Who Wants to be a Millionaire Episode Review
Brief: Delboy gets the chance to make a new start (and to become a millionaire) in Australia -fronting Jumbo Mill’s used car business. This was originally planned to be the last episode with Del leaving to go to Australia.
Transmitted: 05.10.1986
Duration: 30 minutes
Viewing Figures: 18.8 million
Del’s old business partner from the 1960s, Jumbo Mills, returns to the UK shores to strike a deal with Boycie, and ends up rubbing everyone up the wrong way in The Nag’s Head.
Jumbo has made himself rich Down Under, after leaving rainy London for Australia with Del Boy’s last £200. In an attempt to pay back this debt ‘with interest’, Jumbo asks Del to become the new face of his new import business – but it means a move to Australia for the Trotter family.
After making sure Rodney and Albert have a place in Oz, Del Boy agrees to join Jumbo’s firm, but things don’t go as smoothly as that. Tired of wandering the globe, Albert decides he wants to end his days in Peckham, and it looks like Rodney’s criminal record has put paid to his dream trip.
Regardless of this, Del still seems keen to go, but when he picks up the phone to confirm the plan to Jumbo, he politely turns him down – reluctantly admitting that blood is thicker than water.
Episode Observations
- In Who wants to be a Millionaire, Dels old Ozzie pal Jumbo Mills is played by actor Nick Stringer, yet the Osier Del sells the car to in “Go West Young Man” , is the same actor but different character.
- In Who wants to be a Millionaire, when Del and Jumbo come into the Nags Head to discuss business Del asks Mike for an Australian lager for Jumbo. Mike lists other Non-British lagers as a choice. When Jumbo says he’ll have one of them Mike produces a Pint like a magician, certainly no time to of poured a pint.
- In Who wants to be a Millionaire, When Del sits Rodney down to explain why they’re going to Australia, Rodney asks: “Does he want to help him run his new car business?” Yet there is nothing previously in the episode at all which suggests that Rodney should know that Jumbo is going into the motor trade.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire Script
The script will be downloadable from here
Did You Know?
The idea for the script was written for David Jason as an ending of Delboy, leaving Rodney and Mickey to continue as traders. The ending shows David Jason change his mind.
This was due to be the last only fools and horses, with a spin-off series planned with Rodney and MickeyPearce taking over the company known as Hot-Rod.
Clearly the only reason Del decided to stay was for Rodney. On all other counts, going to Australia would have been the best decision for Del. But Rodney threw one hell of a tantrum when Del considered going to Australia without him and this was when Del realized how important their partnership was for Rodney.
Rodney acted in a completely unreasonable manner in this episode. He needs to decide between one of two options:
1.Rodney is a mature, grown-up person who can take care of himself and stand on his own two feet without Del holding his hand.
2.Rodney is still a kid and needs Del to hold his hand and support him.
He doesn’t choose between option #1 and option #2, but rather he picks either one when it is convenient for him. He wants to have his cake and eat it too.
When Del wants to go to Australia, Rodney chooses option #2 and gets angry at Del for even considering leaving him behind.
But when it suits his convenience, Rodney also chooses option #1. He frequently claims that Del is holding him back and that if it weren’t for him, Rodney would be doing much better with his life. Rodders even attempted more than once to break up the partnership and start something on his own back in “Healthy Competition”.
Rodney ultimately needs to choose between one of the two options rather than wavering between the two to suit his present convenience.
On the other side of the coin, I believe Rodney’s reaction stems from the complexity of the sibling relationship. While Del and Rodney are frequently at each other’s throats throughout the series like many brothers, it is always evident that they share a strong brotherly bond.
The fact that Rodney was devastated at the prospect of he and Del being thousands of miles apart merely proves how strong that bond actually is.
Finally, another thing I ought to bring up is that it’s Del’s business “brilliance” that always kept the Trotters going. Lots of people think Rodney couldn’t make it on his own because he’d never been taught how to be independent.
Del might’ve sent him the money from Oz, but things could’ve just as well gone wrong. He couldn’t risk it and leave Rodney helpless if something had happened to him. After all Del did promise their mum he’d look after Rodders.
I don’t know if many other people have noticed this, but the episode “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” was recorded in Stereo. As all other episodes in this 1986 series were recorded in Mono, and 1986 is the year when the BBC first began to transmit the odd Stereo programme using the NICAM Stereo broadcast system, I assume the reason they decided to record this final episode of the series in Stereo was simply in order to broadcast it using the NICAM Stereo system, for test purposes.
Actually, Rodney would have known about Jumbo’s car business because in the Nag’s Head, as Jumbo is going to the toilet to adjust his wig, Del stops him with Rodney and Albert in company, and this is when he mentions what he does, therefore it’s possible.
In Who wants to be a Millionaire, the script was written with a view of being the last OFAH involving Delboy, a new series with just Rodney would be made with “HotRod” being the suggested name.