From Prussia With Love

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Only Fools and Horses episode
"From Prussia With Love"
Series 5
Writer John Sullivan
Director Mandie Fletcher
Producer Ray Butt
Duration 30 minutes
Airdate 31 August 1986
Audience 12.1 million

From Prussia With Love is an episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was the first episode of series 5, and was first screened on 31 August 1986.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

During another night at the Nag's Head, Del Boy, Rodney, and Albert meet a frightened 19-year old German girl who tells them that she has been in England for a year working as an au pair for another family called the Wainwrights, until they threw her out. While Del and Albert head off home, the girl introduces herself to Rodney as Anna. Rodney then gets a big surprise when he discovers that Anna is pregnant.

Back at Nelson Mandela House, as Del is talking to a customer on his new Nomad mobile telephone (which is faulty), Rodney enters with Anna, leaving Del open-mouthed at the sight of her pregnant state. When Albert asks her who got her pregnant, Anna explains that the Wainwright family's son Spencer, a college student, got Anna pregnant during a party. He then told her not to tell his parents that he is the father. But earlier that morning, Anna told them, and they threw her out, as well as give her some money for a flight back to Germany, but Anna doesn't want to bring her baby with her, so she'll give it to a loving family when it is born. As Rodney takes Anna to bed, Del tells Albert that Boycie and Marlene have dreamed of having a child for years but never had any luck. Suddenly, Del gets an idea in order to solve everyone's problems.

The next day, at Boycie's house, while Rodney plays with Duke the dog, Del tells Boycie and Marlene that he help get them a baby, proves that Anna's baby is a boy by showing them a scan, as well as remind Boycie that he will need an heir to his car business empire. When Rodney enters the house, he is outraged to hear that Boycie and Marlene want to adopt Anna's baby, and Del will get £3,000 in return.

A few days later, back at the flat, Rodney is still angry about Del's plan, but Albert reminds him that Anna gets her baby adopted by a loving family, Marlene gets the child she's always wanted, and Del Boy gets £3,000, and will also give Anna £300 to take home to Germany with her. Suddenly, Anna goes into labour, and the Trotters scramble to get Anna to the hospital.

A week later, Marlene and Boycie are waiting in the lounge with Del until Rodney and Albert return with Anna and her baby. Just then, Rodney and Albert (shortly followed by Anna and her newborn child) tell Del the bad news that Anna actually gave birth to a baby girl, which she has also fallen in love with and wants to keep. As Anna and the Trotters enter the lounge, Del introduces Boycie and Marlene to Anna, who runs off to the bedrooms crying. Del comes clean by explaining to Boycie that it's not a baby boy, but a baby girl, yet Marlene still wants to take the baby. When Rodney and Albert cast angry looks at Del for making them flog Anna's baby, Boycie cancels the deal when he looks at the baby girl, who is revealed to West Indian! Rodney explains to Del that he tried to tell him that Spencer's parents came over to London in 1956 from the West Indies. Boycie and Marlene both exit disappointed, and Del tries to cheer up the baby.

[edit] Episode cast

Actor Role
David Jason Del Boy
Nicholas Lyndhurst Rodney
Buster Merryfield Uncle Albert
John Challis Boycie
Sue Holderness Marlene
Kenneth MacDonald Mike
Nula Conwell Maureen
Erika Hoffman Anna

[edit] Quotes

  • Boycie: [to Marlene, upon finding out that Anna's baby is a girl, not a boy as Del had promised] Everything you buy off him has something missing!
  • Boycie: [to Marlene, upon finding out that Anna's baby is black and that Marlene still wants to keep it] I may be able to con people into buying my cars. I may be able to convince them that you conceived and gave birth in seven days flat but how the hell am I gonna persuade them that my Grandad was Louis Armstrong.

[edit] Production

This episode (in which the original script featured Grandad instead of Albert) was originally meant to be part of the fourth season, but had to be postponed due to Lennard Pearce's death.[1]

[edit] Errors

Towards the end of the episode, Del is meant to say to Boycie about Anna's baby: "I know what I told you about it being a boy, but it ain't!" However, he actually says "I know what I told you about it being a girl, but it ain't!", when of course it is.

[edit] External links

Preceded by
To Hull and Back
Only Fools and Horses
31 August 1986
Succeeded by
The Miracle of Peckham