Quote: Chris Hallam @ 9th May 2019, 10:04 PMTHE ANSWER:
I contacted John Cleese's website and got this response:"John says the role of Polly is an English character."
He's wrong.
Polly: American or British? Page 4
Well it's not settled imo. May never be resolved whatever his website says. Who's running the website? Probably not Cleese or Booth. If Polly is English I have to conclude It's either sloppily handled in the show or it really doesn't matter because it's a sitcom, a piece of escapist entertainment albeit one with an avid fanbase who want their favourite characters to be real. Even in a sitcom where the walls wobble ie. it's all so obviously not real. I'm going for the latter, it's a sitcom, who cares if there are inconsistencies in script and performance regarding her heritage or nationality.
Naming her Sherman is such a strong nod to her being American. I think it was a very knowingly chosen name for her, she's an American who's come to help out the British with her customer service skills. The Sherman M4 medium tank was Britain's most reliable tank in WW2 and it was American. It's not a common English name but a famous American one. There's only one reason it was chosen imo.
And Connie Booth is hardly Gwyneth Paltrow with her annunciation if that was really was supposed to be an English accent. Come on, if they wanted a really authentic English woman for the role then Booth wouldn't have been cast. Especially with Basil being so very English. This showed up her accent even more. She was cast because she was the co-writer obviously responsible for creating Polly's role and she had an Equity card and she wanted to play her as much as Cleese wanted to play his creation. And they were both great, regardless of what nationality she was supposed to be.
To a more pressing problem: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
Quote: beaky @ 19th May 2019, 10:54 AMTo a more pressing problem: how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?
I take your point, beaky, but the "angels" question is a trifle esoteric.
On the other hand, I love evidence-based discussions such as those involving Polly's nationality.
It's a great thread! 
It is a good thread. I never thought about where Polly came from - but if she wasn't British, it'd be continually mentioned, just as Manuel coming from Barcelona was...
My best guess is that nobody connected with the production of "Fawlty Towers" ever discussed Polly's nationality.
Alfred's argument that the surname "Sherman" suggests she's American is by no means without merit.
On the other hand, her accent in "Fawlty Towers" is (to me) indistinguishable from her accent in other films where she is obviously intended to be English - particularly "Holy Grail" which is set in England at a time when the USA didn't even exist.
My view is that if they'd intended her to be American, they would have had her speak with an accent that every viewer would have recognised immediately as American.
Alfred says the matter isn't settled and I can see his point but, for me, the evidence for Polly's being English outweighs the evidence for her being American.