The terrible Mrs Alice Richards was perhaps Basil Fawlty's most terrifying foe, played by Joan Sanderson in the first episode of the second series Communication Problems. Besides Basil, many other members of staff at the hotel took a dislike to her as well, mainly Polly and Manuel.
Alice Richards was an uncompromising, selectively deaf battleaxe from Brighton (or at least she had a house there which was being put up for sale), she constantly complained about the hotel service, even though nothing was notably wrong with it. She had the will and the power to bend everyone and anyone's patience to get her own way.
She complained with relish about her room to Basil (even though, on this occasion, nothing was apparently wrong with it at all), during one memorable scene where she claimed the room was cold, the bath was too small, the radio didn't work, and the view of Torquay was invisible, despite all of these factors being perfectly satisfactory (she couldn't see the bath or the view and couldn't hear the radio). Mrs. Richards said she wanted a reduction, to which Basil responded very quietly "60% if you turn it (her hearing aid) on" (she refused to have her hearing aid on because it wears the battery down).
She easily misunderstood situations (either deliberately or because she was hard of hearing), this created more friction between her and Basil Fawlty, whom she had christened C.K. Watt (Si Que What) through her own misapprehension. Basil at one point gained some revenge by mouthing silently at her to make her turn her hearing aid up to full volume and then bellowing into the microphone.
The major plot throughout the episode was that while she stayed at the hotel lost £85, which she believed has been stolen. It was later revealed that (partly due her dottiness) she had kept it inside a glove that she left at an antique shop when she brought a highly valuable vase. However, due to the madness of Major Gowen, a frightful mix-up occurred, resulting in Mrs Richards claiming the ill-gotten £75 Basil had won on a horse, which he had been forced to hide from Sybil, as she had banned him from gambling. Basil came close to having the upper-hand for once, after Mrs Richards' own money was returned and he plotted to keep it. However, the Major stormed in and merrily revealed to Sybil that Basil had won the money on a horse, and a horrified Basil broke Mrs Richards' frightfully expensive vase. Basil was verging on a nervous breakdown as he bade farewell to this frightful 'old bat'!
She is billed as Mrs. Richards in the credits and called this through the episode however in her fifth line, she announces her name when Polly asked her.
