11: A Touch of Class (Season One)
The very first episode; let's make this clear - it's miles ahead of The Wedding Party, and does have many funny bits. Unfortunately, it's dragged down mainly be the main story, which is sort of just thrown in after ten minutes of introducing the characters. Lord Melbury isn't really a great "episode villain", and it actually gets fairly serious when he turns up, with Basil becoming a rather annoying suck up. Polly gets some time to shine, but there's a worrying lack of Sybil - and when she does appear, it's not really to do much apart from nag Basil. There's not one great Sybil quote, and her laugh doesn't even turn up in the episode. But, if you watch the episode in full through the embedded video, you'll probably notice that after the lunch scene in the second part of the video, there's very little in terms of great laughs - it's very much a weak "second act", as it were.
Best Lines:
Basil: Manuel, there is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Que?
Basil: There is too much butter on, those, trays.
Manuel: No, no no senor, not "on those trays" - "uno, dos, tres".
Basil: What about the idea about doing something for your fellow man?
Guest: Mr. Fawlty, c-
Basil: IN A MINUTE!
Mr. Brown: What's the "Graille Frit"?
Polly: Grapefruit.
Mr. Brown: ..."I'll have the Graille Frit".
Basil: Throw it away! Throw it AWAY!
*Manuel swings the grapefruit in to the family at table, gets hit by Basil and chased in to the kitchen*
Polly: Sorry about that...
Mr. Brown: No, I like a bit of cabaret!
*phone rings*
Basil: Can someone please get that? Hello? Is there nobody who can answer that? There must be someone...
*Manuel runs over*
Basil: Not you!
(Not a line, but the moment when Basil holds the brick up to his ear is brilliant)
Guest: A GIN AND ORANGE, A LEMON SQUASH, AND A SCOTCH AND WATER PLEASE!
