The Wedding Party

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Fawlty Towers episode
“The Wedding Party”
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 3
Writer(s)	John Cleese & Connie Booth
Director	John Howard Davies
Production no.
Original airdate	3 October 1975
Episode chronology
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"The Builders"	"The Hotel Inspectors"
List of Fawlty Towers episodes

"The Wedding Party" is the third episode of the BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers.

1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Plot
4 Trivia

[edit] Synopsis

Basil is disgusted when two young lovers, Alan and Jean, begin 'hanky-pankying' under his very nose while checking in. He becomes convinced that they and two other guests are engaged in sexual misbehaviour, along with Polly. Meanwhile circumstances conspire to put him in apparently compromising situations whenever they are around.

[edit] Cast

Episode Credited cast:

With:

Trevor Adams as Alan
Yvonne Gilan as Mrs. Peignoir
Diana King as Mrs. Lloyd
Jay Neill as Bar Guest
Conrad Phillips as Mr. Lloyd
April Walker as Jean Wilson

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A heatwave has hit Torquay, bringing Basil's incompetence to an all time high. When he realises that two young lovers who are checking in, Alan and Jean, aren't married he tries to force them into single rooms on separate floors. Meanwhile, Mrs. Peignoir, a French antique dealer, seems to have taken a shine to Basil.

Alan returns to the lobby and asks Basil if he knows whether any chemists are still open. Basil initially assumes he wants to buy condoms, then when Alan says he wants batteries Basil - still assuming it must be sex-related - tells him that is 'dis-gusting'. When Alan explains that he wanted batteries for his electric razor, Basil tries to save the situation. Later that evening, Mrs. Peignoir arrives home and drunkenly trips over Basil as he crouches on the floor picking up her purse that she has dropped, ending up sitting on him. At that moment Alan and Jean also arrive, witnessing what appears to them to be a very intimate situation.

Later that same night Manuel, who had been out celebrating his birthday, returns home drunk with his umbrella (a birthday gift from the Fawltys) outside Basil and Sybil's door and accidentally hits Basil over the head with the umbrella. As Basil crumples to the floor in pain, Manuel sits on him in concern claiming that he loves him, and once more Alan walks in on the situation.

Polly hugging Mr. Lloyd

Jean's mother and step-father Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd arrive next morning. Basil accidentally walks in on Jean hugging Mr. Lloyd, and not realising that they are family he tries to keep Mrs. Lloyd from the room where he saw them embracing. He shows her the kitchen, where a comatose Manuel is sleeping in the linen basket. Finally he lets her up to the room, only to discover Polly (a family friend of the Lloyds) is hugging Mr. Lloyd. He again distracts the now very edgy Mrs. Lloyd by showing her another room, apologising that the Lloyds' room is not as nice.

Later that day, another situation occurs where Basil sees Polly hurriedly running out of Alan and Jean's room, dressing herself (she has been trying on a dress Jean made for her). Thinking the worst, Basil prepares to sack Polly and tells the Lloyds to leave. Sybil explains that they are one family and that Polly went to school with Jean, and has known them for years. He is forced to apologise to them, and blames Sybil for the mix-up.

Sybil's good friend Audrey has split up from her husband, much to Basil's irritation as she's constantly on the phone and repeating the phrase "Ooh, I know". She goes to visit with Audrey the following day, and as Major Gowen puts it, 'listen to all that rubbish' while consoling her friend.

A flirtatious Mrs. Peignoir tries to charm Basil that night while Sybil is away, and he is very jumpy in the evening. As he tries to sleep someone keeps knocking at his door, and he believes it to be Mrs. Peignoir trying to seduce him again. However when he realises it is actually Sybil returned early, he opens the door and unconvincingly says 'oh, what a terrible dream', trying to explain his previous whispers to Mrs. Peignoir (as he thought) to go away.

Sybil doesn't notice this behaviour as she tells Basil that she has heard a burglar downstairs. Both are unaware that it is actually Manuel, who has stirred from the linen basket, still hung over. Basil quietly creeps downstairs in his underwear and hits 'the burglar' over the head with a frying pan. Manuel is revealed unconscious, and Basil crouches over him in the foyer. Alan, Jean and the Lloyds walk into the hotel, where they are confronted by the sight of Basil apparently lying on top of Manuel while partially dressed. They creep past, bemused by his behaviour and telling Basil they have been to a wedding. In frustration he delivers another blow to Manuel's head.

[edit] Trivia

A small plot hole in this episode is the doorbell goes at night and Basil complains that someone has forgotten their pass key. When he goes downstairs to open the door, he slides back two bolts before opening the door. Anyone who had their pass key wouldn't have been able to get in either, but Cleese accidentally kept the door locked before that. Seeing it was locked, he opened it, creating this "plot hole."
Andrew Sachs suffered serious concussion after being hit over the head by a real saucepan in the episode's climax. He was paid £700 via insurance from the BBC. It was not the last time he was destined to be hurt on the show, he suffered a serious allergic burn to corrosive chemicals in "The Germans".
This is the only episode where one of the actors (Alan in this case) looks directly into the camera and hence connects with the viewing audience. This occurs about 16 minutes into the episode when Basil is lying on the floor, having been knocked over by Manuel.

Fawlty Towers

Characters: