Only Fools and Horses » Series 5

From Prussia with Love

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:22:54 +0000

From Prussia with Love Episode Review

Brief: When a German damsel turns up in the Nag’s Head she’s definitely in distress – and nine months pregnant at that. Rodney’s all beer and sympathy but Del’s got an idea – could this be the answer to Boycie and Marlene’s dreams of a child and a golden opportunity to make a few bob along the way?.

Transmitted: 31.08.1985
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 12.1 million

It’s closing time at The Nag’s Head, and Mike the landlord is having problems clearing everyone out, particularly a young pregnant foreign girl who doesn’t seem to speak Peckham English.

Del and Rodney offer to help, and despite Del Boy’s dodgy French, they work out that Anna is from Germany, and she’s been chucked out on the street and was considering getting her child adopted.

They leave Rodney to take Anna to a hotel, but he ends up bringing her back to the flat, where she explains that, Spencer, the son of the family she was working for as an au pair got her pregnant and then denied it all.

After fuming about Rodney bringing another ‘waif and stray’ home, Del Boy considers what can be done with Anna’s unwanted baby – and the first person he thinks of is Boycie. For year’s Marlene and Boycie have been trying for a child, with no success, and now for a mere three grand, Del is offering them the chance to have their very own baby boy.

The stress is clearly getting to Anna, and she begins to go into labour. Later on Del, Boycie and Marlene all gather round in the lounge waiting for Anna and Rodney return from hospital. All is well until Rodney lets Del Boy know that the Anna’s baby is a girl… and that Spencer’s parents were actually West Indian!

Episode Observations

In From Prussia with Love, this episode is where the wallpaper in the trotters living room changes, compare from series 4 to series five.
In From Prussia with Love, Towards the end of the episode, Del is meant to say to Boycie: ‘I know what I told you about it being a boy but it aint’. However, he actually says: ‘I know what I told you about it being a girl but it aint’, when of course it is.
In From Prussia with Love, Erica Hoffman played the pregnant German girl, yet 3 years later in “Jolly Boys Outing” she played the women at the candy floss stand.

From Prussia with Love Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Did You Know?

This episode was postponed from Series 4, due to having to many episodes from the rewriting of scripts after Leonards death.

Miracle of Peckham

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:20:32 +0000

Miracle of Peckham Episode Review

Brief: Delboy gets religion (or is he just on the make?) when the Madonna at the local church is seen to shed tears. But Father O’Keith wants to know why does she only cry when it’s raining and where did that lead in Del’s garage come from? Finally, how will Rodney explain the state of Biffos trumpet?

Transmitted: 07.09.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 14.2 million

Feeling guilty about his dodgy lifestyle, Del has a rare religious urge and heads to the confession booth of his local Catholic church to speak with Father O’Keith.

Whilst chatting with Father O’Keith, Del discovers that the local hospice, St Mary’s, requires a £185,000 renovation or it will soon close. And as Derek and Rodney’s mother and grandad were both cared for there, the older Trotter takes the charitable cause to his heart.

After his confession, Del is about to put some money into the Collection box when Father O’Keith cries out that the statue of the Virgin Mary is weeping holy tears.

Within a couple of seconds, Del has persuaded the priest that this miracle needs publicising – something that could go a long way towards raising funds for St Mary’s renovations. Father O’Keith reluctantly agrees, and Del gets Rodney to alert the national press.

As press arrives from all over the world, Del helps Father O’Keith collect the contributions from all those who wish to witness the miracle of the weeping virgin. It’s only when the priest notices rain dripping from the roof of the church that Del Boy’s elaborate hoax is exposed.

