Hole in One Episode Review
Brief: The Trotters are potless so Uncle Albert comes to the rescue by having an ‘accident’ with the open cellar door of the Nag’s Head. Solly knows how to make a nice large case out of this. It should be a doddle in court.
Transmitted: 07.03.1985
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 13.4 million
The Trotter’s have fallen on hard times, largely due to Rodney’s £500 investment in suntan lotion during one of the worst winters ever seen.
To make things worse, the deep-fat fryer they sold to Mike, landlord of The Nag’s Head, is on the blink and the tension brings Del and Rodney to boiling point. But throughout all this trouble, Uncle Albert, who Rodders blames for their bad luck, keeps telling them that something will turn up.
As Albert leaves the pub, he accidentally falls through an open cellar door, and the Trotters’ quickly come up with a way to get some cash – by suing the pub for damages.
Albert’s accident claim finally makes it to court, but to the shock of Del and Rodney, it appears that their Uncle has already sought 15 identical damages claims going back to 1944. Their case gets chucked out of court, and Albert admits he was using some of the tricks he learnt as a stuntman to try and help Del and Rodney pay for Grandad’s headstone.
Episode Observations
- In Hole in One, Albert say that everytime himself and the boys grandad were short of some money he just fell down a hole. In the court case it was revealed that the incidents occured after the war. In “Tea for Three” he said that he and Grandad didn’t speak to each other after they met and fought over Aunt Ada. In “Miami Twice” Albert revealed that he left Ada behind when he went to war, so he clearly met Ada before the war and couldn’t therefor be speaking to Grandad after the war when they alegadly worked together falling down holes.
- In Hole in One, at the begining when Albert goes to the door to stuff the letters back through, the porch shows a door to the kitchen. In later episodes the door disappears as a coat rack.
- In Hole In One, Uncle Albert is replacing a previous shot episode which Grandad had filmed shortly before his death. The scenes of Mike looking up at Albert were never replaced (Mike was looking up at Grandad)
- In Hole in One, Uncle Albert reveals while in court, that they live at 368 Nelson Mandela House, yet in “Time On Our Hands”while Del and Rodney are stuck in the lift, we take a look at Denzil and Mickey taking furniture out of Del and Raquels flat. On the door of there flat the number is clearly 127.
- In Hole In One, Rodney clearly says he lives on Dockside Estate yet in “Yuppy Love” they say that he lives on “a Nyere estate”
- In Hole In One, Uncle Albert is seen stuffing the post back through the letter box. If you watch the scene carefully the letters appear to pull themselves through, no doubt a helping hand from the film crew.
Hole in One Script
The script will be downloadable from here
Did You Know?
The idea for the script was based on a trus story. John Sullivans grandfather was called Dickie and was a coalman who claimed compensation by falling down holes.
Hole in One Location
This is used as the Nags Head in Hole in One, You can still locate its address at 267, Kensal Road, W10, London.
As this episode was originally written for Grandad, would we have found out his real name? You could hardly have the barrister saying “Are you the same Grandad Trotter who fell down a hole in 1944?”
How did the barrister know about all of Albert’s previous, when they were all settled out of court?
del boy is pushing albert in the wheelchair in st james road kingston upon themes kt1 . in hole in one
When Del, Rodney and Albert park near the pub, what does the ‘CD’ on the sticker Rodney places on the van’s windscreen mean? I wasn’t around in the 1980s and I presume it was topical.
Thanks.
Sam: I think CD stands for “Corps diplomatique” – the stickers that diplomats put on their cars to stop them getting parking tickets, against which diplomats have immunity.
I always wondered that too.
Cheers for that.
It was the Prince Arthur pub in Golborne Road that was used in the Hole in One not 267 Kensal Road – 267 was never a pub only a café and there was never a basement there. On the corner of 267 Kensal Road and Middle Row there was always a belisha beacon and a zebra crossing. The surrounding area on Hole in One is the Golborne Road not Kensal Road
267 Kensal Road was not the pub used in the Hole in One it was the Prince Arthur in Golborne Road. If you look at the picture above and compare it with the Nags Head on the film you can see it is different always there was always a Belisha Beacon on the corner of 267 Kensal Road and Middle Row and a Zebra crossing and 267 was never a pub only ever a café – there was no basement. Also the scene around the Nags Head is the Golborne Road area
The replacement in the storyline of the character of Grandad with that of Uncle Albert creates plot ambiguities; the exact reasons why a Royal Navy ships engineer would be learning parachute jumping in the war was never explained adequately.
Isn’t this the episode that was initially written for Grandad and where Lennard Pearce partially filmed his scenes before being taken ill and sadly passing away? You can piece it together really. I’m assuming the original storyline was Grandad falling down the hole for compensation to get Del and Rodney’s mum a new headstone. Although she wasn’t a blood relative, Grandad always spoke of her fondly in previous episodes.
Yeah, it is. That’s why you have the plot ambiguity of Albert, a ship’s engineer, taking parachute lessons.
In Hole in One, the exterior of “The Nags head” is very different to that of the pub later seen in a much later special either Miami Twice or Fatal extraction where the Van pulls up outside a very spick modern Pub.
I know and in Dates it was totally different too. The grotty little car park where the police car was parked when spotted by Rodney became a very spick and much larger beer garden.