Sickness and Wealth Episode Reviews
Brief: While excruciating stomach cramps and a constant diet of health salts might drive some people to visit the doctor, not our Del! Oh no, he’s only suffering from that scourge of all yuppies, PMA- Positive Mental Attitude! So, it’s going to require some nifty plotting to get Del to visit the dreaded “D” word! At least Robbie Meadows is a mate who might tell him some home truths.
Transmitted: 05.02.1989
Duration: 50 minutes
Viewing Figures: 18.2 million
Episode Observations
- In Sickness and Wealth, re Mick below – Patrick Murray and Steven Woodcock, they were in this episode but it was cut on the TV, however on the video they are clearly seen as well as quite a few other cut scenes. Strange really.
- In Sickness and Wealth, The closing credits of “Sickness and Wealth” include the names Patrick Murray and Steven Woodcock, but neither of these actors actually appear in the episode.
- In Sickness and Wealth, have you evernoticed on the door to the kitchen in this episode there is a poster with EL DEL written on it?
- In Sickness and Wealth, has any one noticed that Dr Meadows is one of the officers out of “Titanic”?
- In Sickness and Wealth, when Del is in hospital, when Rodney, Cassandra and Alburt leave, Cass says: “Nice to have MET you Del” but in ‘The Chain Gang’ Rodney introduces her to Del!
- In Sickness and Wealth, just before Marlean told everyone she was pregnant. She says “I’m not talking about Del’s illness.” How could she know the ghost said anything about Del’s illness? She wasnt there. Nor was Boycie.
- In Sickness and Wealth, Boycie’s first name, contrary to popular belief on various websites, is NOT Aubrey. Two things back this up: When the ghost asks to speak to “Aubrey”, Del nor Trigger know who it is, until Boycie says it is his middle name and adds later that his father was the only one who called him Aubrey. This is also backed up by “Class of ’62” as it proves that Del, Denzil & Trigger all went to school with Boycie. Surely they would know his first name in that instance, as the teachers can’t also have called him Boycie?
- In Sickness and Wealth, When Del calls the nurse back to ask about his application for a bed bath, there is no-one in the background, but seconds later, as she walks away, Robbie Meadows is leaning up against a bed as if he’s been there for ages. There’s no way he would have had time to get there in between the two shots.
Sickness and Wealth Script
Sickness and Wealth – DVD Bonus
(9 minutes of unseen footage on DVD version only)
This is a really unusual situation, normally the crew cut out scenes until the show fits into the 50 minutes for each episode, in this case the early cut version which was around an hour was used for the DVD, a mistake, but one that all fans are very glad of, this results in some much longer scenes with Elsie Partridge and a few other cut scenes left in. In all around 9 minutes was preserved.
I remember a scene which I thought was from this episode but perhaps not, and I’d be grateful if anyone could point me to the episode.
The scene goes something like the following:
Del has been for medical tests to diagnose an unknown condition. He is waiting on results and gets a phone call…..he is very sombre and downcast and Rodney asks what the Dr. said.
Del: “He said…”the results of your tests are…..negative”
and Del puts his head in his hands.
Rodney: “Negative?….that means all clear you plonker”
Del: “Oh does it….i thought it was a medical term for curtains!”
Many thanks
Hi Darren;
The episode with that particular scene is from “Thicker Than Water” the 1983 Christmas Special, the last episode in Series 3, the last episode to feature Lennard Pearce as Grandad and the first “Only Fools” episode to be screened on Christmas Day.
Yeah, “Thicker Than Water” (Series 3) Darren!
Hope this helps mate :)
has anyone got an autograph of Constance Chapman (Elsie Partridge) for sale?
please email me on toniemma1980@yahoo.co.uk please if you can help.
only 1 small minor cut to this episode.
when Rodney, Cassandra and Albert are sitting in the pub, discussing Del’s stomach pains, there’s a track playing in the background: ‘it’s only love’ by simply red.
on DVD/video releases the music has been removed, and Rodney, Cass and Albert are still talking – but there’s no background music.
If only the BBC made more mistakes and accidentally put the unedited episodes on DVD!
So what happens to the line now, at the seance where Trigger says: ‘sounds like Jimmy Saville’
another only fools cut, due to a sex offender?
only reason I ask this, is because any mention of his name on a BBC programme is a very hot topic lately – isn’t a tweenies episode now banned because a puppet dressed like him?
BBC1 edited it out when they broadcast it last year, but GOLD broadcast it unedited.
In the missing scene with Mickey Pearce and Jevon I notice that Mickey has his right arm hidden and is smoking left handed. I wonder if this is because he had already damaged his arm in real life which was the reason John Sullivan wrote into the next episode that Mickey would be wearing plaster on his right arm after a visit from the Driscoll brothers?
I think so yes, Patrick Murray put his arm through glass and busted his arm really bad in 1988 – so John Sullivan came up with the idea that the character of Mickey was beaten up by the Driscoll brothers (hence the injured arm)
Hi, does anyone know if you can buy the EL DEL poster?? I really want this poster!!
Seems to be rare, have you found one yet? I’m looking for one, too.
Which actual dvd is it on?? There have been more then one dvd released
on the series 6 dvd :)
What is the name of the actress who played Del’s doctor in sickness and wealth? The woman from New Delhi, anybody who knows would be great?!
Her name is Josephine Welcome, she recently played a doctor in Coronation St. Here is a profile http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0919687/
Hope this helps
Thanks CC for the tip
Does anyone know of any more extended episodes that the bbc have in the vaults?
I have just watched the gold edition of sickness and wealth were Mickey and Jevon appear in the episode, so how have Gold got the DVD version to broadcast on tv?