I was too young to appreciate Fawlty Towers when it first aired – I grew into it through repeats, videos and with buying the soundtracks to a few of the episodes.
With the restaurant scenes where Basil either smarms his way through the guests or is just plain rude to those that annoyed him (the Hotel Inspector, anyone?) the opportunity to experience similar was too good to pass up.
It was a simple case of “Here is my money”
So on Sunday 29th March, our coach arrived at the hotel and we joined the rest of the ~100 or so guests gathered in the roomy bar area awaiting the restaurant doors to open.
In walks Manuel – followed by Basil.
‘Manuel! Collect the glasses!’
So, Manuel grabs glasses off two of the guests.
‘No! These are spectacles! I said glasses!’
‘Que?
‘Oh, forget it. Manuel! Serve the peanuts’
Manuel did so; you can probably guess how.
Basil: ‘No, no, no! Serve them on the table!!”
So, Manuel climbed onto a table and served another peanut from there..
This was just the warm-up
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Basil started to call out the various groups by surname for the seating:
‘Smith? Yes? Table one, thank you’
‘Allen? Table three, thank you’
‘Hopkins? ….. Hopkins?? ..… HOPKINS!?!?’ An elderly gent walked over, complete with hearing aid.
‘Table seven ….. and change your batteries’
Even an elderly lady in a wheelchair didn’t escape the acidic ‘Fawlty’ tongue.
“Come on, come on. There are people waiting, you know”
We thought we’d be clever; when our name was called all six of us shouted ‘House!’
That earned us a withering stare and, in a sneering tone: “learn some manners!” and we were then promptly ignored.
We [eventually!] joined the restaurant for 2 hours of Watery Fowls style mayhem with lots of Manuel’s misunderstandings and more of Basil being rude to his guests.
One lady’s phone rang when Basil was talking.
“It’s my daughter” she cried out. (She was quite obnoxious, actually)
Basil walked over to her table, snatched the phone off her
“She can’t talk to you; she is in a public place!” he shouted down the phone and then hung up…
Even your esteemed author felt the lash of Basil.
I had stood up to take a group picture of us; I could hear the group on the table behind and to the left of me laughing, but paid no attention. I should have listened.
Unbeknown to me, Basil was stood behind me. I found out he was there when he snarled “SIT!” into my left ear.
I sat.
There were elements from various episodes from ‘Flowery Twats’ threaded throughout the afternoon, the horse betting scene; Manuel’s rat; the ‘This is exactly how it all started’ followed by the funny walk. (No accompanying ‘salute’, of course these days!)
The afternoon finished with Basil having one of his head-in-hands breakdowns; Sybil (who was marvellous, but underused I think) going off in tears, and Manuel shouting the inevitable “I know nuth-eeng!”
The overly manic style of Farty Towels isn’t for everyone, but for any fan of the series, I cannot recommend this event enough. It was a thoroughly enjoyable immersive experience, with clever improvisations from the actors and although I found the food a bit average… well, I wouldn’t have dared mention it!!
The show is based in London (Radisson Blu – President Hotel, Guildford Street), but does tour the UK
https://www.interactivetheatre.com.au/faulty-towers-the-dining-experience-london-west-end/
Photos: From us all on Table 5
© text & images Afghanistan Banana Stand 2026
