Sybil Fawlty
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Sybil Fawlty is a fictional character from the hit BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers. She is played by Prunella Scales. Her age is listed as 34 years old as seen on her medical chart in the episode "The Germans." Prunella Scales however was in her 40s during the filming of Fawlty Towers.
[edit] Personality
She is Basil Fawlty's wife, and the only character in the series who refers to him by his first name. She is at times lazy; during busy check-in sessions or meal-times, while everyone else is busy working around her, she's frequently found talking on the phone to one of her friends (usually 'Audrey', who makes a rare on-camera appearance in "The Anniversary"), smoking, or chatting with customers. But when she works, she is nevertheless a far more effective worker and manager than Basil; she handles crises calmly and stays polite to guests. Basil is utterly terrified of Sybil, describing her to cowboy builder O'Reilly in "The Builders" as having the ability to "kill a man at ten paces with one blow of her tongue." Indeed, Basil has attempted to defy Sybil face to face, yet she manages to silence him with one sharp bark of "BASIL!". In Waldorf Salad she knows what a Waldorf Salad is, and gets Mr Hamilton a Waldorf Salad. Many times, Basil has infuriated Sybil to the point of physical violence and in one episode, she seems to have reached the end of her tether and thrusts the cash box across the room toward her husband, who only just manages to avoid it. Another time she struck Basil across the face after he refused to surrender a Waldorf Salad to a guest.
She is characterised by an annoying conversational tone and laugh, which her husband compares to 'someone machine-gunning a seal'. Basil also refers to her by a number of epithets, occasionally to her face: these include "the dragon", "toxic midget", "my little nest of vipers", "my little piranha fish", "my little commandant" and "a rancorous, coiffured old sow." She either does not hear (as he often states them as soon as she is out of earshot) or doesn't care. Indeed, in The Psychiatrist episode, she calls him "an ageing, brilliantined stick insect".
Sybil and Basil never directly express love for one another (in The Wedding Party, they are shown to sleep in separate beds), and Basil especially never seems to be capable of courtesy towards his wife. His rudeness occasionally brings out her more human, sympathetic side, especially in the episode: The Anniversary, where she cries when thinking that Basil has forgotten their fifteenth wedding anniversary- although ironically, that is one of the few occasions when he has in fact remembered, and is thinking of someone other than himself: the comedy in this episode being how he covers up for her absence when their friends arrive to celebrate.
Sybil is the archetypal nagging wife, getting in the way of Basil 'enjoying himself' when he squabbles with the guests, forcing him to do unnecessary chores. Notable examples of this appear in the episodes "A Touch of Class" and "The Germans". She sometimes flirts with guests, notably Mr. Johnson (Nicky Henson) in "The Psychiatrist".
[edit] Reappearance
In November 2007, Scales returned to the role of Sybil Fawlty in a series of sketches for the BBC's annual Children in Need charity telethon. The character was seen taking over the management of the eponymous hotel from the BBC drama series Hotel Babylon, interacting with characters from that programme as well as other sitcom characters. The character of Sybil was used by special permission of John Cleese.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Inside Story" (November 10–13 2007). Radio Times 335 (4361): p. 126.
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