Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a Passover gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
The Schmooze

WATCH: Andrew Sachs’s 5 Best ‘Fawlty Towers’ Moments

“Fawlty Towers” star Andrew Sachs, a German-born British actor who fled the Nazis in 1938, died last week.

The 86-year-old was best known for his role as Manuel, a bumbling Spanish waiter who drove star John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) crazy.

The show ran for just 12 episodes, but it was still ranked No. 1 by the British Film Institute on a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes.

In honor of Sachs, here are five of our favorite Manuel moments from “Fawlty Towers.”

1. “I know nothing.”

After “¿Que?” This declaration became Manuel’s most famous catchphrase. It occurred in the first episode of Series 2, which was aptly named “Communication Problems.”

.

2. “There is too much butter on those trays.”

“No, sir, not ‘on, those, trays.’ Uno, dos, tres.”

.

3. A Biscuit With Your Rat?

This scene from the series finale is perhaps the most famous “Fawlty Towers” clip. Manuel is conned into purchasing a pet rat, believing it to be a Siberian hamster. When the rat escapes, chaos ensues.

.

Image by Getty

4. Manuel Practices His English

In which a talking moose head gets the better of hotel resident Major Gowen (Ballard Berkeley).

.

5. Building Blunders

When a door is plastered over, Basil uses Manuel to break it down.

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.