The episode in which Del and Rodney go out on the pull. First broadcast 15 September 1981.
Del visits Boycie's used car lot and spots a decidedly worse-for-wear Ford Cortina that the latter got in a part-exchange deal. Boycie lets Del have it for £25, on condition that he looks after his Jaguar E-Type for a week. Back on the estate, Del ups the price of the Cortina to £199 and sells it to an Australian.
With cash in their pockets, a Jag to drive, and both of them single, Del and Rodney head "Up West" (ie. to Central London) for a night on the tiles. The Trotters' night out doesn't start too well, as the first place they go to turns out to be a gay bar, which Del only realises when he tries to chat up two women who actually turn out to be transvestites.
One quick change of venue later, their luck changes in the form of Nicky and Michelle, two attractive young ladies who they manage to chat up and persuade them to write their telephone numbers on Del's cigar pack, with the promise of a date next Friday.
On their way home, Rodney accidentally throws the cigar pack out of the window, and when Del makes an emergency stop, a car smashes into the back of Boycie's pristine E-Type. Of course, the car responsible for writing-off the Jag is none other than the clapped out Cortina, and the Aussie is none too happy...
Tropes:
- The Alleged Car: Put it this way ... you wouldn't want to be anywhere near that Cortina when it's on the move. For one thing, the brakes don't work.
- Blatant Lies: When trying to chat up Nicky and Michelle, Del claims that Rodney's a top tennis player who recently beat "Jimmy Connelly" (presumably Jimmy Conners) in the "Miami Open". Which was played indoors.
- Camp Gay: The waiter at the gay bar, which is the first giveaway that it is a gay bar.
- Catchphrase: This is the first episode in which Del says that this time next year, they'll be millionaires.
- Comically Missing the Point: Rodney, when trying to play along with Del's chat-up line about him being an international tennis player.Michelle: What do you prefer? Astroturf or grass?Rodney: [distracted] What? Oh, I don't know; I've never smoked astroturf.
- Gay Bar Reveal: Del and Rodney go to a wine bar, and while Rodney has his drink, Del tries to chat up two characters in dresses we only see from the back. He quickly returns.Del: Drink up, we're leaving.Rodney: Yeah? Are they a couple of ravers?Del: No, a couple of geezers!
- Honest John's Dealership: This episode marks the first appearance of Boycie, whose used car dealership exemplifies this trope.
- The Precious, Precious Car: Del borrows Boycie's Jaguar E-Type (for various reasons), and just when he decides to stop in the road at the end of the episode, the car gets crashed into by a dodgy car with no brakes Del had sold to an Australian guy earlier in the episode.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: Del, when doing a little poem in a fake Australian accent about an Australian he managed to sell The Alleged Car to:Del: As I was walking through Earl's Court,
Into a pub I was lured,
Where a nosy Pom said "Where you from?"
As I drank the amber fluid.
I said "Get it straight, I'm an Aussie, mate,
And I'm fixing to get plastered.
But the beer is crook, and the birds all look
Like you, you Pommy ... [gives Grandad his share of the money] Grandad. - Take That!: A waiter insults Del Boy's drink order by saying that Reg Varney drank the same thing in Holiday on the Buses.
