"Fawlty Towers"
The Kipper and the Corpse (1979)

Director:

Bob Spiers

Writers:

John Cleese (written by) and
Connie Booth (written by)

TV Series:

"Fawlty Towers" (1975)

Original Air Date:

12 March 1979 (Season 2, Episode 4)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A guest unexpectedly dies during the night. While Sybil, Polly and Manuel try to handle the situation professionally...

Plot Keywords:

Corpse | English | Waiter | Hotel | Torquay

Cast

John Cleese	...	Basil Fawlty
Prunella Scales	...	Sybil Fawlty
Andrew Sachs	...	Manuel
Connie Booth	...	Polly Shearman
Geoffrey Palmer	...	Dr. Price
Mavis Pugh	...	Mrs. Chase
Richard Davies	...	Mr. White
Elizabeth Benson	...	Mrs. White
Ballard Berkeley	...	Major Gowen
Gilly Flower	...	Miss Abitha Tibbs
Renee Roberts	...	Miss Ursula Gatsby
Brian Hall	...	Terry
Derek Royle	...	Mr. Leeman
Robert McBain	...	Mr. Xerxes
Pamela Buchner	...	Miss Young

Trivia:

In a 1999 interview, John Cleese said that he had asked the manager of The Savoy what the worst problem was for a hotelier. The manager said it was dealing with guests that died. This gave rise to the episode "The Kipper and The Corpse". Cleese named the corpse "Mr. Leeman" in honor of the Savoy manager.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the episode where the man dies, when he is being carried he is supposed dead, however he can be seen breathing at one point.

Quotes:

Basil Fawlty: One of the guests has died.
Major Gowen: Ah! Shot, was he?
Basil Fawlty: No, no. During the night.
Major Gowen: Oh, well. You're off your guard, you see!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The John Cleese Interview (1998) (V)

Could have been better

This is one of those comical situations, where humour is mixed in with a very serious (and sad) occasion. Quite a few programmes and films try to do this and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

Here, I think it's safe to say that it has worked, but only just. Although the humour was at its usual high standards, most of the show was set around Basil trying to hide the corpse until he is able to deal with the situation properly.

I feel that the plot here was stretched a little, especially when Polly says that she thought Mr Leeman's friends had come to the hotel for the Linen after mishearing them. This was not really funny to start with, repeating this line made it very thin indeed.

However, the writing is up to a good standard and you can't really expect the best in all episodes, can you? There are bound to be slight cracks or flaws and surely enough, I think you'll find them here.