 |
| "Five Gold Rings" | |
|---|---|
| Rock & Chips episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | Dewi Humphries |
| Written by | John Sullivan |
| Original air date | 29 December 2010 |
"Five Gold Rings" is the second episode of the Rock & Chips trilogy and the series' only Christmas Special. It was first aired on 29 December 2010.
A few weeks following the birth of Rodney, Del Boy and the rest of his gang (Boycie, Trigger, Jumbo, Albie and Denzil) have left school. Del and Jumbo now work as market traders selling American records, while Boycie works as a cleaner for a Spanish second-hand car dealer, Alberto Balsam. Del's mother, Joan, had been fired from her job at the cinema following her pregnancy, but is now applying to get it back, and she has hired Grandad's wife, Violet, to babysit Rodney while she and Del are out, much to Grandad's chagrin. Joan, however, still misses her old lover, Freddie "The Frog" Robdal, the local gentleman villain and Rodney's real father, unknown to Reg and the rest of the family.
Robdal, meanwhile, has been detained along with his friend, Gerald "Jelly" Kelly, on the suspicion for robbing the jewellery store in Margate during the "Jolly Boys' Outing" with Del and the others, by the crooked DI Thomas and DC Stanton. Robdal and Kelly stand their ground, staunchly refusing to admit their guilt. Their lawyer arranges bail, and Thomas attempts to have it overturned, but is refused when the judge is revealed to be an old war friend of Robdal and Kelly. Robdal pays a visit to The Nag's Head and speaks with the bartender, whom he suspects of grassing him and Kelly to the police.
While in a bar with the others, Del tells them of his new plan to "break his cherry": following advice from Alberto, Del has acquired five rings made by the father of his friend, Abdul Khan, although they are merely made of gold-plated metal and glass, not gold and diamonds, and he will use them to get "engaged" to any girl he fancies. Whilst out selling records with the others, Del gets engaged to a former crush, Amita, who also appears to take a shine to Del. Not long after, Del and Jumbo are arrested by their old enemy, Roy Slater, who has now left school and become a police cadet. Although they show the receipts to Sergeant Foster, he sees through their farce by noticing "Memphis" misspelled on the receipt, meaning that they fabricated the receipts with their own printing material. Despite this, Foster lets them go on the condition that he keep the records for himself, unaware that Del has loads more stored in his garage. Around the same time, Del also gets engaged to another girl, Gwen, and she invites him to dinner.
Robdal finds Joan in a coffee shop and offers her financial help, but she declines, afraid of what Reg will do if he finds out about their affair and asks Robdal to stay away from her. One night, after Joan dyes her hair brown to resemble Elizabeth Taylor, Reg tells Joan of a job he was offered by "a certain contact" who was looking for a charlady for £30 a week. The contact happens to be Robdal, who did this as a way of getting closer to Joan. During an argument, Joan accuses Robdal of playing the same mind games as Reg, hurting Robdal greatly, and he goes on to point out the major differences between himself and Reg, including his feelings for Joan. As Freddie prepares to head out, Joan runs up and kisses him, and they resume their affair.
Del, while at Gwen's house, makes a fool of himself by telling Gwen's family a rude (but misunderstood) French phrase which Joan learned from Robdal, and the engagement is off. At the same time, Amita comes to Del's flat, looking for him, and Del arrives shortly after, with Joan secretly chastising Del for his promiscuity. Comically, Reg and Violet fail to pronounce Amita's name properly and keep calling her "Anita".
However, Del's engagement to Amita is also ended when Amita takes a trip to Pakistan with her father and learns that Del bought five glass rings from Abdul's father. Heartbroken, Amita admits that she liked Del, and returns the ring to him. Del confides to Trigger of his plans to give up on the rings and find love "the normal way", but reverts to the rings upon seeing another beautiful girl put off by Trigger's naïveté.
At the flat, with Del, Reg, and Grandad out at a New Year's party at the Nag's Head, Robdal pays Joan a visit and sees his son for the first time, holding baby Rodney in his arms.
Only Fools and Horses.... is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until the end of the show in 2003. Set in working-class Peckham in south-east London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney Trotter, alongside a supporting cast. The series follows the Trotters' highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television Awards and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason. It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.
