Fawlty Towers

Radio Times celebrates Fawlty Towers with rare photos

Widely hailed as the best TV sitcom of all time, Fawlty Towers debuted on BBC Two on Friday 19 September 1975 - 40 years ago today. To mark the occasion, Radio Times has dug deep into the archive and unearthed 50 photographs, many of which have never been published before.

Fawlty Towers is 40 so we ranked all the episodes

To mark the show's 40th birthday we attempted to rank the 12 episodes from worst to best - but since they're all classics, they really should all be number one.

Britain's finest sitcom was TV's perfect farce

Fawlty Towers has always been funny. But at 40 years old, it only seems to shine brighter. Sam Kitchener celebrates the show's sophisticated homage to farce, its subtle commentary on its times and lasting legacy to the comedy canon.

How the BBC almost turned down Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers is regarded as one of the finest British sitcoms ever made, but in 1974 a script editor at the BBC deemed it a "disaster".

New plan unveiled for 'Fawlty Towers' hotel

Housebuilder Churchill Retirement Living, has submitted a new planning application for 33 apartments at the former Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay.

Fawlty Towers car thrashing 'nearly halted'

John Cleese has revealed that one of the most iconic scenes from Fawlty Towers was nearly scrapped because of the wrong kind of tree branch.

Fawlty​ Towers turns 40

It's 40 years since the first episode of Fawlty​ Towers crept into the public consciousness with minimal publicity and a series of lukewarm reviews.

Future of the real Fawlty Towers remains uncertain

The future of a world-famous hotel that inspired the classic comedy Fawlty Towers has been thrown into question. The future of the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay remains uncertain after councillors rejected a plan to convert it into a retirement home.

Rare photos capture Fawlty Towers birth 40 years ago

Enjoy an exclusive look at what happened when RT went on set for the birth of the classic comedy in 1974.

Radio Times review

Assuming you haven't got the VHS, the DVD or seen it seven times on G.O.L.D., The Psychiatrist (series 2 episode 2: "Watery Fowls") looks as zingy and agonising as it did in 1979.

Sybil flirts with an open-shirted guest (or "Piltdown ponce") while Basil fawns on a couple who are both doctors - until he learns one is a psychiatrist. There's so much to love in the way that from there his spasms of overreaction build to disaster on the first-floor landing, not least the insults exchanged by the "brilliantine stick insect" and the "coiffured old sow".