Basil is convinced that Fawlty Towers would be a top-rate establishment if it wasn't for the guests, who are merely sent along to annoy him and to prevent the smooth-running of the hotel. Incredibly class conscious, Basil adopts attitudes of superiority that are quite unjustified. The guests are either objects of derision or scorn, or objects to improve his position in the social hierarchy.

A Touch of Class and Gourmet Night are two episodes which sum up his attitude perfectly, with Basil desperately trying to improve the tone of the hotel ('I mean, have you seen the people in room six? They've never even sat on chairs before'). However, always one to judge by appearances, it comes as no surprise to anyone, except Basil, that he is soon taken in by a con-man impersonating a member of the aristocracy.

Basil is also terrified of his wife Sybil, who he refers to as his 'little nest of vipers'. Almost all the episodes are fuelled by the fact that Basil is trying to hide something from Sybil, whether it be a missing door, an admiring guest or a bet on the horses.

Manuel is a further source of frustration for Basil, with English so poor that he has difficulty in distinguishing 'Sybil' from 'the bill'. Basil's despair vents itself in his abuse of the Spanish waiter, beginning in The Builders with Basil slamming Manuel's head against the wall where the dining room door once stood. Future attacks involve a frying pan, a spoon and locking Manuel in a burning kitchen during a fire drill in The Germans.

Basil's disastrous attempts at running the hotel fail miserably as one thing after another crashes down and leaves him surrounded by a web of lies and embarrassment, which he makes worse by his desperate attempts to deflect the blame. By the end of the first series Basil has accused a party of wedding guests of all manner of dubious liaisons, assaulted a spoon-seller for not being a hotel inspector and given his car a 'damn good thrashing' for its role in the chaotic Gourmet Night. More mishaps follow in the second series as Basil attempts to hide a dead body from the other guests and almost takes the life of a public health inspector.