Our guests give us trouble even when they're dead!
— Basil Fawlty
A guest dies at the hotel and Basil and the staff are left with the unpleasant task of discreetly removing the body while the doctor staying at the hotel waits for his sausages. Also, Polly and Manuel feed an elderly woman's pampered pet dog some extra spicy sausages after it bites them both.
Tropes appearing in this episode:
- All for Nothing: From the very beginning, Dr. Price craves to have sausages to eat. Throughout the episode, various circumstances prevent him from having them. By the time he decides to cook the sausages himself, he ultimately can't eat them because the sausages that the hotel had in storage were well out of date.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Dr. Price walks into Mr. Leeman's room and sees Basil jumping up and down and crying, "Oh, joy! Oh, I'm so happy!" Of course, the real reason Fawlty was so happy was that the kippers the man had been served with his breakfast were out of date, and he had just learned that the kippers were untouched, making the man's death not his fault.
- Black Comedy: There's an entire scene devoted to Basil being overjoyed that the dead body he finds wasn't due to his own incompetence.
- Blatant Lies: When Miss Tibbs is screaming hysterically off-screen, Basil says to the puzzled Dr. Price "I'll turn the radio down".
- Body in a Breadbox: Played for Laughs, as Basil and co. attempt to get a dead guest out of the way without the other guests noticing. The body winds up in a wardrobe, in the kitchen, propped up in an office chair, in a laundry hamper and finally dumped in the crowded lobby while Basil flees the hotel.
- Cacophony Cover-Up: Miss Tibbs has been locked in a wardrobe, and starts moaning and screaming. Polly and Manuel groan and sing to hide the noise.
- The Comically Serious: Dr. Price. He's a doctor. And he wants his sausages!
- Copycat Mockery: Just after Basil has loudly insulted Mr Leeman who is out of earshot, Basil imitates Sybil saying "Basil!" and slaps his own wrist. Later, Manuel imitates Basil's pose of deep thought, when Basil is asked where the dead man is.
- Dead Man's Chest: Basil stuffs the dead body into things, and Miss Tibbs into the things the corpse has also been shoved into.
- Delayed Reaction: It takes a while for the gravity of the situation of a dead guest to dawn on Basil, especially as he then mistakenly believes that the guest died from eating kippers for breakfast.
- Eye Poke: Manuel suffers a nasty looking poke when Basil gets especially fed up. The director then says on the commentary that he wishes he'd put in some kind of squishy sound effect.
- Fooled by the Sound: When Miss Tibbs shrieks from inside a wardrobe, Manuel imitates it and begins singing. Later, when Miss Tibbs is heard screaming loudly in the distance, Basil says to the puzzled Dr. Price "I'll turn the radio down".
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Basil has Polly do it to Miss Tibbs, who freaks out upon seeing Basil and Polly lugging a dead guest around. Polly decks the old woman with one punch.Basil: Oh...spiffing. Absolutely spiffing. Well done. Two dead, twenty-five to go.
- Hysterical Woman: The elderly Miss Tibbs screams hysterically when she sees the dead Mr Leeman, and eventually faints. This happens three times in the episode.
- The Noun and the Noun: The episode's title.
- Oh, Crap!: When Basil learns that Mr. Leeman has died, he assumes that he ate a bad kipper and immediately panics.
- Out-of-Character Moment: The old ladies Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby are normally shown to be inseparable, and very sweet and helpful. This is the only episode where they are seen apart, and after Miss Tibbs's hysterical reaction, she is very angry and assertive, even towards Basil.
- Sarcastic Confession:Miss Gatsby: You're very cheerful this morning, Mr. Fawlty!Basil Fawlty: Yes, well, one of the guests has just died!
- Sneaky Departure: The episode ends in chaos with Basil telling all the guests in the lobby that Sybil will give them an explanation. While they crowd round the reception desk complaining noisily, he hides in a large laundry basket, which is taken away and loaded into a van.Basil: Ladies and gentlemen, there have been a lot of cock-ups this morning. You all deserve an explanation, and I'm happy to say that my wife will give it to you.
- Too Desperate to Be Picky: Played for laughs. Dr Price orders Basil to have the kitchen scrubbed before any more food is prepared there, as a dead body has been in the kitchen. However, as he is desperate for his own breakfast, he adds "sausages excepted, you may cook them immediately, I'll take the risk".
- Trauma Button: Miss Tibbs is traumatised by the sight of the dead Mr Leeman. Three times she sees him, screams hysterically, and faints.
- Tuckerization:
- The dead man is called Mr Leeman, after a hotel owner who told John Cleese that the most difficult thing is getting rid of "the stiffs", i.e. guests who die in the night.
- Basil bursts in on a guest Mr Ingrams inflating a sex-aid doll, named after a Caustic Critic.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After Manuel and Terry inform Basil of Mr. Leeman's death, Terry is nowhere to be seen afterwards. Perhaps Terry wisely decided to get the hell out of dodge to avoid the trouble that will (and did) occur?
