Time on our Hands Episode Review
Brief: Rodney is very depressed (So are we for that matter as it’s the last ever Only Fools) but with Raquel’s parents Audrey and James coming round Del has to sort him out then it happens they find this Watch (Victorian egg timer) and there lives change forever.
Transmitted: 29.12.1996
Duration: 60 minutes
Viewing Figures: 24.3 million
Rodney is bottling his emotions following the loss of his baby. Del, realising Cassandra needs his support, wants to help Rodney adjust. Raquel’s estranged parents arrive for a meal, and to meet their daughter’s new man. He does little to impress, and Uncle Albert mixes the coffee with the gravy by accident.
The next day, Raquel’s father meets Rodney and Del as they clear their garage. Being an antiques dealer, he spots a long-lost 18th Century Harrison marine watch, which he recommends getting valued. When the watch is sold for auction at Sotherby’s, the highest bid is for £6.2 million pounds.
After 16 years of poverty the Trotters finally make it rich!
Episode Observations
- In Time on our Hands, When Raquel’s dad is pouring coffe over his dinner after Albert mixed the coffee and gravy up, if you look, that is actually gravy he is pouring on his dinner. It looks too thick to be coffee.
- In Time on our Hands, you can see Raquel writing down ingredients seconds later Del comes out saying why are you up at this time at 6.30am then albert wakes up and comes to the table and Cassandra phones asking for Rodney and Rodney walks through the door but how did he get into the flat so early did Raquael unlock the door at 6.30am how did this happen so early in the morning. del got in at 4.30am in the morning he must have only had only two hours in bed.
- In Time on our Hands, I wonder which Beatle Andy thinks is singing “Our House” at the end of “Time On Our Hands”? The song is by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
- In Time On Our Hands, as Del goes back to his flat for one more look around the song our house is being played. On the TV screening it was sung by the Beatels but on the video it is sung by a girl!
- In Time On Our Hands, The reason the video version of “Time on our Hands” features a different rendition of “Our House” at the end of the broadcast is that copyright clearance for home video is extortionately expensive compared to broadcast clearance.Therefore the BBC bought the rights to the song only [rather than the performance of the song] and had it re-recorded.
- In Time On Our Hands, When this episode was first screened, the song our house played as Del goes to take one last look at the club was performed by the Beatles. On the BBC video the song is perforrmed by a female.
- In Time on our Hands, At the scene where Del and Rodney are in the van at the end of the auction you can clearly see a stack of boxes behind them, yet when they start cheering and shaking the van you can clearly see (through the back window) that there is light through the front windscreen.
- In Time on our Hands, When the van brakes down the trotters say it is Peckham when it is in fact Central Bristol.
- In Time on our Hands, About 25 minutes into the episode you can see Del making himself a drink in the flat. First he pours some Tia Maria in a glass and then tops it up with Lucozade! He first tasted this in the episode “To Hull And Back” after Rodney ordered it for him at the bar.
- In Time on our Hands, When Rodney and Del are in the Garage, Rodney mentions the dream he had “a couple of weeks ago”. He also says that Cassy lost the baby “a fortnight ago”. In “Heros & Villains” Rodney has the dream before he even tells everyone that they are expecting a baby, so if what Rodney says is true, technically they would have already lost the baby before he had told anyone about it.
- In Time on our Hands, in the scene where Rodney is looking through the garage Rodney lifts up two of the Russian Video Cameras at the same time – whereas in Fatal Extraction Rodney can barely carry one camera because they were so heavy.
- In Time On Our Hands, in the scene where Del and Rodney are in Sothebys and the auctioneer says the biddng starts at £150,000, Del faints. Listen just before he is about to land, you can here a ping sound maybe from a bell perhaps thats the queue for the speacial effects (the crash noise) but listen again before Rodney faints (that split second.)
- In Time On Our Hands, after the Watch fetches £6.2 Million, Del and Rodney return to the van outside Sotherbys. The scene where they discuss `having worse days` is shot from in front of the windscreen. But it is obviously a STUDIO shot and the Windscreen has been completely REMOVED to avoid glare. A piece of plastic has been attached to the top of the `windscreen` to make it look as if the window wipers have left a mark. As they sit in the van, Rodneys head rubs against it and gives the game away!
- In Time On Our Hands, at the scene before they go to the auction and they are in the pub while Rodney is talking to Del and co behind Rodney is Boycie if you look close above Rodneys Shoulder you can see Boyice shaking his hand while holding his cigar.(last minute nerves before his last ever scene.
