Dates (Only Fools and Horses)

Dates is the seventh Christmas special episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 1988.

Synopsis

The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently, and Albert's 68th birthday is coming up, though Del Boy and Rodney pretend to have forgotten. Meanwhile, after being impressed by a girl Trigger had met through a local dating agency, Del himself decides to sign up for it. Calling himself Derek Duvall, managing director of a successful import and export business, he meets an aspiring actress named Raquel Turner. The two get on well and agree to meet again. Del asks Raquel to join him at Albert's upcoming birthday party, but she declines, citing an acting class she has to attend. Rodney also arranges a date, with Nag's Head barmaid, Nervous Nerys, but whilst driving they are pursued by a gang of punks, which leads to a high-speed chase. They race past two police officers, who vow to apprehend the driver of the yellow, three-wheeled van. For the entertainment at Albert's party, it emerges that Del has hired a stripper, who turns out to be Raquel. The two recognise each other, and, humiliated, Del storms out of the pub and tells Raquel he doesn't want to see her again before changing his mind again. Raquel tells him that she plans to go and work in the Middle East, and that if he is still interested in her, he should visit her before the flight leaves. Del plans to go, but by rotten luck, is the first person to be asked by the two police officers if his name is Trotter. Mistaking the female police officer to be a stripper, Del rips her shirt off, and is arrested solely for owning the yellow van with the policewoman famously saying 'Nick him!',after Del also sees the damaged Police car(Metro). Heartbroken, Raquel leaves for the Middle East just as Del is taken into custody.

First appearances

• Raquel Turner

Trivia

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• This episode won a BAFTA "Best Comedy" Award in March 1989.
• At the Hilton, Raquel mentions having a line in Doctor Who. Ironic, because the waiter in that scene is played by Nicholas Courtney, who played Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in Doctor Who.
• According to The A-Z of Only Fools and Horses, this is John Sullivan's personal favourite episode.

External links

• "Dates" at bbc.co.uk