DVD Review – Fawlty Towers – The Complete Remastered Series

(a special thanks to the good folks at American Pop for sending me a reviewers copy of this DVD!)

Say hello to Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered! This newly-remastered collection of the classic BBC comedy series will have you laughing like almost nothing else!

I’d had surprisingly little exposure to Fawlty Towers until fairly recently. Back when I was a wee lad I remember seeing about two episodes of the show. Lately I’ve seen a heck of a lot more and found it to be one of the best, most consistently funny shows ever made!

The series follows the lives of people staying and working in Fawlty Towers, what is possibly the worst hotel in all of England. It’s located on the British coast where, it turns out, people actually voluntarily go for vacations during the summer (having swam in the Pacific Ocean in an area just about as far north as Southern England, I think they’re quite mad). The hotel is run by the impossible-to-deal-with Basil Fawlty (John Cleese). With him are his long-suffering wife, longer-suffering maid and even longer-suffering Spanish bellhop, the scene stealing Manuel (Andrew Sachs).

The plots tend to be very simple, and occasionally reveal a great deal about the age of the show (it was made in 1975 and 1979), but the execution is genius. The comic timing on display is incredible, particularly that of Sachs and Cleese.

This newly remastered version of the show contains all twelve episodes (12?! That’s it?! Not a lot, I know, but the recent great shows The Office and Extras also only have twelve standard episodes each), of the show. You also get a whole raft of extra features, including commentaries, interviews, outtakes, a little booklet and even a Torquay Tourist Guide! Nice!

This is a very funny show and a heck of a good deal. I can’t possibly praise it enough. Go pick it up!