Mother Nature's Son (Only Fools and Horses)
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| Only Fools and Horses episode | |
| "Mother Nature's Son" | |
| Series | Christmas Special |
|---|---|
| Writer | John Sullivan |
| Director | Tony Dow |
| Producer | Gareth Gwenlan |
| Duration | 65 minutes |
| Airdate | 25 December 1992 |
| Audience | 20.1 million |
Mother Nature's Son is a Christmas special episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 25 December 1992.
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[edit] Synopsis
It is the biggest Christmas party at the Nag's Head, and the entire Trotter family and all their friends are having the time of their lives - at least until Rodney holds little Damien up to a mirror to find that he has no reflection.
Rodney wakes up in a cold sweat back in his own bed with Cassandra at 7:00am, and tells her about how he and Del Boy haven't flogged a single thing in months.
At Nelson Mandela House, Raquel asks Del to remove all of his hooky gear from Damien's room. After telling Rodney that he has bought the flat off the council, Del suggests taking all the hooky gear to Grandad's allotment.
When they get to Grandad's allotment, the Trotters discover drums filled with an unknown yellow substance. Trigger shows up to examine, but he can't make heads nor tails about it either. Del decides that he, Trigger, and Denzil get rid of the yellow liquid and send it to the council depot, and wears a diving suit that was originally bought to sell on to a Yuppy type as according to Del "they're all into diving" (it was also a present for Albert so he could visit all the ships he sailed on - and sank).
After getting rid of the yellow liquid by dumping it in a river, Del follows Rodney to an organic health food shop run by a nature lover named Myles. Del suddenly develops a green thumb and decides to grow some vegetables for his family.
Back at Grandad's allotment, the Trotters, now dressed completely like extras from Emmerdale, show Myles a mysterious watering hole called the "Peckham Spring". After tasting the water, Myles gives Del the green light to sell the water to the public.
Three weeks later, the Trotters are filling up bottles of Peckham Spring Water from the tap in Del's kitchen. Rodney is completely paranoid that they will be caught sometime, but Del just shrugs it off.
As a result of selling public water to the public, the Trotters get an enormous sum of money, enough for a weekend in Brighton.
A few nights later, Del, Raquel, Damien, Rodney, and Cassandra arrive at the Grand Hotel in Brighton and get all settled in for a weekend to remember.
Later, with Damien fast asleep, Del and Raquel, and Rodney and Cassandra all get into bed and make out. Meanwhile, a report on the BBC news shows that the London river has been contaminated by the same yellow liquid that Del got rid of. As Del switches off his bedside lamp, his bottle of Peckham Spring glows an eerie yellow.
[edit] Episode cast
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[edit] Trivia
- Debate continues as to whether or not Robbie Williams appears as an extra in a scene in the Nag’s Head during this episode, this strong rumour is fuelled further as the music playing in the background is a Take That track.
- The idea for the script was based on a real-life incident where people had their water supply closed as something had been dumped in a nearby reservoir.
- This episode was featured heavily in the media for a time after Coca Cola imitated the plot with its Dasani product - bottled water which was found to have been tap water from Kent. In a further irony given Del's dumping of the unknown barrels into the reservoir, levels of chemicals above legally permitted limits were discovered to be present in Dansani water.
- In the scene where the Trotters check in to the hotel in Brighton, the porter is carrying Del Boy's leopard skin suitcase. This however, is the same suitcase that was stolen previously in "Miami Twice".
- One of the very few episodes to have a post-productional visual effect - The glowing of the contaminated water & substance on Trigger and Denzil's hands.
[edit] Errors
- At the start of the episode where Rodney is having his dream, when he is holding Damien in his arms, it shows the reflection. Rodney is holding his arms the wrong way.
- After Del makes his bacon sandwich while talking with Rodney about his problem, Albert enters the kitchen, face covered in Weetabix, picks up the sandwich, but he doesn't eat it.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Miami Twice (part two) |
Only Fools and Horses 25 December 1992 |
Succeeded by Fatal Extraction |
