EPISODE EIGHT: BASIL THE RAT

by Edward Teach

After a serious case of shrimp induced food poisoning the atmosphere at Fawlty Rovers is rather poor this week. Polly is the worst affected and laid up in bed having been struck by the tumbling moose head as well as being snubbed by a fuming Basil again. To make matters worse relations between Basil and Sybil have deteriorated to such an extent that Sybil will no longer communicate with him. She leaves him notes all over the hotel stuck to doors and windows. These outline what she feels he should be doing and that quite a large number of guests are leaving the hotel. He had better get his act together or Sybil could soon be leaving divorce papers pinned to Basil's office by the green room. Chances are however that Basil will simply avoid the issue by climbing back up on the roof out of the way.

All the while Basil has also had to contend with Manuel and his pet rat. The rat made an unwelcome appearance in a city nightclub the other week, or so the rumours go, and scared the bejesus out of some of the regular guests who had gone out to drown their sorrows over the lamentable state of the hotel. Once Basil had got hold of Manuel he gave him a right seeing to and Manuel is now sulking all over the hotel grumbling that he wants to go back to Barcelona. O'Reilly is taking his time mending the door of its Manuel shaped hole with some bits of ply wood and rusty nails.

Basil meanwhile is digging his heels firmly in and offering up random tirades at various passers by in the streets below his rooftop perch. It remains to be seen just how well O'Reilly has patched up the roof after Basil's last tumble and if he is likely to take a more substantial fall if he jumps up and down too hard again...