Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

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Manuel is a fictional character from the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

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sitcom ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, broadcast on BBC2 in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The show was ranked first on a list of the 100 Greatest British Televisio ...

'', played by

Andrew Sachs Andreas Siegfried Sachs (7 April 1930 – 23 November 2016), known professionally as Andrew Sachs, was a German-born British actor and writer. He made his name on British television and found his greatest fame for his portrayal of the comical Sp ...

. He reappeared for a small sketch with John Cleese in ''

We Are Most Amused In Modern English, ''we'' is a plural, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''we'' has six distinct shapes for five word forms: * ''we'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''us'' and ': the accusative (objective; ...

'' in November 2008. Manuel himself appeared on the audio adaptations of ''

'' as a linking

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

, explaining things from his point of view, when the series was released in audio format. The first two episodes released did not feature him at all, as the dialogue was edited and a short burst of

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

music would indicate a change of scene. However, when the whole series was re-released, they were re-edited with Manuel's linking commentary.

Personality

Manuel is a well-meaning but dim, disorganised, and constantly confused waiter from

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

with a limited grasp of the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

and customs. He is constantly verbally and physically assaulted by his boss, and often used as a scapegoat for the various disasters that befall the hotel – even when they are not his fault. He is afraid of

Basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also k ...

's quick temper and violent assaults, yet often expresses his appreciation for being given the position. On the other hand, whenever Manuel appears sad, Basil is depicted attempting to cheer him up, and even kisses him on the forehead for his aid in ejecting a particularly abusive guest, indicating that he holds at least ''some'' loyalty to Manuel. Sybil also appears to hold Manuel in low esteem, dryly remarking, "It'd be quicker to train a monkey." Despite this, she does show considerably more loyalty to him than Basil, as she stands up for him in " Basil the Rat". When told by either Basil, Sybil or

Polly Polly is a given name, most often feminine, which originated as a variant of Molly (name), Molly (a diminutive of Mary (name), Mary). Polly may also be a short form of names such as Polina (given name), Polina, Polona (given name), Polona, Paula (g ...

what to do, he frequently answers ''"Sí"'' ("Yes"), or ''"¿Qué?"'' ("What?") or ''"¿Cómo?"'' (a more polite way of "What?"), which once led to a particularly harebrained guest (Mrs. Richards) believing Basil's name to be "C. K. Watt". By the time of the second series, Manuel's English is shown to have improved, while still limited. Basil hired Manuel because he was very cheap labour. Basil's excuse for everything Manuel does wrong is "he's from Barcelona", an excuse that Sybil and even Manuel himself once resorted to. Manuel is good friends with Polly, who can communicate best with him (Basil claims to have learnt "classical Spanish", whereas Polly speaks the actual language) and often uses him as a model for her sketches. Basil also suggests she take him to the local ice rink in "Basil the Rat". He is known for his passionate patriotism, amplified in "

The Anniversary The Anniversary is an American band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997 by Josh Berwanger, James David, Christian Jankowski, Adrianne Verhoeven and Justin Roelofs. The Anniversary was the solidification of a line-up that had been in flux for ...

" when he tries to make Terry the chef let him cook a seafood

paella Paella (, , , , , ) is a rice dish originally from Valencia. While non-Spaniards commonly view it as Spain's national dish, Spaniards almost unanimously consider it to be a dish from the Valencian region. Valencians, in turn, regard ''paella'' ...

to his mother's

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

. Manuel has a large family in Spain, mentioning in " The Wedding Party" that he has five brothers and four sisters. During the episode "Basil the Rat", Manuel acquires a

common rat The brown rat (''Rattus norvegicus''), also known as the common rat, street rat, sewer rat, wharf rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat and Parisian rat, is a widespread species of common rat. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown o ...

while under the impression that it is a Siberian hamster, and names it Basil, after his boss. He becomes very emotionally attached to the rat, and even threatens to leave Fawlty Towers altogether if Basil and Sybil dispose of it, to which Basil immediately responds, "Well, goodbye." The episode also highlights the fact that Manuel is rather dim even without the language barrier, as he lets the rat out of its cage for some exercise (which leads to the rat ending up loose in the hotel), manages to spell "Spleep" from S-L-E-E-P, and pronounces

cholesterol Cholesterol is any of a class of certain organic molecules called lipids. It is a sterol (or modified steroid), a type of lipid. Cholesterol is biosynthesized by all animal cells and is an essential structural component of animal cell mem ...

as "costellorol", even though the two words are quite similar in English and Spanish (colesterol).

Origins

Sachs claimed that he only had a few weeks to learn the difficult and complex accent that Manuel is so famous for (in fact, having lived in Germany until he was eight, Sachs initially suggested playing a German waiter), but loved his experiences on the show and still had Manuel's attire. Sachs suffered two serious injuries during ''Fawlty Towers''. In ''The Wedding Party'', he was almost knocked unconscious after being hit over the head with a frying pan (after John Cleese accidentally picked up a real frying pan instead of a rubber-padded prop) and in ''The Germans'', he suffered second degree burns from a fire.

Dubbing

For the Spanish dub of the show broadcast in Spain, the character was changed to an Italian from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

called Paolo (and in ''The Anniversary'', his desire to make paella is changed to

lasagna Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...

). In the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

TV3 channel (based in Barcelona), Manuel's origin was changed to Mexico City and the character has a Mexican accent. The French version also gives his nationality as Mexican. In scenes in which Manuel appears there are several references to Spain, and to

General Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 193 ...

, who was still alive when the first six episodes of the show were broadcast. In ''

The Builders ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' when Bennion the delivery man says "No no, where's the real boss?... The... the ''generalissimo''." Manuel looks at him daftly: "In Madrid!" Since the Catalan version was broadcast in 1986, eleven years after Francisco Franco's death, the dubbing of Manuel says "Dead!" In " Basil the Rat", Basil says to Manuel, "You have rats in Spain, don't you – or did Franco have them all shot?"

In popular culture

The

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

pop group ''

I'm from Barcelona I'm from Barcelona is a Swedish pop group from Jönköping, Sweden, best known for its 29 band members and eclectic mix of instruments such as clarinets, saxophones, flutes, trumpets, banjos, accordions, kazoos, guitars, drums, and keyboards amo ...

'' 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". Sachs also appeared in a few adverts on British TV in the Manuel persona. Sachs made a cameo appearance in ''

'', as an aged Manuel.

References

* * * * *

External links

Manuel
on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

Commercials featuring Manuel
{{Fawlty Towers, state=autocollapse Male characters in television Fawlty Towers characters Fictional Spanish people Fictional servants Ethnic humour Television characters introduced in 1975 Fictional waiting staff