To Hull and Back Episode Review
Brief: Just a simple courier job says Boycie and Abdul but the Trotter’s life on the ocean wave doesn’t go completely to plan. They run into their old friend Slater ‘The Slag’ but it isn’t all plain sailing for him either.
Transmitted: 25.12.1985
Duration: 90 minutes
Viewing Figures: 16.9 million
Boycie and Abdul pitch a diamond scam to Del Boy, who immediately turns them down.
That is until they offer him a £15,000 cut of the estimated £150,000 sale of the stone on the UK market. Del finds himself designated as the courier between Holland and Britain.
No sooner has Del enlisted a reluctant Rodders, he hears his old foil Chief Inspector Slater is eyeing Boycie and Abdul as drug dealers. Del decides to hide undetected in the back of Denzil’s van.
Denzil then getting in and driving them to Hull (pursued by Rodney) was not part of the plan. Thinking quickly, they hire a boat, and let Uncle Albert guide them to Amsterdam.
Overcoming counterfeit cash, Albert’s amnesia, it’s only the arrival of Slater that scuppers them. Despite this, it’s Del who has the last laugh.
Episode Observations
- In To Hull and Back, About half way through the episode when the Trotters have just arrived in Holland, it cuts back to Boycie & Abdul in the Car Office. Abdul is worrying about if they got there ok, and if maybe they have sunk. In response Boycie says “No, no, they’ve got their uncle Albert”. The thing is how do Boycie and Abdul know that they brought Uncle Albert with them, the supposedly last time they saw each other was in the lorry, and as far as they were aware of they were going by Air and only allowing Rodney to go with him. This confirmed at the end when Del explaines to Boycie that they just have “got lost in the middle of the North Sea..”, to their supprise, as well they only thought of the idea at the last minute, and so had limited time to bother telling them.Later when Slater is in his office and is rounding off the suspects on the white flip chart, before Hoskins comes in, it shows a list of the most likely suspects, with: Trigger – Too Daft; and Denzil – Nervous Breakdown, but how on earth does Slater know that Denzil thinks he is suffering a nervous breakdown all of sudden and they are never seen near each other, and there wouldn’t be any reasonable way of anyone, including Del Boy, of wanting to let Slater know of this, because of his on going Diamond activities.
- In To Hull and Back, Del, Rodney and Albert are in the flat after coming back from Holland and Rodney shows Del the £15,000 that he said he picked up when they were running around the table but when we see them running around the table he quite clearly doesn’t pick the 15K up!
- In To Hull and Back, when Rodney spots the Zebrugge to Hull Ferry, he’s steering the boat, Del’s at the front of the ship and Albert’s below deck, yet seconds later Rodney’s at the front of the ship with Del and Albert’s Steering!
- In To Hull and Back, In To Hull and Back, When Rodaney suggests they find the way to Holland by stars Del says “Oh yeah, I saw that in the Onedin Line”. This is an in-joke because the guy who plays Van Cleef later in the episode used to be in the Onedin Line!
- In To Hull and Back, In the flat scene at the end, when Albert tips the 2 Diamonds on to Rodneys hand Rodney says “Whos a pretty Boy?” which was actually Denzils first episode!!! As he was in To Hull And Back i find this very ironic!
- In To Hull and Back, when in Sids cafe Slater says to Del “are you sure you dont want any food?” and Del replies , no, yet a few minutes later you see del eating a bacon sandwich, and Sid asks Del for 32p.
- In To Hull and Back, Near the end when Del arrives back at boycies, Where are they? We assume that it is Boycies car place, but when slater opens the door we see a pub- layout, yet if it is the nags head howcome we have never seen that room since?
- In To Hull and Back, When Albert’s in the Nags head talking to Slater’s mum,she remarks how her Husband never got over Slater joining the Police force and “how bloody glad she was,when they put him away” yet in Slater’s return in “class of 62” he says his Dad died when he was inside, and he explain’s why they would’nt give him Compassionate parole (the letter Slater’s Mum wrote)
- In To Hull and Back, There is no laughter soundtrack on the entire video.
- In To Hull and Back, When denzil sees the trooters on the start off there sea journey he is sat on the east coast and the boat is traveling north. holland is to the south!.
- In To Hull and Back, when Del and Rodney are in the market trying to sell the watches, Rodney is getting some more out just after Del says “there gonna be a mad rush in a minute” the suitcase opens away from the punters, but when they notice the copper Rodney opens the suitcase facing the punters and Del chucks in the watches from the table.
