A Losing Streak Episode Review
Brief: Del and Boycie are set to play the biggest poker game Peckham’s ever seen… But what exactly has Boycie got up his sleeve? Will Grandads double-headed coin save the day?
Transmitted: 04.11.1982
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 7.5 million
Del is getting into financial trouble – even his double-headed coin can’t help him win. He’s gambling away his money with no sign of stopping, and he’s already £150 down.
Nevertheless, when Boycie challenges him to a winner-takes-all poker game, Del is eager to host it in his flat in Mandela House.
As the night progresses, Del’s luck goes from bad to worse as he ends up owing Boycie all his money, the TITCO van, Grandad’s cash, jewellery and even a collection of loose change.
But all is not lost, as Del finally turns the tables on Boycie in revenge for fixing all the previous card games in his favour.
Episode Observations
- In A Losing Streak, Further to Andy’s observation at the bottom, in A Losing Streak Del says his dad left home AFTER his mum died. Del says it was his 16th birthday. And his mum died in 1964 not 1963.
- In A Losing Streak, Grandad wins £125 from a £5 bet on a 25-1 Horse. However if he’s won he would have got his stake back, making his winnings £130. Plus he would have had to pay betting tax at some point, which was still operational at the time.
- In A Losing Streak, when Del’s voice is obviously dubbed when remarking about the Irishman ordering a short, the phrase he really uses, according to the book “The Trotter Way To Millions”, is “…the only Provo weightwatcher in London”, which was obviously a topical gag at the time that was later deemed unsuitable for broadcast. The word “Provo” is dubbed with the word “genuine”, which does not really have the same effect, but Del’s mouth movements support the theory that the true word is indeed “Provo”.
- In A Losing Streak, When Boycie enters the flat for the big card game he comments on the grotty flat as if he has never seen it before,surely if Del and Boyce have been mates since school he would have been round once or twice.
- In A Losing Streak, near the end when Del, Trig and Boycie are getting hot and heavy Trig decides to leave picking up a hand full of cash but later on when Del asks for money trigger says he’s skint!!.
- In A Losing Streak, When Del is asking Grandad to lend him his horse winnings, he is explaining that he had a bet earlier with Boycie on what drink Brendon would have. His mouth is clearly dubbed.
- In A Losing Streak, Del says “Remember Boycie the secondhand car dealer from Lewisham” obviously meaning Boycie is from Lewisham whereas in “The Class Of 62” Boycie went to school with Del at Dockside Secondary Modern in Peckham.
- In A Losing Streak, when Del Boy was telling Granddad about the bet that he had lost to Boycie that day in the Pub you can see by the way his lips move that it is a voice over
- In A Losing Streak, Del has hidden their mum’s money in the telephone, but over the years, even before that episode lots of different phones have been seen in the flat!
- In A Losing Streak, Del uses the money his Mum left him which he “had hid only too well” from his Dad to help finance the increasing stakes in the poker game against Boycie. But if that money had been left by his mum in the sixties when she died, surely it was no longer legal tender with the onset of decimalisation?
- In A Losing Streak, After Del loses a bet to Boycie in the Nag’s Head, when a builder orders a slim-line tonic, he reiterates the story to Granddad in the flat. Del refers to the said builder as a “bonafide weightwatcher” and yet it’s dubbed out as “genuine weightwatcher”, clearly a dubbed-over word.
- In A Losing Streak, In the nags head Rodney admits to Del that he does not remember his dad leaving home. But in a later episode while in bed Rodney tells Cassandra how he remembered Del chasing his dad around the room!
A Losing Streak Script
The script will be downloadable from here
Did You Know?
The idea for the script was based on John Sullivans fathers gambling sessions
It’s amusing when people debate whether delboy was a bad person or not. He did some snide things but showed plenty of compassion and love. Boycie on the other hand was a genuinely nasty piece of work. In this episode he is prepared to take every single thing his ‘best mate’ delboy owns over a game of poker. In another episode he sent him to Amsterdam with dodgy money, dangerous if van cleef had noticed, and then grassed him up to slater. At no point did boycie ever show compassion to any of his friends.
‘Trust me, Rodney, trust me, he’s defenetly bluffing……….. have faith in me’
I love this episode – its my favourite of the whole lot. It runs like a 25 minute sketch rather than a sitcom episode – superb lines everywhere too.
‘and thats half a lager for Rodney…’ is superbly timed.
I do have a theory that Del planned the whole losing streak with Trigger to take Boycie as he knew hed been cheating in the previous games.
it works a lot better if you think Dels always going to scam Boycie.
I notice in this episode when Del says: ‘what are the odds on you picking the only genuine weight watcher in London’ watch Del’s mouth, it doesn’t fit was he is saying, something has been clearly dubbed.
In the original it was ‘genuine Provo on a diet.’
But the writer changed it immediately after filming as it didnt sit right to be that offensive to the irish who were having a hard time in London due to IRA etc..
It’s well funny at the end when Del Boy says to spin for £200 with a one sided headed coin and Rodney calls tails! Priceless!
Has anyone noticed that Trigger isn’t even remotely stupid in the episode? Quite the contrary. He comes up with that line about the losing streak and suggests spinning for the deck of cards choice.
He was pretty stupid, but loyal, to let Del gamble his car away!
If Del declares he has ‘Two Pair’, then that’s the bet. Surely, It doesn’t matter if it’s a pair of Aces, Kings etc. Boyce has four Kings.
Watching this ok Gold now, One of the best.