He has clearly learned from his boss – and is now answering the phone with a rudeness to rival Basil’s. Basil the ratManuel’s loneliness in the permanently grey Torquay drives him to acquire a pet rat, resulting in perhaps the greatest scenes of farce Fawlty Towers ever conjured up. Manuel’s sheer terror as the farce climaxes – “you put Basil in the ratatouille!” – is a masterpiece of double meaning. Of course, Manuel’s poor English and man-child innocence mean the scheme is doomed to fail. “Breakfast kaput!”One of the neatest jokes in Fawlty Towers is how Basil’s constant abuse of Manuel always comes back to haunt him.

Source: The Guardian December 02, 2016 10:18 UTC