- In To Hull and Back, when hoskins is paying for his sandwich carefully watch the length of sids fag, go on its true!!.
- In To Hull and Back, Why doesent Rodney get the money that del throws out the window?!?!, he could have recovered alot of it!.
- In To Hull and Back, at the docks when denzil is waiting at the zebara crossing and sees Del you can see the crossing is just a roll been put down you can see the folds.
- In To Hull and Back, It has always bothered me, but how on earth could both Rodney in the 3-wheel van and Denzil in his lorry make it all the way from Peckham to Hull without stopping? Surely at least Rodney would have had to stop for petrol (I doubt the 3-wheel van could make it that far even on a full tank) meaning that he would have lost Denzil on the motorway, or Denzil as a long distance driver would have had to stop for a rest meaning Rodney could have caught up with him. Or could Rodney not have managed to overtake Denzil and get him to stop and let Del out?
- In To Hull and Back, When the trotters, boycie and abdul tried to make a run from slater the moneywas left on the table but later on at the end rodney had the money in his pocket.
- In To Hull and Back, when Denzil drives away at the traffic lights, Del is upset and wonders why Denzil hasn’t let him fill the truck up. Rodney reminds Del of the awful things that Del has done to Denzil in the past 1.Ruined his Wedding reception (“Who’s a pretty boy?”) 2.Broken up his marriage to Corrine (she couldn’t appear anymore because the lady who played ‘Corrine’ died) 3.Flooded his kitchen (“Who’s a pretty boy?”again) and 4.Stole his £2,000 redundancy money (“As one door closes”).
- In To Hull and Back, Slater is banged up for diamond smuggling at the end, this is nicely linked up in “The class of ’62” 5 years later when Slater is out of prison he still has possession of some of the diamonds and this story line links well with the previous one.
- In To Hull and Back, Jeff Stevenson plays PC Parker, but comes back as the comedian in “Little Problems”.
- In To Hull and Back, keep an eye on the length of Sid’s cigarette while young Terry Hoskins is ‘paying’ for his breakfast.
- In To Hull and Back, At the end of the episode before Del chucks the money off the balcony Rodney tells Del they should invest it, a fact which he later denies in the final scene.
- In To Hull and Back, In the scene where Slater and his henchmen are checking the lorries for thieves Rodney is seen to be observing very clearly what is going. Why didn’t Slater and his gang spot the yellow van ? Rodney responds facially when Slater homes in on Denzil’s lorry so how on earth did Slater miss it ! To top it all in the next scene Slater says he went looking for Del’s van and it was missing!
- In To Hull and Back, In the last scene has Del, Rodney and Albert in their flat. For once, we see the wall behind the TV. Notice a fireplace on the wall. However, in Time On Our Hands, we again see the wall behind the TV, but there is no fireplace this time!
- In To Hull and Back, When Del-Boy rents the boat it is called INGE but when Denzil sees the boat from the cliff- top the name on the side of the boat is now called LINKE!
- In To Hull and Back, near the end Rodney does not pick up the money from the table, he just walks out the room without going near it.
To Hull and Back Script
The script will be downloadable from here
To Hull and Back promotion video
Did You Know?
This episode is shot entirely on film and also had no laughter track.
Behind the scenes
Catching some behind the scenes action before filming a part of To Hull and Back with Denzil and Rodney
Anyone know why this episode is not available in Britbox presentation of OFAH?
When Rodney says “you can steer a ship by the stars” uncle Albert says “ya he’s right” but when Albert says “there’s millions of em” Rodney says “ I bloody love him” but it was Rodney who suggested it in the first place NOT uncle Albert , bad mistake.
With Slater aware Boycie and Abdul are putting up the money for the diamonds does anyone notice that at Sid’s cafe Del Boy makes a phone call to Boycie’s car business and they discuss that Slater is aware Boycie and Abdul are putting up the money and to meet up at the back of Denzil’s lorry. Surely if Slater knew Boycie and Abdul were putting up the money then Slater would have tapped Boycie’s car business phone as he is Chief Inspector of the police. Then Slater would have surely caught Del Boy, Boycie and Abdul in the back of Denzil’s lorry with the 50 grand in the suitcase!
Because Slater didn’t want to catch them until they had brought the diamonds back, that was his plan, catch them with the diamonds and keep them for himself.
I never understood how Slater could have gone to prison, and Del, Rodney, Albert, Boycie and Abdul could have got away with it scot free. Surely their involvement would have come out at Slater’s trial? I know Del was granted an “immunity from prosecution” in the previous Slater episode, but do such arrangements exist in real life, and how far and long would it extend? Presumably he couldn’t murder someone and claim immunity from prosecution! And he was clearly keen about not being caught here. So the fact that he and his family were physically smuggling diamonds into the country seems to have been overlooked at the end.
