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Mother Nature’s Son

Mother Nature’s Son Episode Review

Brief: Del Boy’s latest scheme is to bottle tap water and sell it as ‘Peckham Spring’ water. It’s a great success thanks to Rodneys mate Myles. But when Rodney finds out about it he knows that it is illegal and that they must stop. But hang on – where did Del get the loan to start the venture? Maybe he’d better go along with it after all.

Transmitted: 25.12.1992
Duration: 65 minutes
Viewing Figures: 20.1 million

At Del and Rodney are strapped for Christmas cash. To make matters worse, while Cassandra finally has her promotion, Raquel is suffering from post-natal depression.
Rodney is concerned that Del has lost his drive. When confronted, Derek explains that on top of his woes, the council have approved his application to buy their flat in Nelson Mendela House, doubling the rent. On top of that, Grandad’s allotment has become a health hazard and he has to clear it.
While clearing the allotment Del discovers several barrels of yellow liquid. Enlisting Trigger and Denzil, they are disposed of during the night.
Finally spotting a gap in the market, Del decides to bottle tap water and sell it as Peckham Spring Water.
Back in the money both couples enjoy a romantic evening… until they see a news flash about a major water contamination, caused by Del’s barrels.
  • In Mother Natures Son, In the allotment scene, where Myles gets up after testing the soil, if you look in the background, you can see fileds behind the housing estate. And Only Fools and Horses is meant to be set in Peckham in London, where the nearest bit of countryside is about 10 miles away.
  • In Mother Natures Son, In the scene where Uncle Albert comes in and starts to ‘eat’ Del’s sandwich, many have commented that strangely he never bites into it. This is true and I believe that he was scripted to actually eat it. But look at how long Del spends cooking it. It’s not cooked properly! So perhaps Buster Merryfield got cold feet as he didn’t fancy food poisoning.
  • In Mother Natures Son, When Del First Goes down to the allotment, what are the odds that 2 of your best mates are there at the same time (Trigger & Denzil)? anyway why was trigger on the allotment there is no road there!
  • In Mother Natures Son, you can see Del entering the shed and leaves the door open, yet next seen the door is open slightly, what a plonker!
  • In Mother Natures Son, when Denzil drives past the alotment, Del, Uncle Albert & Rodney have it in there minds that they can use Denzil’s van to remove the barrels of toxic waste, but in the Nag’s Head when Rodney is talking to Mike and Boyice, Rodney thinks Del got in some experts instead of Denzil and Trigger.
  • In Mother Natures Son, when Rodney is having his dream when he is holding Damian in his arms it shows the reflection. He is holding his arms the wrong way.
  • In Mother Natures Son, in the scene where the Trotter’s check in to the hotel in Brighton, the porter is carrying Del Boy’s leopard skin suitcase. This however, is the same suitcase that was stolen previously in Miami Twice Part 2!
  • In Mother Natures Son, When Del and Rodney are browsing around Miles’ health food shop, Del is complaining about the prices of the items. He then notices the range of spring waters and is stunned that they actually bottle water and sell it. If he is so negative about this water, why has he bought it previously? In Class ’62, Roy wants to go in the kitchen for water but Racquel is in there so Del stops him and says “Here you are look, you can have some of this trendy water,” and pours a glass of Perrier spring water!
  • In Mother Natures Son, When the Trotter household turns into the Peckham Spring production line, watch when Rodney goes out to Racquel after talking to Del. All the bottles that have been filled up with tap water and are now moving along the line for racquel to put tops on are all filled with unequal amounts. Surely to at least try and look pucker, they should be all filled the same, but then again, this is Del Boy we are talking about!
  • In Mother Natures Son, Right at the beginning of the episode when Rodney is dreaming about the Christmas party in the Nag’s Head, he picks up Damien and takes him to the mirror only to see him vanish from his arms in the reflection. Just as he takes him to the mirror listen carefully. There is a very strange voice that says “HEY RODNEY!” Is this the “devil” in Damien?
  • In Mother Natures Son, In one of the scenes in the Nag’s Head, Boycie is talking with Mike about Peckham Spring being shoddy. If you look carefully in the background there is a long haired lout having a pint with his mates. He then turns round to reveal himself- it is Robbie Williams the singer. See for yourself.
  • In Mother Natures Son, at the part where Densil and Trigger wave at Del in the car park  look very carefully you’ll see that the glowing patch on their hands moves slightly indicating that it was superimposed afterwards.
  • In Mother Natures Son, Del has brought the flat off the council. but in”heroes and villains” he is turned down a council grant to do up the kitchen.So why would he get one as a private owner?, and not a tenant?
  • In Mother Natures Son, just before Raquel moans of all the junk Dels left in Damiens room, she is seen walking from the bathroom across to Dels room leaving the Dels bedroom door open. Yet in the same scene when Raquel enters Damiens room complaining of the junk, you can see in the background Dels bedroom door is closed.
  • In Mother Natures Son, Del goes into the kitchen to make a bacon sandwich and talks to Rodney about his “Problem”, after being showered by Damiens weetabix, Uncle Albert enters the kitchen. Del then leaves his sandwich unattended where Albert appears to eat it, but in fact doesn’t take a bite at all, very strange!
  • In Mother Natures Son, when Del and Raquel are in Damien’s room you can see a box of Crowning Glory wigs that Del tried to sell in “3 Men, a Woman and a Baby”. However ‘Crowning Glory’ on the box in Mother Nature’s Son is printed in a different style to that on the boxes in 3 Men, a Women and a Baby.
  • In Mother Natures Son, When Albert is talking about HOW A WIG SAVED HIS LIFE DURING THE WAR… watch closely and you will see that the continuity is all wrong!His hands shift places!

Mother Nature’s Son Script

The script will be downloadable from here

Did You Know?

The idea for the script was based on a real incident where people had there water supply closed as something had been dumped in a nearby resevoir

Other Pukka Posts:

  1. 3 Men, a Woman and a Baby
  2. Mr X Part 2
  3. Only Fools and Horses Cuts – Part 8
  4. Rodney Come Home
  5. Mr X part 4
posted by admin in Episodes,The Specials and have Comments (2)

2 Responses to “Mother Nature’s Son”

  1. [...] Mother Nature’s Son Character: Myles Transmitted: 25.12.1992 Duration: 65 minutes Viewing Figures: 20.1 [...]

  2. John L says:

    The diving suit prop was later used by Lloyd Scott to run the London Marathon and is now on display in the Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

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