Synopsis
After an argument with Del Boy for failing to spot an approaching policeman at the market, leading to a frantic chase scene, Rodney informs Del and Grandad that he has other things on his mind and is preparing to make a big announcement, namely that he is leaving Trotters Independent Traders to set up a business partnership with his friend Mickey Pearce. Del and Grandad warn Rodney that Mickey Pearce is untrustworthy and has no business sense, but Rodney dismisses their claims. Del warns Rodney that going it alone means he has to pay for everything himself in future, but Rodney proceeds with it, insisting that he can prove he is just as good as Del. Rodney raises his revenue by informing Del that he owns one half of Trotters to which Del, after slight hesitation, gives Rodney money from the pile (though clearly less than half, in keeping with his character).
Rodney and Mickey meet Del at a local auction the following day, and set their eyes on a set of glass goblets. Del then arrives and urges them not to buy Lot 37, claiming that it is just scrap iron. Both Rodney and Mickey, thinking Del is trying to cheat them out of bidding for that lot, go ahead and purchase Lot 37, which turns out to be rusting and broken lawnmower engines. It also emerges Del was the one selling the engines in the first place, having drunkenly bought them off Alfie Flowers, an associate of his. Adding insult to injury, Rodney and Mickey have paid so wildly over the odds for the engines that Del ends up making a decent profit on the engines, with which he was able to buy the goblets they were after.
Things immediately go downhill for Rodney. Whilst Del has a successful week and manages to sell all his merchandise, Rodney and Mickey are lumbered with the broken lawnmower engines, which are still stuck in Mickey's garden shed. Del tells Grandad about his own success and they both joke about Rodney's misfortune with the lawnmower engines. According to Del, two nights previously, someone broke into the shed and stole two of the engines, only to return them the next night. Rodney returns home and Grandad asks Del to leave him alone and not discuss the engines.
Rodney is clearly struggling but is determined to convince Del he is managing perfectly. He claims to have had plenty of clients asking about the engines, and his claims become more exaggerated as Del probes further into his business. Rodney asks for some food but Del refuses, telling Grandad not to cook him anything as he has not paid his housekeeping money. Rodney attempts to persuade him, but he does not budge. Grandad asks how Rodney could be struggling with money when he had the £200 given to him by Del out of their share of the partnership. It soon transpires that Mickey has gone on holiday to Benidorm with the company finances, leaving Rodney with nothing.
Feeling sorry for his brother, Del comes up with a scheme to get Rodney to rejoin Trotters Independent Traders with his pride intact and thinking that he has been successful. He pays another trader, Towser, to buy the lawnmower engines from Rodney for £200, despite having a scrap value of only £20, and to make up a story about a contact in the GLC Parks Department who wants as many engines as he can get. Towser then asks what he should do with the engines, and Del tells him to give them back to Alfie. With Del's plan, Rodney will gain a bit of confidence and realise he would be better off being Del's partner again, and Del will get his money back when Rodney buys back into Trotters Independent Traders.
The next day, at The Nag's Head, Rodney tells Del he liquidated the partnership with Mickey, and proudly tells him that he has sold the lawnmower engines to Towser. Unfortunately, it becomes apparent that Del's plan has not quite worked out, and that Towser only paid Rodney £165 and kept the remaining £35 for himself. Worse still, Rodney has invested all the proceeds in buying another set of lawnmower engines from Alfie Flowers which are, unknown to Rodney, the same ones Towser had just given back to him. He thus asks Del if he can borrow some money, and Del angrily bemoans what a "42 carat plonker" his brother is. Del gives Rodney an elastic band to put around his Gucci to stop the sole coming off.
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.
Rodney Charlton Trotter is a fictional character in the long running BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst.
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the final episode of Series 5, and was first screened on 5 October 1986. This is also the last episode to be 30 minutes long with all the subsequent episodes lasting 50 minutes or more. In the episode, Del's old business partner Jumbo Mills returns to Peckham and asks Del to go into business with him in Australia.
"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.
"Big Brother" is the first episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It is the first episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 8 September 1981. In the episode, Del buys a consignment of briefcases, only to later discover that the combinations are locked inside.
"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.
"Hole in One" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the third episode of series 4 and was first broadcast on 7 March 1985. In the episode, Del decides to sue the brewery after Uncle Albert falls down the Nag's Head cellar.
"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".
"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.
"Homesick" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the first episode of series 3, and was first broadcast on 10 November 1983. In the episode Rodney is appointed chairman of the local Tenants Association, and Del expects him to use his influence to secure a move to a council bungalow.
"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.
"If They Could See Us Now.....!" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 2001 as the first part of the early 2000s Christmas trilogy and the sixteenth Christmas special. In the episode, the Trotters lose their fortune and Del goes on a game show to try to regain some of it.
"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.
"From Prussia with Love" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the first episode of Series 5, and was first broadcast on 31 August 1986. In the episode, the Trotters meet a pregnant German girl and invite her to stay at the flat.
"Happy Returns" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the first episode of series 4, and was first broadcast on 21 February 1985. In the episode, when Del discovers that Rodney's latest girlfriend is the daughter of an old flame, he suspects she might be his daughter.
"Video Nasty" is the fifth episode of series 5 of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first broadcast on 28 September 1986. In the episode, Rodney receives a grant to make a local film, but Del sees it as an opportunity to make money.
"Watching the Girls Go By" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the sixth episode of series 4 and first broadcast on 28 March 1985. In the episode Rodney, egged on by Del, bets Mickey Pearce that he can find a date for an upcoming party and Del decides to help him win the bet.
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 7, and was first broadcast on 27 January 1991. In the episode, Uncle Albert comes home claiming to have been mugged and, thinking he has become a burden, decides to leave Nelson Mandela House.
