"To Hull and Back" is the fourth Christmas special episode of the BBCsitcomOnly Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 1985. It was the first feature-length edition of the show and also the first special to not be set around Christmas. Parts of the special were shot on location in Amsterdam and unlike most other episodes was shot entirely on film and not before a studio audience, and thus without a laugh track. In the episode, the Trotters agree to smuggle diamonds from Amsterdam for Boycie.[1]
This section may be too long to read and navigate comfortably. Consider splitting content into sub-articles, condensing it, or adding subheadings. Please discuss this issue on the article's talk page.(November 2024)
As the Trotters are enjoying another evening at the Nag's Head, Boycie and his business partner Abdul ask Del Boy in for a secret meeting, with a proposal that he travels to Amsterdam to buy some diamonds and bring them back to England, without informing Customs and Excise. Realising that this is smuggling, Del declines the offer, but agrees when Boycie offers him £15,000 for his services.
The next morning, as they arrive at the market, Rodney is concerned that the diamond smuggling job is too dangerous, but Del assures him not to worry. Just then, Denzil shows up in his lorry, and informs Del that Corrine (Denzil's wife) made Denzil promise to keep his distance from Del. With all that said, Denzil drives off.
The Trotter brothers quickly run off from the police after trying to sell watches that play 36 different national anthems, but they encounter local policeman, DCI Roy Slater, and his partner DC Terry Hoskins. At Sid's café, Slater tells Del and Rodney that he is investigating the case, and already knows that Boycie and Abdul are involved, but does not know who the courier is. Also, Slater mentions that he will be retiring from the police force after solving the case (though Hoskins earlier explained that Slater was being forced out due to his duplicitous personality). As Slater and Hoskins leave, Del phones Boycie and warns him that Slater is investigating them. Del and Boycie organise a meeting with Abdul in the trailer of Denzil's lorry in a car park.
Late that night, Del and Rodney arrive in the Trotter van at Denzil's lorry. With Rodney standing watch, Del enters the trailer and receives the diamond payment briefcase from Boycie to take with him to Amsterdam. Boycie and Abdul leave, and Slater arrives, having received a call from a nearby resident. Del prepares to exit until he sees Slater searching the area, and hides under a tarpaulin at the far end of the trailer. He is not seen, but Slater inadvertently locks him in the trailer, before Denzil arrives and drives off. Trying to rescue Del, Rodney sets off in pursuit, following Denzil to Hull. Back at the station, Slater orders that a watch be placed on Boycie and Abdul's movements, and discusses the possible courier with Hoskins, with Slater mentioning that the Trotters have not been seen recently. Despite rebuffing Hoskins' suggestion that the Trotters could be the couriers, Slater mentions that Del is more cunning than he lets on and would be capable of pulling off such a heist.
On the Hull docks, Del decides that, rather than travel through the airports, which Slater is patrolling, he and Rodney should sail to the Netherlands in a hired boat instead. "Experienced seaman" Albert arrives to captain the boat, although it later emerges that he spent most of his time with the Royal Navy in the boiler room and thus has no experience of navigation. Despite Albert's incompetence (and after receiving directions from an oil rig), they make it to Amsterdam, where Del meets a Dutch diamond dealer named Hendrik van Kleefe and concludes the transaction successfully, despite Del realising that Boycie's money is counterfeit. There is one tense moment for the Trotters when they appear to be chased by the police just after Del has left van Kleefe's office; two uniformed officers and a plain clothes man standing there start running and the Trotters flee, only to find after a long chase that the plain clothes man is the criminal being pursued, and not the Trotters.
After getting lost in the North Sea again, the Trotters eventually find their way back to England by following the MV Norland, a ferry which goes from Zeebrugge to Hull. However, they initially followed it to Zeebrugge, and had to wait for it to turn around.
