The stripper episode, in which Del meets Raquel. First broadcast 25 December 1988.
The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently, and Uncle Albert's birthday is upcoming, although Del and Rodney pretend to have forgotten about it. Meanwhile, after seeing a girl Trigger has met through a local dating agency, Del also decides to sign up. Styling himself as "Derek Duvall", managing director of a successful import and export business, he meets a struggling actress called Raquel Turner. The two form a bond and agree to meet again. Del asks Raquel to join him at Albert's birthday party, but she declines, saying she has to attend an acting class.
Rodney, meanwhile, arranges a date with Nerys, the new barmaid at the Nag's Head. However, he is convinced by Mickey and Jevon that Nerys likes "macho" men — so he picks her up wearing a leather jacket and acting aloof. An encounter with a gang of punks subsequently leads to a high-speed car chase, which leaves Nerys utterly terrified. During the chase, Rodney races past a police car at a set of temporary traffic signals. The two officers vow to apprehend the driver of the "yellow, three-wheeled van".
As a surprise for Albert's party, Del has hired a stripper to come dressed as a WRNS note officer, ostensibly there to arrest Albert for dereliction of duty regarding a wartime incident, but the mood turns sour when she turns out to be Raquel. Hurt, Del storms out of the pub before accusing Raquel of lying about what she does for a living and telling her he no longer wants to see her; for her part, she calls him out on the many lies he told on their date. Del soon regrets his actions, but Raquel tells him that she's received an offer to work in the Middle East, and that if he wants her to stay, he should visit her before the flight leaves.
Del plans to meet her, but while at the Nag's Head he is approached by the two police officers who are still looking for the owner of the yellow van. Believing the female officer to be a stripper hired by Albert as a joke, Del rips her shirt off — only to realise his mistake as he is arrested. Dispirited, Raquel leaves for the Middle East just as Del is taken into custody.
Tropes:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Implied; Mickey and Jevon manage to convince Rodney that Nerys, the barmaid at the Nag's Head who he's convinced to go on a date with him, likes bad boys. He therefore dresses like the Fonz and acts like James Dean, only to terrify her to the point of tears when they get chased in the van.
- Alliterative Name: When he joins a dating agency, Del calls himself "Derek Duvall".
- Ambiguous Ending: We don't know what the outcome of Del's arrest is, as it is not referred to in "Yuppy Love" (the next episode).
- Blatant Lies: Pretty much everything Del says to Raquel on their first date. She calls him out on it when he accuses her of lying to him about being a stripper.
- Celebrity Paradox: On her date with Del, Raquel mentions that she had a bit-part in Doctor Who several years earlier. In that scene, the waiter is played by Nicholas Courtney, best known for being The Brigadier.
- Downer Ending: Raquel leaves the option open for Del to see her again — if he phones her before she has to leave for a theatre company's Middle Eastern tour, she will stay at home. Unfortunately, Del is arrested after mistaking a policewoman for a stripper and is unable to make the call, so Raquel thinks he's decided against continuing their friendship and leaves for the Middle East.
- Drives Like Crazy: Rodney really puts the van through its paces in this episode.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Well, stripper in Raquel's case. She wants to be an actress, but in between parts in plays in small theatres she can only get not-real-acting jobs like stripping in order to pay the bills. Despite the initial lies on both sides, the attraction between her and Del is clearly mutual.
- Mistaken for an Imposter: Not realising that Rodney had attracted the attention of the police thanks to his erratic driving, Del assumes that the policewoman who comes to the Nag's Head to question him (the vehicle's registered owner) about it is a stripper hired by Albert in revenge, and begins to pull her clothes off. He is arrested for assaulting the police.
- Mistaken for Prank Call: A variant. Del has earlier pranked Albert with a stripper; even though it went badly for him as the stripper turned out to be Raquel, he's expecting some kind of retaliation. When he encounters a policewoman who wants to ask him about something he knows nothing about, he automatically assumes that the prank is being repaid. When he tries to assist the "stripper" to undress, a definite Oh, Crap! moment results...
- Oh, Crap!: Del has one of these when he realises that the policewoman is not a stripper ... after he's ripped her shirt open.
- Retool: Happens from this point on. Prior to this episode, the series had focused almost exclusively on Del's get-rich-quick schemes, but in subsequent episodes the show would start to involve Del and Rodney's personal lives much more, aided by the episodes being increased in length. There were also several changes in the show's behind-the-scenes personnel, as well as the set for the Nag's Head (which had remained mostly the same with minor modifications since the start of the series) getting a complete redesign.
- Stripper/Cop Confusion: Played both ways. Two Royal Navy officers interrupt Albert's birthday party in the Nag's Head, ostensibly to arrest him for dereliction of duty with regards to the sinking of one of his old ships, but it turns out that the female officer is a stripper Del has hired for him (and who is quickly revealed to be Raquel). Later on, two police officers turn up at the Nag's Head to question Del over an earlier instance of dangerous driving (which was actually done by Rodney, but Del is the van's registered owner). Thinking that Albert has hired a stripper for him in retaliation for the earlier incident, Del impatiently rips the female officer's shirt open. He realizes his mistake too late when he catches sight of the squad car outside, and is promptly arrested.