Episode Observations

In The Miracle of Peckham, it’s based on a mentioned subject in “The Second Time Around”, there granddad is saying how Del used to donate to the church roof fund … etc .. O’Sullivan goes and bases a whole episode on the same idea a few years later.
In The Miracle of Peckham, When Rodneys in the bins looking for Biffo’s trumpet. He exclaims “I don’t believe it” with a clear dub at the end.
In The Miracle of Peckham, before Rodney puts aftershave over Albert’s breakfast Del had entered already having closed the door to the hall, yet a minute or two later he is seen at his drinks cabinet and the door is mysteriously open.
In The Miracle of Peckham, The band player (Biffo) that Rodney stole the trumpet from is Arthur the sailor from Blackadder II episode ‘Money’ Kaiser

Miracle of Peckham Script

The script will be downloadable from here

The Longest Night

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:17:48 +0000

The Longest Night Episode Review

Brief: Just as Del and family are out buying their weekly French stick, Tom the security guard approaches them, it’s obviously due to being a prized customer. Then it all goes pear-shaped. A burglar; little Lennox, makes a daring raid on the local supermarket, what’s worse – Del sold him a duff watch down the local market…

Transmitted: 14.09.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 16.7 million

Del, Rodney, and Albert are mistakenly apprehended as shoplifters by an overzealous security guard at the Top Buy Supermarket. And things get worse when they’re taken to the manager’s office and realise that they’ve lost their receipt for the goods.

Shortly after, Tom the security guard brings a cocky shoplifter, Lennox Gilbey, into the manager’s office, where he promptly pulls out a gun and demands money from the safe.

Unluckily for Lennox the safe is on a time-lock and due to the dodgy watch he’s wearing, he’s 15 minutes later than he planned – and the safe doesn’t open until 8am the next morning.

After being held hostage throughout the night, Del realises that he sold the dodgy watch to Lennox, and that he also knew him as a kid. By preying on his guilty conscience, Del persuades Lennox to reveal that the plan was hatched by Tom and the supermarket manager to get at the £60,000 stored in the safe.

The three accomplices beg Del not to go to the police, and instead, he arranges for Lennox to get a job as security guard at the supermarket after Tom’s retirement, and then makes sure he wins a £1,000 prize as the millionth customer in the store.

Episode Observations

In the Longest Night, Lennox Gilby (the robber) has odd shoes on!
In the Longest Night, how did the Trotters, Tom and the manager, and Lennox, who was he gunman, survive 14 hours without going to the toilet. Surely at the end when they all left after they found it was a set up to get some cash, they were bursting.
In the Longest Night, Tom Clarke the Head Of Security in the supermarket is played by John Bardon better known now as Jim Branning in Eastenders.
In the Longest Night, Vas Blackwood who plays Lennox gilby is the same man who plays Rory Breaker in lockstock and Two smoking Barrels.
In the Longest Night, during the scene when Lennox is shoplifting, watch carefully when he opens a can of beer – inside his jacket he has the “long stick things”. The next few shots then show this item to be missing from his jacket and then we are shown him picking the item from the shelf and putting it in his jacket!

The Longest Night Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Did You Know?

The idea for the script was based on a true story about a robber who wnet into a supermarket, and pulled off a con with securitymanager and store manager.

Video Nasty

Tea for Three

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:12:54 +0000

Tea for Three Episode Review

Brief: Del’s tampered with, the sun-bed controls and Rodney’s seeing red – literally His face is done to a turn. He’ll hardly wow Trigger’s niece, Lisa, with his handsome good looks now, which leaves the way pretty clear for Del himself But revenge should certainly be sweet when he volunteers Del for a spot of hang-gliding.

Transmitted: 21.09.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 16.5 million

Trigger’s young niece, Lisa, is staying with him for a while, and the scruffy young girl that Del and Rodney remember has now become a stunning 25 year-old woman.

Both Trotter brothers think they are in with a chance, and immediately begin competing for Lisa’s affections. Despite almost coming to blows, Del and Rodney manage to invite Lisa round to the flat for tea, and she seems more than happy to accept.

In preparation for their date with Lisa, Del goes out to get some more ‘Smash’ and Rodney spends half-an-hour on the sunbed. Just before Del leaves for the shops, he notices Rodney has dozed off and whacks up the heat on the bed.