What happened to the schooner boat after the program in hull and back .
Did it get sold on
My Favourite Episode :)
the picture of rodney and denzil stood near the van with the humber bridge towers behind them is in hessle ,east yorkshire i,ve been to the exact location as i am from hessle near hull.
This special has had a couple of line cuts from the iTunes version. It is during the scene in the cafe before Slater comes to the table:
Rodney: What about the poor black bloke?
Hoskins: Oh he’ll be alright, they reckon he might get a record contract out of it
However the above is intact on the Netflix UK stream.
If you watch closely when Del is inside Denzil’s lorry, his rings on his left hand disappear then reappear at times.
Does anyone know the song played when Del Boy and Rodney are talking to Denzil while he is in the lorry? I’ve tried SoundHound and Shazam, but to no avail.
Thanks
The Song playing in Denzil’s Lorry is by 5 Starthe song is called R.S.V.P
*5 Star* NOT 5 Starthe!
When Albert first arrives at the port, he mentions that he brings his passport along with him. But in “If They Could See Us Now”, Rodney mentions that he doesn’t have a passport!
“In To Hull and Back, When denzil sees the trooters on the start off there sea journey he is sat on the east coast and the boat is traveling north. holland is to the south!”
Denzil is sitting on the end of Spurn Point, looking South. The boat is travelling in a south-easterly directions out of the Humber into the North Sea – directly towards Holland. Same direction that the ferries travel out of the Humber.
yes when they are running in Amsterdam they run past the Royal Palace which is at Dam Square i was in Amsterdam over 2 years ago it has a seedy reputation with the coffee shops and brothels but every thing is legal
however three canals run through the city plus the Amstel river it is almost
a water city, which makes it very picturesque, that was the first ever of the
specials , and it was brilliant, Slater the bent copper in with van cleef
Del does look at the money when they are counting it like he said to Boycie
but Del if your that good with money i wont mention the fifteen grand which was PUCKER! least they had a couple of diamonds. did anyone miss the laugh track? does anyone know that tune when they are running in Holland?
I’ve been wanting to know this for years , Took me a while but I finally found it after asking people on youtube :-) it’s called Oh Honolulu the organ playing it is a Van Eijk organ called De Frans Hals but just youtube “oh honolulu organ”
Ha check this version I’m a dj gonna remix it or play it out :-D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsZwKNp5gkE
The other song used played on the street organ is called ‘Tulpen uit Amsterdam’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHwpIEOaBIs
“Tulips From Amsterdam” Max Bygraves!
Had a thought about something that could be most obvious about this episode.
Why didn’t Del Boy question the 15 grand cash Abdul/Boycie put out on the table rather than back at the flat? As Del knew the cash he couriered to Amsterdam was fake.
Also, surely Del would have made use of the counterfeit money one way or another. This is Del Boy we’re talking about!
At the start of the episode Del says on many occasions that he is skint.
Later he picks up the £50,000 in a locked briefcase.
When he returns THEN Boycie gives him HIS £15 Grand for the job.
So how did Del Boy afford to hire the boat and how did Albert afford to get up to Hull? When he left in the lorry the only money he supposedly had was what was locked in the briefcase.
I think your looking into it too much mate haha :) Besides Del Boy will always have some cash hidden away somewhere for times just like this – even if he did tell Boycie he was skint :)
Well if you remember, Boycie fronted up any cost to Del in order to courier the diamonds.
You will have to assume Del asked Boycie for a certain amount for train fares, boat hire fares etc.
Very true, i remember the conversation Del had with Boycie and Abdul about needing money for 2 plane tickets and they wondered why he needed 2 so Del explained that he needed to take Rodney as a diversion..
fair point, but just to note that during the brief case exchange in the back of denzel’s lorry, Del is told that he will be covered for ‘expenses’ for 2 plane tickets. Even though we never see money exchanged we can at least assume that Del received 2 plane fares worth of dosh. Since he never took the plane, that money would at least ‘help’ partly cover but maybe not completely cover alberts train fare and the boat rental.
I need name of song that plays when Del, Rodney and Albert are runnning in Holland
oh Honolulu just type oh Honolulu organ :-)
Who is the actress who plays the lady talking to Denzel in,the cafe in hull??
Rachel Bell.
Who’s Rachel?
