Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby

Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby are fictional characters, played by Gilly Flower and Renee Roberts respectively, in the BBC television sitcom Fawlty Towers.

Miss Ursula Gatsby and Miss Abitha Tibbs are two mostly inseparable and slightly scatty elderly spinsters who are permanent residents of Fawlty Towers (the only other long-term guest is Major Gowen). Basil Fawlty switches from being overly kind to being utterly rude during his various conversations with them, and they rarely understand his sarcasm.

The two ladies seldom have main roles in the plot, and are usually only background characters to add to the atmosphere. They appear in every episode of the series, though are uncredited in "A Touch of Class" (the pilot). Miss Tibbs plays a large role in the episode "The Kipper and the Corpse", the only time she is seen away from Miss Gatsby, where she is repeatedly startled by the corpse of Mr Leeman, which Basil, Manuel and Polly are desperately trying to keep hidden from guests until the undertaker arrives. In that episode it is revealed that Tibbs is 79.

Flower and Roberts reprise their Fawlty Towers roles in "Homesick", a 1983 episode of Only Fools and Horses.

External links

• BBC web site

References

• Bayha, Marlies (2009). Extras und Co- Die Faszination der Groteske: Eine Untersuchung der komödiantischen Sch(m)erzgrenze in der britischen Fernsehserie. GRIN Verlag. p. 20. ISBN 3640430743.
• Foster, Paul (19 September 1975). "The war of the channel chuckles". Evening Times. p. 8.
• McCann, Graham (2007). Fawlty Towers: The Story of the Sitcom. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340898119.
• Ross, Robert (1999). Monty Python encyclopedia. TV Books. pp. 63, 70. ISBN 1575000369.
• Slide, Anthony (1996). Some Joe you don't know: an American biographical guide to 100 British television personalities. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 21. ISBN 0313295506.
• Terrace, Vincent (1985). Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials: 1974-1984. VNR AG. p. 141. ISBN 0918432618.
• Grewe, Alexander. "I'm sick to death with you..." or External Character Conflicts in Fawlty Towers. grin.com. doi:10.3239/9783638428859. ISBN 978-3-638-42885-9.