- In Time On Our Hands, When they are eating dinner, Del suggests that Raquels dad leaves the car in their garage for safety if he has become attached to the wheels, but in the scene the next morning at the garage, how did they get the car in the garage when the garage is very small and also full of junk?
- In Time On Our Hands, before Del and Rodney get stuck in the lift, they are seen in the garage with Del chucking “the watch” into a pan on a cooker. Note the position of the watch slightly off centre and the winder showing. Later when James spots “the watch” it is centred with no winder showing, yet Del and Rodney hadn’t been there since.
- In Time On Our Hands, during the time 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 yet Uncle Albert reveals in “Hole in One” while in court, that they live at 368 Nelson Mandela House.
- In Time On Our Hands, the greatest connection was revealed. The receipt Rodney finds to legally prove the watches belonged to the Trotters was no doubt amongst the receipts Rodney is leafing through in “Big Brother” scene one.
- In Time On Our Hands, Raquels dad when looking at the watch says that the date on it is ad1779 yet later on say that people have been searching for it for 300 years so really we should not see the watch until 2079! (I think the date is ad 1779 as I am writing this from memory but the error is the same.
- In Time On Our Hands, the garage is far smaller and faces other garages unlike the garage seen in “It’s Only Rock and Roll”, there it has a wall opposite and is much larger.
- In Time On Our Hands, When “Jimbo’s” (Raquel’s father’s) car is first seen outside the garage when he comes to pick it up the morning after the big meal it is a navy blue car, but when we see a mid shot of Del sitting on the bonnet a couple of minutes later as James examines the watch the car he is sitting on is red! (I can’t remember if that’s the right way round, but that’s the mistake anyway.)
- In Time On Our Hands, at the very end of the episode, when Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert are leaving the flat, the BBC sign is in the background. I don’t know if this is a mistake or the Beeb just stamping their mark on the finale!B
- In Time On Our Hands, The Dates are all wrong. They say the watch is over 300 years old, but that does not correspond with the given date, which is 1774.
Time on our Hands Script
The script will be downloadable from here
Intended
Del, Rodney, and Uncle Albert were originally intended to become cartoon characters as they walked into an animated sunset. It was John Sullivan’s opinion that they could no longer be real, and thus end the series. At the last minute it was changed to enable a follow on.
On Location
Hertz removal vans for the emptying of the flat.
Time on our Hands Locations
This lock up garage stages the main feature of Del and Rodneys fortune when they discover the lost time piece. Dels garage is actually number 22, Whitemead House, Bedminster, Bristol.
This is Mmiles Motor Company, On Marsh Road, Bedminster, Bristol which is used as Boycies Motor show room when Del and Rodney look over the Roller in Time on our Hands.
In reality I wonder how much Del and Rodney would’ve ended up with after Sotheby’s took their percentage?
It’s interesting how the value of money has changed so much in what seems like a short time.
Today, £6.2 million split two ways wouldn’t get anywhere near the properties and lifestyle the Trotters have once they become rich!
Dear and respected OFAH.NET,
Your posts about locations of the great show are preiceless and please keep up the good work and be kind and let me know if you are aware of THE REAL LOCATION of the part when Uncle Albert sails in a Khadia boat right infront of the Cassandra and Rodney’s new flat?
Thank you very much, wish you all the best
I have just binge watched the entire OFAH series from Big Brother all the way to Time on our Hands over the past few weeks, and I loved every minute of it, my favourite TV programme of all time.
However, I cannot bring myself to watch the final three episodes from 2001-2003, although I did watch them a long time ago and know the storyline. Why? Because when you watch the entire series and see how many ups and downs (mostly the latter) the Trotters had, and how much they dreamed of achieving their ambitions of becoming millionaires, it was heartless to have it all robbed off them five years later. In addition, Del Boy may have had his flaws, but he was a good person who cared so much about his family, and he, his brother and their family deserved the millions and live happily ever after.
Therefore I consider the final three episodes to be non-canon and the Trotters forever lived happily ever after as millionaires, and not just for the above reasons. Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert) and Kenneth MacDonald (Mike Fisher) passed away between Time on our Hands and the 2000’s specials. They were an integral part of the series, and it isn’t the same without them, especially Albert’s “during the war” monologues!
If they were to release susquent specials, they should have been about the Trotters trying and failing (with hilarious results) to mix it with the rich, Del Boy and Raquel getting married and Rodney and Cassandra having their baby Joan (the only good thing about the 2000’s specials). I’m sure a good story could have be made out of it.
Only Fools and Horses was let down by the 2000’s specials, unless you ignore them like I do, in which case it is a faultless show. Highly recommend!
In Time on Our Hands, where is the building that Del has bought?
