Owner Basil Fawlty, his wife Sybil, a chambermaid Polly, and Spanish waiter Manuel attempt to run their hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding guests.

The health inspector is coming and Basil tells Manuel to get rid of his pet rat, which he later finds out is named Basil.

A psychiatrist and his wife come to stay and Basil thinks Sybil is telling them all about his life.

An American and his wife get unsatisfactory service at Fawlty Towers when he orders a Waldorf salad, after the kitchen has closed.

Unknown to Basil, a guest dies in the night and he tries to serve him breakfast anyway and an obnoxious woman insists on service for her dog.

Sybil leaves before Basil’s surprise anniversary party and Basil spends the evening trying to convince their friends she’s ill.

A selectively deaf woman named Mrs Richards insists that she has had a large amount of money stolen at the hotel, and against Sybil’s wishes Basil puts a fiver on…

Basil wants ‘none of that’ going on in his rooms and suspects some guests and Polly of carrying on.

Some inspectors are in town and Basil gets paranoid, so he alternately fawns over and offends his guests.

To bring the right type of crowd into the hotel Basil establishes a Gourmet Night.

Sybil goes into the hospital for toe surgery, leaving Basil to cope with a fire drill single-handed. After a couple of blows on the head, Basil tells some German guests…

A confidence trickster comes to stay at the hotel, just after Basil has taken an ad in a posh magazine to upgrade the clientele.

The Fawltys take a holiday and leave Polly and Manuel to run the place just as O’Reilly’s builders come to redo the lobby.