The movie episode. First broadcast 28 September 1986.
Rodney's art class is given a £10,000 grant to make a film spotlighting the local community, but first he has to avoid the scheming intentions of Mickey Pearce and Del Boy.
Whilst Rodders suffers from writer's block, Del provides him with inspiration and a tale of a killer rhinocerous escaping from London Zoo and laying waste to innocent victims on the streets of the city. Rodney immediately points out the many flaws in the logic behind the plot, and Del leaves him to it. But without telling Rodney, Del has already arranged for Mickey to head down to the town hall to film different couples' weddings at £50 a time — and he has also managed to persuade half the neighbourhood to pay £10 for the opportunity of becoming an movie extra.
To make things worse, Mickey arranges for a stripper to pop round the Trotters' flat in a nurse's uniform and begin filming a blue movie called Night Nurse, which is due for its premiere in the back room of the Nag's Head. When he sees it, Del is disgusted to see Rodney in the film, he having been accidentally caught on camera. Rodney denies all knowledge of what Mickey was up to, and Del learns that Night Nurse was made for Boycie's new dirty movie business which has financial backing from the feared Driscoll brothers. As Del tries to flush the Night Nurse tape down the toilet, Rodney then gets a telephone call from his art teacher, who isn't overly impressed with Rodney's idea, but is willing to try to film it anyway. Rodney then says that his brother knows where there's a rhino going cheap...
Tropes:
- The Butler Did It: Invoked by Rodney when he mocks Del's suggestion that There's a Rhino Loose in the City could be a whodunit:Rodney: A rhinoceros has escaped from the zoo, there's 300 dead bodies covered in rhinoceros footprints, a lock up garage 2 1/2 foot deep in rhinoceros crap and Charlton Heston suspects the butler!
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Del's idea for a film; There's a Rhino Loose in the City. His explanation of the plot, unsurprisingly, makes no sense whatsoever, and by the end, There's a Rhino Loose Out in the Sticks Where No Sod Lives better describes it.
- Hypothetical Casting: In-Universe. Del describes the private detective main character of There's a Rhino Loose in the City as a "Charlton Heston-type geezer".
- London Gangster: The Driscoll brothers are mentioned for the first time, although they won't make an appearance until "Little Problems".
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Mickey Pearce invites himself and a few friends round to Nelson Mandela House, presumably to film another dirty movie in the flat, only to find an irate Del waiting for them.Mickey Pearce: Oh my God, get out! [Mickey and his cohorts run for it]Del Boy: [in pursuit] Come here!
- Oh, Crap!: Subverted. Del asks Rodney if he's heard of the Driscoll Brothers. Rodney makes a panicky face, then replies "No".
- Rhino Rampage: Rodney is trying to come up with an idea for a feature film. Del suggests There's a Rhino Loose in the City. Once the sheer implausibility of this is explored (How do you lose a rhino and not notice? Where would it hide? And what is it doing in the city?), a deflated Del sarcastically suggests that they change the title to There's a Rhino Loose out in the Sticks Where No Sod Lives.
