Sybil Fawlty

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Sybil Fawlty 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 Television ...

''. She is played by

Prunella Scales Prunella Margaret Rumney West Scales (''née'' Illingworth; born 22 June 1932) is an English former actress, best known for playing Sybil Fawlty, wife of Basil Fawlty (John Cleese), in the BBC comedy '' Fawlty Towers'', her nomination for a ...

. She is listed as 34 years old as seen on her medical chart in the 1975 episode "

The Germans "The Germans" (named on some releases as "Fire Drill") is the sixth episode of the BBC sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. In the episode, while suffering the effects of concussion, Basil Fawlty repeatedly offends some German guests. Despite warning his ...

", presumably indicating she was born in 1941. Scales was 43 years old when ''Fawlty Towers'' began production.

Personality

She is

Basil Fawlty Basil Fawlty is the main character of the 1970s British sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'', played by John Cleese. The proprietor of the hotel Fawlty Towers, he is a cynical and misanthropic snob, desperate to belong to a higher social class. His attemp ...

's wife, and the only regular character in the series who usually refers to him by his first name (

Major Gowen ''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 ...

addresses Basil by his first name in "

Communication Problems ''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 ...

"). Sybil is a far more effective worker and manager than Basil; she handles crises calmly, picks up the pieces after a nasty confrontation and stays polite to guests. Unlike Basil, who yearns to turn Fawlty Towers into "an establishment of class", catering exclusively to the highborn members of society, Sybil is more realistic and down-to-earth when it comes to clientele, and all that concerns her is the hotel making money rather than the class of guest who stays there. Despite her effectiveness as a worker, she is known to be extremely lazy; during busy check-in sessions or meal times, while everyone else is busy working around her, she is frequently seen talking on the phone to one of her friends (usually Audrey, who makes an appearance 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 a ...

"), smoking, chatting with customers, or reading

Harold Robbins Harold Robbins (May 21, 1916 – October 14, 1997) was an American author of popular novels. One of the best-selling writers of all time, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages. Early life Robbins was b ...

' novels. In "

The Kipper and the Corpse ''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 Television P ...

", she does little to help Basil, Manuel and Polly with the disposal of Mr. Leeman's body, prompting Basil to direct all the complaints to her. He does the same trick in "

Waldorf Salad A Waldorf salad is a fruit and nut salad generally made of fresh apples, celery, walnuts, and grapes, dressed in mayonnaise, and traditionally served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The apples, celery, and grapes can all b ...

". Basil is utterly terrified of Sybil, describing her to Irish builder O'Reilly 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 ...

" as having the ability to "kill a man at ten paces with one blow of her tongue." Sybil is the strong figure in the marriage, as Basil is completely incapable of handling even the simplest of tasks. In "

" Sybil is in hospital for less than a whole morning, and in that short period, Basil succeeds in infuriating the guests with an argument over the specific time of a fire drill, setting off a burglar alarm, getting jammed underneath a desk, and setting the kitchen on fire. Despite this, Basil has attempted to defy Sybil face to face, yet she manages to silence him with one sharp bark of "Basil!", except for one moment in " The Psychiatrist", when Basil is driven to his breaking point and angrily lashes out at her, calling her a "rancorous, coiffured old sow" to her face. A few times, Basil has infuriated Sybil to the point of violence; in "The Builders", she flies into a rage and throws a cash box across the room toward her husband, who only just manages to avoid it. In "Waldorf Salad", meanwhile, she strikes Basil across the face after he refuses to surrender the titular dish to a guest. She also slapped him in "

", after she believed he had again forgotten their anniversary. She also implies that the last time he forgot, she gave him a "severe beating". She is characterised by a shrill conversational tone and laugh, which Basil compares to "someone machine-gunning a seal". Basil also refers to her by a number of epithets, occasionally to her face, including; "the

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", "that

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", "toxic

midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

", "my little nest of

viper The Viperidae (vipers) are a family of snakes found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipers), hinged fangs tha ...

s", "sabre-toothed tart", "my little piranha fish", "my little workhorse" and "my little Kommandant." She either does not hear, as he often states them as soon as she is out of earshot, or does not care. In "The Psychiatrist", she calls him "an ageing,

brilliantine Brilliantine is a hair-grooming product intended to soften men's hair, including beards and moustaches, and give it a glossy, well-groomed appearance. It was created at the turn of the 20th century by French perfumer Édouard Pinaud (a.k.a. Ed. ...

d stick insect". Sybil and Basil never directly express love for one another (in ''The Wedding Party'', they are shown to sleep in separate beds; in '' A Touch of Class'' Basil kisses her and she tells him not to), and Basil especially never seems to be capable of courtesy towards his wife – in "Gourmet Night", while drunk, Sybil shows Basil affection, only for him to tell her to drink "another vat of wine." In "

The Hotel Inspectors ''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 ...

", after Basil is beaten up and knocked to the floor by an angry guest, Sybil casually walks by Basil and cheerfully asks, "you've handled that then, have you Basil?" In "

", one of Basil's escapades – making her think he had forgotten their wedding anniversary – brings Sybil to tears, though, ironically, this was one of the few episodes in which Basil was thinking of someone besides himself and preparing to show some compassion towards Sybil. "Communication Problems" reveals that Sybil does not approve of gambling and has forbidden Basil to partake in it; the main plot of this episode is that Basil is secretly gambling, and Sybil eventually finds out. Sybil is the

archetypal The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

nagging Nagging, in interpersonal communication, is repetitious behaviour in the form of pestering, hectoring, harassing, or otherwise continuously urging an individual to complete previously discussed requests or act on advice. The word is derived from th ...

wife, getting in the way of Basil "enjoying himself" when he squabbles with the guests by forcing him to do chores. Notable examples of this appear in the episodes " A Touch of Class" and "

". She sometimes flirts with guests, notably Mr. Johnson ( Nicky Henson) in "The Psychiatrist" but gets angry whenever Basil flirts with someone. Prunella Scales has said that the reason Sybil married Basil was because his origins were of a higher social class than hers; in "

Gourmet Night ''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 ...

", she recounts an anecdote about "Uncle Ted and his crate of

brown ale Brown ale is a style of beer with a dark amber or brown colour. The term was first used by London brewers in the late 17th century to describe their products, such as mild ale, though the term has a rather different meaning today. 18th century br ...

" while drunk, which implies a working-class background, as do some traces of working-class speech in her accent. Basil and Sybil married on 17 April 1964 (though Sybil once joked that they married in 1485) and opened their hotel that same year.

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 John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fawlty, Sybil Fawlty Towers characters Female characters in television Fictional English people Fictional female businesspeople Fictional hoteliers Television characters introduced in 1975