A few days later, upon returning home to Peckham and meeting with Boycie and Abdul at the Nag's Head, the group are cornered by Slater, who, as it turns out, had arranged the deal with van Kleefe from the start. Slater makes a proposal: either they all go to prison, or he leaves with the diamonds and they walk away free; the Trotters and friends reluctantly accept the second option. Del vows to get revenge, but Slater mentions that he is moving far away from London when he retires, then leaves. With their mission failed, a despondent and fatigued Del, Rodney, and Albert head home.
Meanwhile, Hoskins drives Slater home whilst Slater speculates as to what happened to the diamonds. Hoskins turns into a side road and straight into a police sting. It then emerges that Slater's superiors have long suspected him of corruption, and set him up to be caught in possession of the diamonds, and Hoskins was ordered by the Commissioner to monitor Slater. Slater attempts to bribe his way out, but Hoskins refuses and reveals that he is wearing a wire. Meanwhile, van Kleefe is apprehended by the Dutch authorities while he is attempting to deposit the counterfeit money at the bank.
Back at Nelson Mandela House, Del and Albert reveal to Rodney that there is some good news, because Del, having noticed that the diamond money was fake, had switched two of the diamonds for two of his cats' eye cufflinks and kept them hidden in Albert's pipe as a way of revenge. Rodney then reveals that it was he, and not Slater, who took the £15,000 during the stand-off at the pub. Del, believing that the £15,000 was also counterfeit (although it was, in fact, genuine), throws it over the balcony, leaving Rodney and Albert stunned, and Del feeling proud of himself asks Rodney "Who do you think I am? Some sort of wally?"
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 half-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.
Roy Slater is a recurring character in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He was played by Jim Broadbent, and in the prequel Rock & Chips by Calum MacNab.
Denzil Tulser is a character in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, played by Paul Barber.
"Chain Gang" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the third episode of series 6, and was first broadcast on 22 January 1989. In the episode, Del puts together a consortium to buy a set of 18 carat gold chains from a retired jeweller.
"Fatal Extraction" is the twelfth Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first broadcast on 25 December 1993. In the episode, Raquel leaves Del so in response he asks out another woman. When he and Raquel are reconciled, Del becomes convinced that the woman is stalking him.
"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.
"The Class of '62" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fourth episode of series 7, and was first broadcast on 20 January 1991. In the episode, Del Boy, Rodney, Boycie, Denzil and Trigger attend a school reunion which, to their surprise, has been arranged by Roy Slater.
"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".
"Strangers on the Shore...!" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first screened on 25 December 2002 as the second part of the early 2000s Christmas trilogy, the seventeenth Christmas special and the 63rd episode of the series.
"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.
"Danger UXD" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the second episode of series 6 and first broadcast on 15 January 1989. In the episode, Del acquires a batch of faulty sex dolls, which have inadvertently been filled with an explosive gas.
"Sleeping Dogs Lie" is an episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 4 and first broadcast on 21 March 1985. In the episode, Del Boy and Rodney look after Boycie and Marlene's cherished Great Dane, Duke.
"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.
"Miami Twice" is the two-part tenth Christmas special edition of the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. The first episode, on-screen subtitle "The American Dream", was first screened on 24 December 1991. The second episode of "Miami Twice" was first screened the following day, 25 December 1991. The second episode is subtitled "Oh to Be in England".
"I Done It My Way" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, The Green Green Grass. It aired on 19 February 2009, as the seventh episode of the fourth series, and was written by series creator John Sullivan, and directed by Dewi Humphreys. This episode acted as a 'clip show' for both Only Fools and Horses and The Green Green Grass. In total, the episode contained around forty clips, some of which were made specially for this episode. When series 4 was released on DVD, both separately, as well as part of a box set, the episode was left out, because of the archive clips. Even digital comedy channel Gold refuse to show the episode because of this, and is not available to watch on any catch-up services, including BBC iPlayer.
"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.
"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.
References
↑ "Television and Radio". The Times. No.62654. 1 January 1987. p.29. ISSN0140-0460.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
