Fawlty Towers . . .

Since my Mum moved down from Sydney to live with us, there have been about 10 boxes of VHS tapes sitting in the garage, waiting for me to inspect them. Some of the videos I had completely forgotten about, and others, I have to say, I wonder what on earth I was thinking back in the mid 1980s when I recorded them (for example, why would I want to record a video on how to knit a shawl? I've never knitted in my life, and have no intentions of ever starting).

So, after spending a good hour going through the boxes, despairing that I was ever going to find anything worth keeping, I found a gem - the complete collection of Fawlty Towers. This is one of my all time favourite British comedies, and although I was a child when it was on air, I remember many a night (well, 12 of them, since only 12 episodes were ever made) sitting around the TV with my mother and stepfather, laughing uproariously at the antics of Basil, Manuel and the rest of the cast. I actually have the complete collection on DVD nowadays, but it wasn't until I found the VHS tape that I remembered it's years since I watched this show.

It's pretty difficult to choose a favourite episode, as each was so clever and well written, however, I think "Basil the Rat" and "The Germans" are two that always spring immediately to mind for me as exceptionally funny. And in case you're the one person on the planet who hasn't watched an episode, here's a few minutes from "The Germans" (and please take this in the spirit of comedy - I'm part German, so if I'm not offended by it, hopefully neither will you be).