Hired by Basil because he was cheap, Manuel is a walking disaster and his poor command of English makes him a constant source of exasperation for Basil. Always keen to learn, Manuel's slavish devotion to Basil only succeeds in aggravating him further.

Andrew Sachs, who plays Manuel, suffered his fair share of blows during the filming of Fawlty Towers. He almost had his front teeth knocked out with a spoon, and was paid £700 in compensation after being burned on the shoulders during the filming of the kitchen fire scene in The Germans. The culprit was the special jacket he wore that was designed to smoke, but unfortunately some of the acid they used to create this effect got through onto his skin. One of Cleese's attacks with a frying pan also went wrong as Sachs straightened up as Cleese was delivering a sliding blow, denting the frying pan and giving Sachs a headache for two days.