Fawlty Towers
Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise)
TV Flash files “Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise)” as hour 5 of 12 in the TV Flash guide — Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) on BBC Two, season 1, episode 5, aired 1975-10-17, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E05: listed hour 5 of 12 in the Fawlty Towers guide, hour 5 of 6 in season 1. It aired 1975-10-17 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Hotel Inspectors” (S01E04). Next is “The Germans” (S01E06).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
In an effort to climb another rung in the social ladder, Basil arranges a gourmet night. Unfortunately, thanks to the chef's alcoholism, Basil must try to get hold of a duck from his friend, André. This, combined with the Fawltys' faulty car and his social awkwardness leads Basil ever closer to a nervous breakdown.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise) sit in the Fawlty Towers guide?
S01E05 is listed hour 5 of 12 — hour 5 of 6 in season 1, season 1 episode 5.
When did Fawlty Towers S01E05 air?
Gourmet Night (a.k.a. Gourmet's Paradise) aired 1975-10-17 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is twelve episodes really the whole show?
Yes. Two series, deliberate scarcity. Watch all of them — short-run sitcom as cathedral, not a missing-season mystery.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Twelve episodes. John Cleese's Basil turns a Torquay hotel into a pressure cooker of class panic, Sybil combat, and don't-mention-the-war. Short-run sitcom as cathedral: every farce brick laid on purpose. The rage, the waiter Manuel, and proof that less can outlive whole sitcom empires.
Picture a Torquay hotel that only needed twelve keys. 1975–1979, BBC Two: hostile hotelier Basil Fawlty terrorizes guests and staff in farces that escalate to operatic disaster. Fawlty Towers, from John Cleese and Connie Booth, runs two series — deliberate scarcity inspired by a real hotelier the Pythons once encountered. Prunella Scales's Sybil, Booth's Polly, Andrew Sachs's Manuel. Class panic, marital combat, don't-mention-the-war. Every farce brick laid on purpose. On the palate: damp carpet, a sign that will…
Filed against
- John Cleese as Basil Fawlty
John Cleese’s various Monty Python’s Flying Circus turns rewired sketch so a punchline did not have to bow — 1960s catalog BBC cutouts, then Fawlty Towers stretching the rage into twelve episodes of a Torquay pressure cooker. TV Flash…
- Prunella Scales as Sybil Fawlty
Prunella Scales played Sybil Fawlty on Fawlty Towers, twelve 1970s episodes in which John Cleese’s Basil turns a Torquay hotel into a pressure cooker of class panic, Sybil combat, and don’t-mention-the-war. Short-run sitcom as cathedral:…
- Connie Booth as Polly Sherman
Connie Booth played Polly Sherman on Fawlty Towers — twelve episodes, John Cleese's Basil turning a Torquay hotel into a pressure cooker of class panic, Sybil combat, and don't-mention-the-war. Short-run sitcom as cathedral: every farce…
- Andrew Sachs as Manuel
Andrew Sachs’s Manuel made Fawlty Towers’ twelve-episode cathedral ring — John Cleese’s Basil as class panic, Sybil combat, don’t-mention-the-war, and a Torquay waiter who turned farce bricks into a national catchphrase. Short-run sitcom…