Dates (Only Fools and Horses)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Only Fools and Horses episode
"Dates"
Series	Christmas Special
Writer	John Sullivan
Director	Ray Butt
Producer	-
Duration	-
Airdate	25 December 1988
Audience	16.6 million

Dates is the seventh Christmas special episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 1988.

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently, and Albert's 68th birthday is coming up, though Del and Rodney pretend to have forgotten. Meanwhile, after being impressed by a girl Trigger had met through a local dating agency, Del himself decides to sign up for it. Calling himself Derek Duvall, managing director of a successful import and export business, he meets an aspiring actress named Raquel Turner. The two get on well and agree to meet again. Del asks Raquel to join him at Albert's upcoming birthday party, but she declines, citing an acting class she has to attend.

Rodney also arranges a date, with Nag's Head barmaid, Nervous Nerys, but whilst driving they are pursued by a gang of punks, which leads to a high-speed chase. They race past a policeman and woman, who vow to apprehend the driver of the yellow, three-wheeled van.

For the entertainment at Albert's party, it emerges that Del has hired a stripper, who turns out to be Raquel. The two recognise each other, and, humiliated, Del storms out of the pub and tells Raquel he doesn't want to see her again before changing his mind again. Raquel tells him that she plans to go and work in the Middle East, and that if he is still interested in her, he should visit her before the flight leaves. Del plans to go, but by rotten luck, is the first person to be asked by the two policemen if his name is Trotter. Mistaking the policewoman to be a stripper, Del rips her shirt off, and is arrested solely for owning the yellow van.

Heartbroken, Raquel leaves for the Middle East just as Del is taken into custody.