Much to Rodney’s annoyance, he spends most of the evening nursing his bright red face, which has burnt under the ultra-violet rays, whilst Del and Lisa seem to be getting on really well. To get his revenge, Rodders picks up on the fact that Lisa mentions she was going hang-gliding, and as a surprise for his 46th birthday, he arranges for Del to have a go.

After offering to give her a left back home to Winchester, Del and Rodney head off to meet Lisa’s friends for a spot of hang-gliding. Not wanting to loose face, Del reluctantly agrees to try it out, and after launching himself into the air, he disappears for over 12 hours.

Episode Observations

In Tea for Three, When The hanglider scene was filmed David Jason wanted to actually fly the glider himself, he is a trained glider pilot, scuba diver, and swims with dolphins! But the BBC said it was too dangerous for him to fly it, for insurance reasons!
In Tea for Three, Trigger says that Del landed in Redhill after the hang gliding trip. Del then states that he “did loop-the-loop over Dymchurch”, and let’s not forget that he took off from near Winchester. The likelihood of Del travelling from Winchester to Dymchurch, then doubling back to Redhill is very slender, especially in the twelve hours he’s missing for.
In Tea for Three, Trigger’s niece Lisa says that she is 25, so that would have made her born about 1961. However in the 1991 episode “Chance Of A Lunchtime” Trig’s younger sister, Lisa’s mother, has had her 39th birthday. By then Lisa would be about 30. So Trig’s sister had Lisa when she was only nine then. How likely is that).
In Tea for Three, I taped the original episode from TV and Del and Rodney are trying to chat up Lisa at the Nags Head and there is a talent contest going on, Albert is in it and anounces that he would like to dedicate his song to someone who couldn’t be with him tonight he says he would like to sing “Ada” (to which everyone says that haven’t heard of “Ada”). He then sings Ada….you with the stars in your eyes (instead of Hey there) anyway on the bought copy of the video this is completely missing and the following scene back at the flat has Rodney mentioning the talent contest so unless you have seen the original episode you won’t know what they are on about.
In Tea for Three, Rodney says he remembers Lisa (Trigs Niece) from years back, but in Big Brother (A few years back), Rodney has to be introduced to Trig as if they had never met before.
In Tea for Three, at the begining of the episode, the pianist and drummer are clearly not playing in line with the sound track.
In Tea for Three, When Del & Rodney are talking to Andy on the hill just befor Del goes hang-gliding look at the first shot of Andy, over his shoulder the Trotter van is in full view. The shot then turns to Del & Rodney when it goes back to Andy magic no van!
In Tea for Three, Why does Rodney look on a map to see where Del has ended up hang-gliding, he could be anywhere so the map has no significance.

Tea for Three Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Video Nasty

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:04:20 +0000

Video Nasty Episode Review

Brief: Rodney gains a grant from the council to make a comunity film, this gives Del an idea of a way of making a few bucks. Unfortunately Mickey Pearce has other ideas that will keep the Nags Head entertainment up

Transmitted: 28.09.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 17.5 million

Rodney’s Art Class is given a £10,000 grant to make a film spotlighting the local community, but first he has to avoid the scheming intentions of Mickey Pearce and Del Boy.

Whilst Rodders suffers from writer’s block, Del provides him with inspiration and a tale of a killer Rhino escaping from London Zoo and laying waste to innocent victims on the streets of the city. Rodney immediately points out the flaws in the logic behind the plot, and Del leaves him to it.

But without telling Rodney, Del has already arranged for Mickey to head down to the town hall to film different couples’ weddings at £50 a time – and he has also managed to persuade half the neighbourhood to pay £10 for the opportunity of becoming an movie extra.

To make things worse, Mickey arranges for the lovely Amanda to pop round the Trotters’ flat in her nurse’s uniform and begin filming a ‘blue movie’ called Night Nurse, which is due for its premiere in the back room of The Nag’s Head.

