Basil is a much put-upon, hard-working hotel ‘manager’ whose life is plagued by dead guests, hotel inspectors and riff-raff. His biggest headache is a “nest of vipers” – his nagging wife Sibyl (Prunella Scales). Together they run their hotel, Fawlty Towers, with a little help from the unflappable Polly (Connie Booth), and hardly any help at all from Manuel (Andrew Sachs), the trainee waiter from Barcelona who is as mad as his boss and the butt of all his frustration.