If I could upvote or like that I would. Class!
think this actress also starred in the sitcom
‘dear john’ starring ralph bates she was the woman in
charge of the divorcees meetings.
John Challis was interviewed today ( 21/10/13) on Radio Humberside and when he was asked about “To Hull And Back ” he said all the actors stayed in Hull during the filming and a replica of The Nags head was built in a warehouse.
He also told a story about most of the actors having an all night party for a birthday thinking they had the next day off but rain interupted outside filming so they got called in work drunk.
I always have a chuckle when I pass the spot in the train station where Uncle Albert meets Del and Rodney off the train.
I would like to get hold of the song list for to hull and back (as well as the jolly boys outing)
Thanks
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Watched my old VHS 1992 re-run of this episode last night, am I right in thinking this was the first OFAH to be made in stereo? a stereo indicator appears on the BBC Christmas ident just prior to broadcast, and it actually sounds like stereo.
As THAB was feature length and made on film, I guess there is a good chance it was also made in stereo?
Nicam broadcasts didn’t really start until late 1991, so Miami Twice 1 was probably the first episode to actually be broadcast in stereo.
The final episode of the 1986 series “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was, as far as I know, the first OFAH episode to be recorded in Stereo. As the rest of this 1986 series was recorded in Mono, I assume it was recorded in Stereo to test-transmit using the NICAM Stereo broadcast system, which the BBC first began to use, initially very infrequently, from as early as 1986.
The bacon sandwich/ 32p bill issue is easily explained.
Del can be seen reaching over to take Slater’s uneaten sandwich after he and Hoskins leave (Hoskins sandwich is also clearly uneaten or at least mostly). This is further corroborated by the fact that neither Slater or Hoskins are seen physically eating. The 32p must have been the price of 2 teas (16p each, for him and Rodney) sounds about right.
As per the below, quite likely that Denzil was sat on the north side of the estuary and hence would be facing south/south-east.
Boycie knowing about Albert being on the boat can also be explained. It would’ve taken Albert at least, say, 4-5 hours to get to Hull from Peckham (factoring in travel across London, waiting for a train and then the actual journey). This would’be given Del plenty of time to ring Boycie and explain his new plan. Given that the phonecall to Albert about bringing their clothes was not shown, then equally no reason why a call from Del to Boycie should be.
It makes me laugh people who write things like how on earth could today and denzil make it to hull without a break, for petes is a comedy, not meant to be real, just watch and enjoy!
Very true. They not hurting anyone. These critics should be scientists if they wanna analyse an all time great British Comedy.
Del told Boycie that as soon as the brief case full of money was opened in the Amsterdam office, even standing a few feet away from it, he noticed right away that it was counterfeit. If he was so good why did he throw £15000 of real money from his balcony??
Only Del could be so stupid, great ending to that episode, they got two diamonds out of it though
Does anyone know the name of the song in the background when they’re in sid’s caf with slater and hoskins?
“Hit That Perfect Beat” by Bronski Beat
“In To Hull and Back, In the scene where Slater and his henchmen are checking the lorries for thieves Rodney is seen to be observing very clearly what is going. Why didn’t Slater and his gang spot the yellow van ? Rodney responds facially when Slater homes in on Denzil’s lorry so how on earth did Slater miss it ! To top it all in the next scene Slater says he went looking for Del’s van and it was missing!”
My guess is Slater did see the van and perhaps even guessed Del was in the van and that it was connected. As did Hoskins. However Slater needed to deal to go down so he could get the diamonds for himself while Hoskins needed the deal to go down so he could catch Slater red handed. The later scene where the can is reported as missing can be seen as Slater testing Hoskins and Hoskins not letting on how much he knows. In fact by that point they probably both know that Del is the courier but neither wants to let on.
Quote:In To Hull and Back, When denzil sees the trotters on the start off there sea journey he is sat on the east coast and the boat is traveling north. holland is to the south!. Unquote
Denzil is actually sat on the banks of the Humber Estuary in which case the boat would be travelling right to left to get to Holland
Do you mean ‘Spys like Us’ by Paul McCartney. Thats playing in the pub
i’m also very intersted what is the name of that song in the pub??
Sounds Like an Elton John song to me
Does anyone know the song playing in the pub at the very beginning of the episode?
Hi Mate,
Its a song called ‘restless’ by Elton John.
Hope that helps.
The very 1st track in the pub is Paul McCartney & wings – My Carnival, Elton John – Restless is the 2nd track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlpRpz4YAkQ
Many of the outside scenes were shot in Amsterdam.