The Builders
| "The Builders" | |
|---|---|
| Fawlty Towers episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | John Howard Davies |
| Written by | John Cleese & Connie Booth |
| Original air date | 26 September 1975 |
"The Builders" is the second episode in the first series of the BBC TV sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Fawlty Towers is undergoing renovations over the weekend, so Basil informs Major Gowen, Miss Tibbs, and Miss Gatsby that they will have to have dinner at the Gleneagles hotel. The Fawltys themselves are going on a golfing holiday for the weekend in Paignton with friends, leaving Polly and Manuel in charge of the hotel. Before they leave, Basil reminds Polly that the workmen are to block off the drawing room door and build a door leading into the kitchen. Polly, meanwhile, is busy drawing on her sketchpad. Basil describes it as "a landfill junk-pile with a shirt-collar and tie under it", but Manuel later sees it and immediately recognises it as "Mr. Fawlty". Basil tells Polly that the workmen will be O'Reilly's, an Irish cowboy builder with very little understanding of the building trade, as opposed to the competent, professional (and more expensive) Stubbs, who Sybil believes is carrying out the alterations to the hotel. Sybil warns Basil not to hire the cheap but incompetent O'Reilly, as they hired him to build a wall a few months ago which has still not been built.
The Fawltys depart and Polly goes to her room for a short nap, telling Manuel to wake her as soon as the builders arrive. Left behind the desk alone, Manuel enjoys his temporary power, imagining the hotel is his own. During this time, a delivery man arrives to deliver a garden gnome Sybil has ordered, but confuses Manuel into thinking that he wants a room for it. Manuel places the gnome behind the desk. The builders arrive, and confusion arises when Manuel keeps asking them if they are "Orelly" men. This irritates Lurphy, the bearded builder, until another of the men realises "Orelly" in fact means "O'Reilly". Immediately Lurphy understands and affirms they are indeed "Orelly" men (whilst referring to Manuel as "Thick as a plank"). Whilst the builders study the plans, Manuel goes upstairs to wake Polly up. He enters her room to see her sleeping peacefully, and decides not to disturb her. Manuel returns to the front desk and receives a call from someone he believes is asking for Basil. After insulting the caller, Manuel drops the receiver in shock when he realises Basil is on the line. On Basil's instructions, Manuel calls Lurphy (the bearded builder) over and then, whilst listening to Basil but clearly not understanding what he is saying, calls Lurphy "a hideous orangutan." Lurphy responds by punching Manuel, which is what Basil had hoped for.
Basil arrives early the next morning to check on the renovations. When he walks in, he realises to his horror that they haven't been carried out properly as the drawing room door is still in place, the door intended for the kitchen has been placed in front of the stairs and the dining room door has been blocked off instead. In a combination of rage at the shoddy work and fear over his wife's anticipated reaction, Basil, after tripping over Sybil's gnome, furiously threatens Polly and then physically assaults Manuel, before phoning O'Reilly and threatening to "insert a large garden gnome in you" if he does not arrive to fix the work within twenty minutes.
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