Most famous for his role as the bungling Spanish waiter Manuel in the hugely popular TV series Fawlty Towers, Andrew Sachs produced some of the show’s best one-liners.
The actor was buried on Thursday after battling vascular dementia for four years. The German-born performer died aged 86 at a care home on November 23.
Widely remembered as simply uttering the Spanish word for what – que – his character also had some of the show’s funniest quotes.
Here we look at five of Manuel’s greatest lines across the programme’s two series.
1. “Uno, dos, tres” – A Touch Of Class, series one, episode one
Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) orders Manuel around the restaurant but the waiter mistakes his instructions as an attempt to speak Spanish.
Basil: “There’s too much butter on those trays.”
Manuel: “No, no, not ‘on those trays’ – uno, dos, tres.”
2. “Si, que, what” – Communication Problems, series two, episode one
Hotel guest Mrs Richards talking to Manuel about her room booking.
Mrs Richards: “I’ve booked a room with a bath and a sea view.”
Manuel: “Que?”
Mrs Richards: “K?”
Manuel: “Si.”
Mrs Richards: “C?”
Manuel: “No. Que, ‘what’.”
Mrs Richards: “K. Watt?”
Manuel: “Si – Que, ‘what’.”
Mrs Richards: “CK Watt? Is he the manager?”
Manuel: “Ah! Manaher! Mr Fawlty.”
Mrs Richards: “This man is telling me the manager is a CK Watt, aged forty.”
Manuel: “No, Fawlty.”
Mrs Richards: “Faulty? Why? What’s wrong with him?”
3. “I know nothing” – Communication Problems, series two, episode one
Manuel (after he loses Basil’s money by “knowing nothing”): “See, I know nothing.”
Basil: “I’m gonna sell you to a vivisectionist!”
The “I know nothing” line went on to title Sachs’s 2014 autobiography.
4. “Always you hit me!” – Basil The Rat, series two, episode six
Manuel keeps a pet rat – which he mistakes for a Siberian hamster – and is caught by Basil.
Manuel: “I say to man in shop, ‘Is rat.’ He say, ‘No, no, no. Is a special kind of hamster. Is filigree Siberian hamster.’ Only one in shop. He make special price, only five pound.”
Basil: “Have you ever heard of the bubonic plague, Manuel? It was very popular here at one time. A lot of pedigreed hamsters came over on ships from Siberia.”
Sybil Fawlty: “Basil, he’s Manuel’s pet. We have a duty to it. Perhaps we could find a home for him.”
Basil: “All right, I’ll put an ad in the papers. ‘Wanted: Kind home for enormous, savage rodent. Answers to the name of Sybil’.”
Manuel: “Don’t hit me! Always you hit me!”
5. “I no want to work here any more” — The Kipper And The Corpse, series two, episode four
After Manuel and Basil discover a man has died in his sleep, they fear it is because he was served out-of-date kippers. They attempt to remove the body without any of the guests knowing, leading to Manuel uttering this one-liner.
Manuel: “Mr Fawlty, I no want to work here any more.”
