sleepsepretbedrooms
Ever heard the mating call of eider ducks...???
😮
LMAO XD
Jon from Game Grumps brought me here
What is Sybil eating?
Chocolates, I think.
@@User-3O3 ok now I see it. I was just wondering why she keeps spitting out something.
@@AJBeals1212 Probably the ones she doesn't like. xD She doesn't take her eyes off the magazine when she goes for the chocolate, the first time.
Hi JonTron, if you’re watching this
Smoking in bed? Not a good idea.
Sybil : beautiful, I love her nightwear and her beautiful face too.