Yuppy Love

"Yuppy Love" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses. It originally aired on 8 January 1989 and is the first episode of series six, marking the start of the increase in running time from thirty minutes to fifty minutes per episode.

Synopsis

Having seen and been strongly influenced by the film Wall Street, especially its lead character, the ruthless corporate high-flyer Gordon Gekko, Del Boy has decided to adopt a new "yuppy" image, donning a striped shirt and red braces, and carrying a filofax and a silver briefcase. Rodney in turn has joined an evening computer class in an attempt to earn a diploma and finally get a proper job. There he meets and is attracted to Cassandra Parry. He later meets her again at a nightclub, where she offers to give him a lift home. She first drives to her house and Rodney feels upstaged by Cassandra's luxurious lifestyle. Embarrassed at the thought of Cassandra seeing their council flat in Nelson Mandela House, Rodney instead leads her to The King's Avenue, an expensive and very up-market road, implying that he lives there and has to stand in the driveway, being seen by the homeowners. Despite soon finding out that he actually doesn't Cassandra still phones and agrees to meet Rodney again.

"Falling Through The Bar", scene

The episode features a now-famous British comedy scene;^[1] Del, leaning against a bar flap in a local bistro, moves away from it and then leans back again, unaware that the bartender has just lifted it up, and he promptly falls straight down, and Trigger does a double-take when he looks around and Del has "disappeared". On 21 December 2006, this scene was nominated in the UKTV Gold Top 40 Greatest Only Fools Moments, and subsequently voted the most popular scene of the entire programme.^[2] It was also named 7th Greatest Television Moment of all time in a 1999 Channel 4 poll, beating the likes of JFK's assassination, the Queen's coronation and Winston Churchill's funeral.^[3] In 2008, Empire placed Only Fools and Horses 42nd their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and cited "Yuppy Love" as the show's best episode.^[4]

The scene was parodied in an episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle.

Episode cast

First appearances

• Cassandra Parry

Episode concept

• The new image for Del Boy was based on Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street (Rodney mentions that his brother saw the film six times), as part of the yuppy movement that was popular at the time. The episode also introduces Cassandra into the series.^[5]
• The episode title is a pun on the popular song and saying, Puppy Love.

Music

• The Funky Worm: The Spell! (Get Down With The Genie)
• Errol Brown: Love Goes Up And Down
• The Pasadenas: Enchanted Lady
• Chris de Burgh: Lady In Red
• Al Bowlly & Ray Noble: Makin' Wickey Wackey Down in Waikiki

Note: "The Spell! (Get Down With The Genie)" and "Enchanted Lady" are removed on the VHS, DVD and iTunes versions and over-dubbed with generic music, leading the some scenes of dialogue being removed.

Notes

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Yuppy Love

• "Yuppy Love" at TV.com
• "Yuppy Love" at BBC Online
• "Yuppy Love" at BBC Programmes
• "Yuppy Love" at the Internet Movie Database