Manuel (Fawlty Towers)
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Manuel is a fictional character from the hit BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. Played by Andrew Sachs, he is arguably one of the most iconic characters in British comedy history.
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[edit] Personality
Manuel, a waiter, is a well-meaning but disorganized and constantly confused Spaniard (from Barcelona) with a limited grasp of the English language and customs. He is constantly verbally and physically assaulted by his boss. He is afraid of Mr. Fawlty's quick temper and violent assaults, yet often expresses his appreciation for being given the position. When told by either Basil, Sybil or Polly what to do, he frequently answers ¿qué? ('what?'), and sí ('yes'). Manuel and Polly are both quite scared of Basil.
He is known for his passionate patriotism, amplified in The Anniversary when he tries to make Terry see sense, trying to let him cook paella to his mother's recipe. Manuel has a large family in Spain, mentioning in The Wedding Party that he has five brothers and four sisters and not to mention that he has five mothers and four aunties. A quite famous line of his is "I know nothing", which he used in the episode Communication Problems.
Basil hired Manuel because he was very cheap labour, but Manuel was variedly able to try and bend the situation around on Basil, and then became the brunt of extreme violence: from being hit on the head with various objects like spoons, saucepans, and a moose's head - to being picked up like a ragdoll and forced to do a chore - Manuel has had much violent harassment. Although as a consequence of the violence he briefly decided that he didn't want to work here anymore, he nevertheless remains loyal to Basil. The latter's standard excuse for everything Manuel does is 'he's from Barcelona'.
[edit] Origins
Around the time the series were created British hotel owners often employed foreigners who couldn't speak English, which often resulted in communication problems with the guests and the rest of the staff. Manuel, who was to be played by German-born British actor Andrew Sachs, was included as a representative of these foreign workers. Sachs claims that he only had a few weeks to learn the difficult and complex accent that Manuel is so famous for (in fact, being German-born, Sachs initially suggested playing a German waiter), but loved his experiences on the show (even after he was physically hurt twice on screen, see The Wedding Party and The Germans for more information); Sachs still has Manuel's attire today.
[edit] Spain
Sachs's less than flattering portrayal of the Spanish resulted in the character's nationality being switched to an Italian from Napoli called Paolo for the Spanish dub of the show broadcast in Spain. In the Catalan TV3 channel, Manuel's origin was changed from Barcelona to Mexico.
There are several references to Spain, and to General Franco, who died in 1975. In The Builders when Bennion the delivery man says "No no, where's the real boss? ... The...the generalissimo" Manuel looks at him perplexed and replies "In Madrid!" In Basil the Rat Basil says to Manuel "You have rats in Spain, don't you - or did Franco have them all shot?"
[edit] References
The Swedish pop group I'm from Barcelona chose its name in reference to this character.
The movie mocking television program Mystery Science Theater 3000 has referred to Manuel on several occasions. When a character on screen speaks with a Spanish accent, the riffers would often respond with "I'm so sorry, he's from Barcelona".
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