The Kipper and the Corpse

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Fawlty Towers episode
“The Kipper and the Corpse”
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 4
Writer(s)	John Cleese & Connie Booth
Director	Bob Spiers
Production no.	10
Original airdate	12 March 1979
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List of Fawlty Towers episodes

"The Kipper and the Corpse" is the fourth episode of the second series of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Plot
4 Trivia

[edit] Synopsis

A guest dies of natural causes in bed, another faints at the sight of the body, and Basil frantically tries to hide the out-of-date breakfast kipper which he is convinced was responsible — besides attempting to move the corpse downstairs unseen.

[edit] Cast

With:

Elizabeth Benson as Mrs. White
Pamela Buchner as Miss Young
Richard Davies as Mr. White
Len Marten as guest
Raymond Mason as Mr. Zebedee
Robert McBain as Mr. Xerxes
Charles McKeown as Mr. Ingrams
Geoffrey Palmer as Dr. Price
Mavis Pugh as Mrs. Chase

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The episode begins in the bar where Mrs. Chase is showing off her dog in front of the major. Basil, clearly fed up with the dog's presence asks Manuel to attend to its "heart's desires." At this stage Dr. Price enters the bar and orders some sandwiches, which Basil immediately attends to once he knows that they are for Dr. Price (again showing how Basil appreciates and admires doctors).

Shortly after a new guest, Mr. Leeman, arrives along with three of his colleagues who have brought him to the hotel. They tell Mr. Leeman that they will come and collect him at 9:30 the following morning for a meeting with their managing director. Mr. Leeman expresses that he is not feeling very well but hopes that a good night's rest should help him feel better.

Sybil checks Mr. Leeman in and deals with his request for breakfast in bed. Basil, who by this time has come out of the bar and joins Sybil behind the counter is quite surprised that Mr. Leeman has asked for breakfast in bed telling him, "most of our guests manage to struggle down in the morning." As Mr. Leeman proceeds upstairs Basil jokes with him by asking Mr. Leeman what he would like his breakfast tray made out of, "rosewood, mahogany, teak?"

The episode continues the next morning where Mrs. Chase's dog is causing more problems in the dining room. Having bitten both Manuel and Polly, Polly takes it upon herself to add Tabasco sauce to the dog's sausages by means of revenge. Meanwhile trouble has broken out in the kitchen over Mr. Leeman's breakfast. Basil is concerned by the fact that the kippers Terry has cooked for Mr. Leeman are out-of-date. After much deliberation with Sybil and Terry Basil finally takes the breakfast upstairs to Mr. Leeman.

Basil enters Mr. Leeman's room, puts the tray down on his lap and draws back the curtains, all the time rambling onto Mr. Leeman about car strikes (having read the headline on Mr. Leeman's copy of the Daily Telegraph whilst taking the tray upstairs). It is clear to the viewing audience that Mr. Leeman is in fact dead because he does not say anything to Basil and is sat up in bed with his head drooping downwards. However, Basil does not realise this and instead believes that Mr. Leeman is in fact just ignorant and ungrateful.

As Basil makes his way back downstairs Polly comes out of the kitchen carrying a pot of milk which they forgot to put on Mr. Leeman's breakfast tray. Basil re-enters the kitchen and complains to Sybil and Terry about Mr. Leeman's apparent rudeness. Shortly after, a shocked and distressed Polly runs into the kitchen proclaiming that Mr. Leeman is dead. Basil is slow to catch on but then suddenly comes to the conclusion that the out of date kippers must have been responsible for his death.

Basil frantically runs upstairs (causing part of the set to become dislodged), takes the kippers off Mr. Leeman's tray and tries to open the window in order to get them out of sight telling Polly, "we could get twenty years for this." Polly repeatedly points out to Basil (still preoccupied with trying to dispose of the kippers) that Mr. Leeman has not even touched the kippers and that he must have died in his sleep. Basil realises that Mr. Leeman is "stone cold" and therefore that Polly was right. His mood then instantly changes to a joyous one - presumably because he knows that it wasn't because of the out of date kippers that Mr. Leeman died.

At this moment Dr. Price, accompanied by Sybil, walks into the room to find Basil jumping for joy. Basil fakes sadness and tears to disguise the fact that he was experiencing a feeling of relief and joy. Dr. Price soon ascertains that Basil didn't initially realise Mr. Leeman was dead, "you mean to tell me you didn't realise this man was dead?" Basil proceeds to defend the fact that he didn't realise Mr. Leeman was dead - exclaiming, "this is a hotel not the Burma Railway!"

Basil then tries to find somewhere to put the dead body until the undertakers come to collect it. Basil and Manuel carry the concealed body across the upstairs landing. However, Miss. Tibbs sees the body and goes into a state of hysteria and finally collapses on the floor leaving Basil and Manuel with effectively two bodies to move. They carry the two bodies into the room of Mr. and Mrs. White and hide them in the wardrobe. However, when Mr. and Mrs. White come into the room they can hear Miss. Tibbs knocking on the inside of the wardrobe door and request that whoever is in there be got out.

Basil and Manuel end up putting Mr. Leeman in one of the laundry baskets and are just carrying it out into the hotel lobby when the three colleagues of Mr. Leeman enter the hotel. They ask Basil if he knows where Mr. Leeman is and Basil subsequently drops the basket and lies on top of it pretending to think where Mr. Leeman is. Basil then mistakenly comes to the conclusion that the three people are the undertakers (not realising that they are collecting him to take him to a meeting) and openly admits to them that Mr. Leeman is inside the basket. The three colleagues are totally bemused and look inside the basket to see that Mr. Leeman is in fact not in there. Polly realises that the laundry men have taken the basket containing the body. Basil, Polly and Manuel then race outside to stop the laundry van in order to bring back the basket containing the body.

Following a more in-depth discussion with the three people, Basil relises that they are in fact not undertakers and therefore do not know that Mr. Leeman is dead. Polly makes out that they had misheard the people and thought that they were coming to collect the linen ("linen" and "Leeman" sound slightly similar but laughingly different - making the whole scenario even more entertaining).

The episode ends with a gathering of all the guests in the lobby - each of them with their own complaint about various aspects of their stay at the hotel. Basil obviously finds the stress too much and jumps into the empty laundry basket. Finally, the laundry men come into the lobby and carry out this basket. Sybil, now facing complaints from all the angry guests repeatedly calls out for Basil - who by this stage has been loaded onto the back of the laundry truck which is making its way out of the hotel grounds.

[edit] Trivia

When John Cleese was researching into the hotel business for inspiration, and plot concepts, he came across a hotelier who explained to him the fiasco of hiding the bodies of guests who had recently deceased in their sleep. John Cleese based The Kipper and the Corpse around that conversation, and accordingly named the dead man 'Mr. Leeman' in honour of the hotel owner.
This episode has been credited under the title: Death
The only episode in which one of the old ladies (Mrs. Tibbs) has a pivotal role in the plot.
This episode was shown last in the original Australian broadcast due to scheduling mix-ups which has led many to believe that this episode was in fact the finale.
This episode features the second appearance of Elisabeth Benson (Mrs. White): the only actress distinguished enough to play two different roles in the series. Her first appearance was as Mrs. Heath in Gourmet Night.
Basil once again clings to a doctor (who he believes is of higher status), this could be interpreted as a reference to The Psychiatrist.