You see him playing snooker and a picture above the fire?
It looks like Merrist Wood House in Worplesdon near Guildford?
The sign says PBC not BBC, which I presume stands for Peckham Borough Council
Our family are split between the ending song in time on our hands where the music I know is our house however the other half believe that there is another song played instead of this in another version is this correct cheers
It’s the same song but sung by someone else :
“In the VHS and DVD versions, the track “Our House” is replaced by a cover version by Helen Reddy.” – Wiki
Musts have been copyright issues.
Yes the original TV version is sung by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.
As Richard says the later DVD releases have a cover version sung by Helen Reddy.
When they walk off into the sunset at the end on yellow brick road, is it a cartoon set?
I know all outside scenes from 1989 were filmed in Bristol, but does this include the montage of clips filmed when the Trotters became millionaires?
This should have been the last episode ever made – it ended perfectly – the nation’s favourite sitcom characters becoming millionaires, finally realizing their dream – plus, it would have also ended with Buster and Kenneth still being alive – everything ended perfect.
those last 3 episodes made in 2001, were terrible, you got a cold feeling from the cast as if there hearts wernt really in it anymore, Damien was gobby and mouthy and genuinelly unlikeable with no friendly redeeming qualities (yes I know teenagers are supposed to be like that) but there was something really off-putting about Ben Smith.
If John had finished it in 1996 – and not buckled to the sheer weight of the public wanting only fools back – it would have ended picture perfect in my opinion.
i agree with everything you say mate-the Damien in 1996 was lovely
unlike the horrible one that was bought in for 2001 2002 2003
those episodes were crap, The Jonathan Ross, Gary, Sleepless in P
were awful. but you cant be too hard on John Sullivan because he must have been under so much pressure to bring it back but a bid surprising considering two cast members had died in that time
I’m not 100% sure, and sorry if I’m wrong – however I might have discovered another cut.
On the video/DVD release of time on their hands, when Rodney and Del are back in the flat (towards the end, when the flat is in darkness) Rodney: ‘shame about Albert’s boat wasn’t it?’
well… shame about what? nothing bad happened?
so on TV broadcasts on GOLD – does Albert crash or sink the boat? because on video/DVD releases – nothing happens to Alberts boat, all he does is steer it.
It’s a joke, they’re implying that Albert crashed his boat, There was never a scene of him actually crashing it :)
not a cut.
Im sure in the episode you see a shot of Albert on his boat, and then Rodney and Cassandra watch as you hear a boat crash sound or something like that.
Albert is on the boat (presumably on the Thames) and Rodney and Cassandra are watching from the balcony new flat. You hear the sound of the horn and see the couple looking embarrassed. There is no crash sound, or crash scene shown.
Later in the episode the boat crash is alluded to in the conversation between Del and Rodney.
Whenever I think of Time On Our Hands I always hum the horn music piece to myself that is played after they become rich.
You know the tune, it’s the one when they arrive at the Nags Head in the Rolls, you’re humming it now I bet.
Anyway does anyone know any info about it, if it’s from anywhere or if it was composed just for the episode…
It’s something I’ve always wondered about too. I always imagined that John Sullivan wrote it as we know he was a very accomplished composer writing the theme tunes to Citizen Smith, Just Good Friends, Dear John, Sitting Pretty, The Green Green Grass and of course Only Fools, so by this point he may have also been writing the incidental music too. I also imagined he wrote the background acoustic guitar music in ‘Mother Natures Son’, the bit where they are in the hotel.
I’ve since had a look at the closing credits where it says music by Graham Jarvis. Here’s his list of work which starts with Mother Nature’s Son as you thought.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0419055/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2
‘In Time on our Hands, I wonder which Beatle Andy thinks is singing “Our House” at the end of “Time On Our Hands”? The song is by Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Andy?
I think Rodney and Cassadra should have had their baby in Modern Men and not lost it, because then John Sullivan would probably have had less of a reason to bring Only Fools back for the last three episodes. And the same thing with finding out that Del and Rodney had different fathers that should have happened in A Frog’s Legacy.
In Mother Natures Son, Uncle Albert scares them again, I want to know if There is any more Uncle Albert scares and if this has meaning.
In Time on our Hands when the Harrison watch is first realised there is a registration plates that clearly shows the letters “YEP” in a nearby storage bin. A few shots later you can only see “EP” when in fact the angles haven’t changed.
In Time on our Hands when Del is in the empty flat at the end he answers the phone to his old pal Lenny Norris. Assuming Del is refering to the same man he spoke about in Diamonds are for Heather, he was called Lenny Morris, not Norris.