Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

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Manuel
Waiter
OriginBarcelona, Spain
NationalitySpanish

Manuel is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers, played by Andrew Sachs. He reappeared for a small sketch with John Cleese in We Are Most Amused in November 2008.

Manuel himself appeared on the audio adaptations of

narrator,[citation needed] explaining things from his point of view, when the series was released in audio format. The first two episodes released did not feature him at all, as the dialogue was edited and a short burst of piano music would indicate a change of scene. However, when the whole series was re-released, they were re-edited with Manuel's linking commentary.[citation needed
]

Personality

Manuel is a well-meaning but dim, disorganised, and constantly confused Spanish waiter from

Basil the Rat". When told by either Basil, Sybil or Polly
what to do, he frequently answers "Sí" ("Yes"), or "¿Qué?" ("What?") or "¿Cómo?" (a more polite way of "What?"), which once led to a particularly harebrained guest (Mrs. Richards) believing Basil's name to be "C. K. Watt". By the time of the second series, Manuel's English is shown to have improved, while still limited.

Basil hired Manuel because he was very cheap labour. Basil's excuse for everything Manuel does wrong is "he's from Barcelona", an excuse that Sybil and even Manuel himself once resorted to.

Manuel is good friends with Polly, who can communicate best with him (Basil claims to have learnt "classical Spanish", whereas Polly speaks the actual language) and often uses him as a model for her sketches. Basil also suggests she take him to the local ice rink in "Basil the Rat".

He is known for his passionate patriotism, amplified in "

The Wedding Party
" that he has five brothers and four sisters.

During the episode "Basil the Rat", Manuel acquires a

Siberian hamster, and names it Basil, after his boss. He becomes very emotionally attached to the rat, and even threatens to leave Fawlty Towers altogether if Basil and Sybil dispose of it, to which Basil immediately responds, "Well, goodbye." The episode also highlights the fact that Manuel is rather dim even without the language barrier, as he lets the rat out of its cage for some exercise (which leads to the rat ending up loose in the hotel), manages to spell "Spleep" from S-L-E-E-P, and pronounces cholesterol
as "costellorol", even though the two words are quite similar in English and Spanish (colesterol).

Origins

Sachs claimed that he only had a few weeks to learn the difficult and complex accent that Manuel is so famous for (in fact, having lived in Germany until he was eight, Sachs initially suggested playing a German waiter), but loved his experiences on the show and still had Manuel's attire. Sachs suffered two serious injuries during Fawlty Towers. In The Wedding Party, he was almost knocked unconscious after being hit over the head with a frying pan (after John Cleese accidentally picked up a real frying pan instead of a rubber-padded prop) and in The Germans, he suffered second degree burns from a fire.

Dubbing

For the Spanish

TV3
channel (based in Barcelona), Manuel's origin was changed to Mexico City and the character has a Mexican accent. The French version also gives his nationality as Mexican.

In scenes in which Manuel appears there are several references to Spain, and to

Basil the Rat
", Basil says to Manuel, "You have rats in Spain, don't you – or did Franco have them all shot?"

In popular culture

The Swedish pop group I'm from Barcelona chose its name in reference to this character.

The movie-mocking television program Mystery Science Theater 3000 has referred to Manuel on several occasions. When a character on screen speaks with a Spanish accent, the riffers would often respond with "I'm so sorry, he's from Barcelona".

Sachs also appeared in a few adverts on British TV in the Manuel persona.

Sachs made a cameo appearance in We Are Most Amused, as an aged Manuel.

References

  • Bright, Morris; Ross, Robert (2001). Fawlty Towers: fully booked. BBC. p. 85.
    ISBN 0-563-53439-7
    .
  • Christopher, David (1999). British culture: an introduction. Routledge. pp. 118–119.
    ISBN 0-415-22053-X
    .
  • Gubler, Fritz (2008). Waldorf hysteria: hotel manners, misbehaviour & minibars. Great, Grand & Famous Hotels.
    ISBN 978-0-9804667-1-3
    .
  • Mortimer, David (2007). Classic Showbiz Clangers. Classic Clangers. Robson. pp. 87–88.
    ISBN 978-1-86105-928-4
    .
  • Potrč, Matjaž; Strahovnik, Vojko (2008). Challenging moral particularism. Routledge studies in ethics and moral theory. Taylor & Francis. p. 205.
    ISBN 978-0-415-96377-0
    .

External links
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