Episode Observations

In Video Nasty, When they are all watching mickys video in the pub, it takes them a while to realize that he filmed it in the Trotters flat!.
In Video Nasty, when mickey and rodney are up the bar in the nags head discussing rodneys film, watch and listen before mickey says the words “yeah,well i thought it would be a girl” you can hear audio of mickey saying “yeah,well i thought” although his lips never move.
In Video Nasty, The actor playing the Vicar – Rex Robinson is the same actor in Healthy Competiton playing the Auctioneer.
In Video Nasty, when Rodney closes the door in the kitchen while Mickey starts making the Night Nurse film the wall behind the kitchen door has no window in it yet in Sky’s the Limit studio scene on the balcony when you see the satelite dish for the first time it shows a small window (in the Kitchen wall).
In Video Nasty, the video of Night Nurse shown to all the lads is different to what was actually filmed by Mickey when Rodney interupted it. For example the scene from when Rodney walked into the lounge from the kitchen to when he walked out took 10 secs in real life but Mickeys video took about 15 secs to show the same scene. Also when Rodney comes into the lounge, in the real life seen he walks a fair way before noticing the nurse saying “Mickey you better not be do…then he looks” where as on the video he almost immediately looks to the nurse after saying “Mickey”.
In Video Nasty, the doors in the flat seem unusual colours. In most of the episodes they are a sicky yellow but for some reason in this episode the main lounge door is cream on one side and yellow on the other. Also Grandads door seems to of turned a strange green during the majority of the scenes.
In Video Nasty, When Mickey Pearce is filming Rodney walks in and says something then turns and walks back into the kitchen. When the video is shown at the Nag’s Head Rodney turns the other way before walking out.

Video Nasty Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Did You Know?

The idea for the script was based on a true life article about a youth club that were given a grant from the local council to do filming, but all the equipment and money thereafter disappeared.

The lost script according to superfans…

The script of the Rhino loose in the city has been expertly recreated for us by Rico. Very funny well worth a read click here to download

Who Wants to be a Millionaire

admin — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:58:54 +0000

Who Wants to be a Millionaire Episode Review

Brief: Delboy gets the chance to make a new start (and to become a millionaire) in Australia -fronting Jumbo Mill’s used car business. This was originally planned to be the last episode with Del leaving to go to Australia.

Transmitted: 05.10.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 18.8 million

Del’s old business partner from the 1960s, Jumbo Mills, returns to the UK shores to strike a deal with Boycie, and ends up rubbing everyone up the wrong way in The Nag’s Head.

Jumbo has made himself rich Down Under, after leaving rainy London for Australia with Del Boy’s last £200. In an attempt to pay back this debt ‘with interest’, Jumbo asks Del to become the new face of his new import business – but it means a move to Australia for the Trotter family.

After making sure Rodney and Albert have a place in Oz, Del Boy agrees to join Jumbo’s firm, but things don’t go as smoothly as that. Tired of wandering the globe, Albert decides he wants to end his days in Peckham, and it looks like Rodney’s criminal record has put paid to his dream trip.

Regardless of this, Del still seems keen to go, but when he picks up the phone to confirm the plan to Jumbo, he politely turns him down – reluctantly admitting that blood is thicker than water.

Episode Observations

In Who wants to be a Millionaire, Dels old Ozzie pal Jumbo Mills is played by actor Nick Stringer, yet the Osier Del sells the car to in “Go West Young Man” , is the same actor but different character.
In Who wants to be a Millionaire, when Del and Jumbo come into the Nags Head to discuss business Del asks Mike for an Australian lager for Jumbo. Mike lists other Non-British lagers as a choice. When Jumbo says he’ll have one of them Mike produces a Pint like a magician, certainly no time to of poured a pint.
In Who wants to be a Millionaire, When Del sits Rodney down to explain why they’re going to Australia, Rodney asks: “Does he want to help him run his new car business?” Yet there is nothing previously in the episode at all which suggests that Rodney should know that Jumbo is going into the motor trade.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Did You Know?

The idea for the script was written for David Jason as an ending of Delboy, leaving Rodney and Mickey to continue as traders. The ending shows David Jason change his mind.

This was due to be the last only fools and horses, with a spin-off series planned with Rodney and MickeyPearce taking over the company known as Hot-Rod.