The Germans - Cultural Impact

Cultural Impact

  • In 2008, John Cleese confirmed that he has been learning German for a while and described himself as "speaking simple German fluently now". Referring to the Fawlty Towers episode "The Germans", he explained "Everybody thinks that was a joke about the Germans but they missed it. It was a joke about English attitudes to the war and the fact that some people were still hanging on to that rubbish".
  • This episode popularised the phrase "Don't mention the war". The Hitler impression has become famous, and has been compared with the silly walk, also performed by John Cleese. Cleese turned the phrase into a song for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the first time Cleese had played Basil Fawlty in 27 years. The phrase was used as a title for a humorous travel book written by Stewart Ferris and Paul Bassett, detailing travels through Germany and other European countries. It is also the title of a book by John Ramsden, published in 2006, which examines Anglo-German relations since 1890 and a 2004 Radio 4 documentary looking at the British perception of Germans.
  • This was the only episode from the series to be omitted when it was first aired in Germany, for reasons of cultural sensitivity. It has subsequently been shown there.
  • This episode was voted as number 11 in Channel 4's One Hundred Greatest TV Moments in 1999.
  • Gold, a channel that regularly shows Fawlty Towers, agrees that while "The Germans" is the most famous episode, the best episode is "Communication Problems".
  • Empire magazine listed this as the best episode of the show in its list of the 50 greatest TV episodes of all time.
  • Film director Martin Scorsese, who is a huge fan of Fawlty Towers, describes "The Germans" as "so tasteless, it's hilarious".
  • In the first episode of the second series of the BBC series The Office, David Brent performs an impression of a paper industry figure as Basil Fawlty, quoting the phrase "Don't mention the war", and impersonating the Adolf Hitler style walk used by Basil.
  • In an episode of QI dedicated to Germany, the contestants were penalized for mentioning the war.

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