Manuel

Manuel is the frantic Spanish waiter at Fawlty Towers, willing and eager but perpetually undone by his shaky English and Basil's impatience. He wants only to do his job well and be understood, scurrying about the hotel with wide-eyed urgency, forever caught between misheard instructions and his employer's fury.

Andrew Sachs turns confusion into pure physical comedy, all flailing arms and pleading eyes, wringing pathos and laughter from the same moment. The character could have been a cruel joke, but Sachs's warmth and precision make Manuel the put-upon heart of the hotel, someone you root for even as chaos engulfs him.