Derek Edward Trotter, more commonly known as Del Boy, is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its spinoff series, Rock & Chips. He was played by David Jason in the original series and was portrayed as a teenager by James Buckley in the prequel. Del Boy is often regarded as one of the greatest comedy characters in the history of British television, and is regarded as an iconic character in British culture. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4 Del Boy was ranked fourth on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Edward Kitchener "Ted" Trotter, better known as Grandad, is a fictional character who was one of the original leads of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He appeared in the show's first three series, played by Lennard Pearce. The character is grandfather to Del Boy and Rodney Trotter. Pearce's death in December 1984 was written into the series with the death of Grandad. His place was taken by Uncle Albert.
Colin Ball, more commonly known as Trigger, is a fictional character in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its prequel Rock & Chips. He was played by Roger Lloyd-Pack in Only Fools and Horses and Lewis Osbourne in Rock & Chips.
Rodney Charlton Trotter is a fictional character in the long running BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst.
"Thicker than Water" is the third Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, broadcast on 25 December 1983, and is the first to be screened on Christmas Day.
"The Frog's Legacy" is the sixth Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 25 December 1987. In the episode, the Trotters search for the hidden gold legacy of Freddie "The Frog" Robdal, an old friend of their mother's.
"Strained Relations" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the second episode of series 4, and was first screened on 28 February 1985.
"The Second Time Around" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fourth episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 29 September 1981. In the episode, an old fiancée of Del's returns and they rekindle their relationship, to Rodney and Grandad's horror.
"May the Force Be with You" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 3, and was first screened on 8 December 1983. In the episode, the despised DCI Roy Slater returns to Peckham and arrests the Trotters for stealing a microwave.
"Time on Our Hands" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. First screened on 29 December 1996, it was the final episode of that year's Christmas trilogy and the fifteenth Christmas special overall. It attracted a television audience of 24.3 million, a record for a British sitcom. In the episode, the Trotters finally become millionaires. It had initially been intended to be the series finale, but creator John Sullivan wrote three more specials that were screened annually between 2001 and 2003, starting with "If They Could See Us Now".
"A Losing Streak" is the third episode of series 2 of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was first broadcast on 4 November 1982. In the episode, Del Boy plays a high-stakes game of poker with Boycie. Also, this is the only episode in the series in which Boycie serves as an antagonist.
"The Yellow Peril" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 2, and was first screened on 18 November 1982. In the episode, Del buys a consignment of yellow paint which, unknown to him, is actually luminous, a fact he only discovers when they use it to decorate a Chinese restaurant.
"Go West Young Man" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the second episode of series 1, and was first screened on 15 September 1981. This was the lowest rated episode of the entire series, with only 6.1 million viewers. In the episode, Del sells a faulty car to an Australian man.
"Sleepless in Peckham...!" is the final episode of BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was first screened on 25 December 2003 as the third and final part of the early 2000s Christmas trilogy, and as the eighteenth and final Christmas special. It was the last Only Fools and Horses-related episode until the Sport Relief special in March 2014.
"A Slow Bus to Chingford" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 6 October 1981. In the episode, Del acquires an old double decker bus and decides to give tours around London.
"Wanted" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the sixth episode of series 3, and was first broadcast on 15 December 1983. In the episode, after an incident with a local woman, Del Boy pretends that Rodney had been dubbed the 'Peckham pouncer' and is being hunted by the police, so Rodney goes on the run.
Rock & Chips is a British television comedy-drama miniseries and a prequel to the sitcom Only Fools and Horses. The show is set in Peckham, southeast London, during the early 1960s, focusing primarily on the lives of Del Trotter, Freddie Robdal and Joan and Reg Trotter. Nicholas Lyndhurst, who played Rodney in Only Fools and Horses, plays Robdal alongside James Buckley, Kellie Bright (Joan), Shaun Dingwall (Reg) and Phil Daniels (Grandad). The Shazam and BBC Studios Comedy Drama co-production was written by Only Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan, directed by Dewi Humphreys and produced by Gareth Gwenlan.
"The Frog and the Pussycat" is the third and final episode of the Rock & Chips trilogy. It was first screened on 28 April 2011, six days after the death of writer John Sullivan.
