Fawlty Towers

Fawlty Towers (1975)

4 continuity mistakes in The Builders - chronological order

(6 votes)

The Builders - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: After hitting O'Reilly, Sybil goes to the desk and grabs the phone. In the first shot, Sybil grabs the phone with her right hand, she puts it next to her ear and then put her left hand on the microphone. She turns her back to Basil and O'Reilly. In the next shot, the phone has not been put next to the ear yet, while Sybil's left hand is not on the microphone but on the cable. (00:23:40)

Great_Captain

The Builders - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: When Sybil catches Basil with the closed-off dining room and they start an argument, the door to the rooms upstairs is closed, two shots later it is open, but nobody came or went that way during their conversation.

The Builders - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the episode, a couple of scenes before Mr Stubbs arrives, we see Basil start up the tape player prior to hiding in the kitchen. The garden gnome on the desk is right next to the tape player at this point. When Sybil turns the tape off the player has rotated 45 degrees or so (despite nobody else having come into reception in the intervening time) and the gnome is now further along the desk towards the camera as we look on the wide shot. The gnome in the next shot is seen beside the checking-in book when Basil wanders out of and back into the office a couple of scenes later, yet when Mr Stubbs is asking about the lintel for the new door shortly after that and we see Sybil writing in the book, the gnome has moved out of shot altogether.

Neil Jones

The Builders - S1-E2

Continuity mistake: When Basil rushes out of the hotel to see Sybil, his shirt is fully buttoned, but when Basil is seen running down the steps, he has one more shirt button undone than when he was inside.

More mistakes in Fawlty Towers

Communication Problems (a.k.a. Theft) - S2-E1

Mrs Richards: And another thing. I expect to be able to see the sea.
Basil: [whispering to Manuel.] Deaf, Mad and Blind. [To Mrs Richards.] Yes, this is the view as far as I can remember... Yes, yes it is.
Mrs Richards: When I pay for a view, I expect something more interesting than that.
Basil: But that is Torquay, madam.
Mrs Richards: Well it's not good enough.
Basil: Well may I ask what you expected to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window? Sydney Opera House perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the plain...
Mrs Richards: [interrupting.] Don't be silly. I expect to be able to see the sea.
Basil: You CAN see the sea! It's over there between the land and the sky!
Mrs Richards: I'd need a telescope to see that.
Basil: Well might I suggest you move to a hotel closer to the sea. Or preferably in it.
Mrs Richards: Now listen to me. I'm not satisified but I've decided to stay. HOWEVER, I shall expect a deduction.
Basil: Why, because Krakatoa isn't erupting at the moment?
Mrs Richards: Because the room is cold, the bath is too small, the view is invisible and the radio doesn't work.
Basil: No, the radio works. You don't.

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The Anniversary - S2-E5

Trivia: Sybil's friend, Audrey, who Sybil is frequently seen talking to on the telephone, has only one on-screen appearence in 'The Anniversary'. She is seen at the very end, when Sybil has just walked out on Basil.

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The Anniversary - S2-E5

Question: When Polly is laying in bed disguised as Mrs Fawlty, was that really Prunella scales playing that part? I was wondering as Polly as a more thinner face than Sybil and could never have really got away with it.

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Indeed it is Polly. She has stuffings in her mouth to pretend she is swollen.

Mortug

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