History Series / OnlyFoolsAndHorses

[[caption-width-right:350:''"This time next year, we'll be millionaires"'']][[note]]The original trio, from left: [[LovableRogue Del Boy]], [[TheConscience Rodney]], [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Grandad]].[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''"This time next year, we'll be millionaires"'']]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/752535ac2a6b0d216cdaf64c001f379a.png]]

** The Series 3 episode "Yesterday Never Comes" has Del become romantically involved with an antiques dealer named Miranda Davenport. It's obvious to the audience she was only interested in a painting that hung in the Trotters flat, which they apparently don't know the value of. She manages to coerce Del into giving her it for a birthday present, assuring him that she just want to hang it in her home. At the end of the episode Del goes to meet her at an auction house, and finds the painting up for sale. Miranda smugly tells him she's registered the painting to show that it has been in her family for years. Turns out Del knew how valuable it was all along; his grandmother Violet stole it from an art dealer she had been a cleaner for, and Miranda is going to be in a lot of trouble for selling stolen property. [[note]]It would be revealed in Del's 2015 autobiography ''He Who Dares'' that Miranda went to prison after the police found out that Del wasn't the only person she had done this to after her shop had been inspected.[[/note]]

** The Series 3 episode "Yesterday Never Comes" has Del become romantically involved with an antiques dealer named Miranda Davenport. It's obvious to the audience she was only interested in a painting that hung in the Trotters flat, which they apparently don't know the value of. She manages to coerce Del into giving her it for a birthday present, assuring him that she just want to hang it in her home. At the end of the episode Del goes to meet her at an auction house, and finds the painting up for sale. Miranda smugly tells him she's registered the painting to show that it has been in her family for years. Turns out Del knew how valuable it was all along; his grandmother Violet stole it from an art dealer she had been a cleaner for, and Miranda is going to be in a lot of trouble. [[note]]It would be revealed in Del's 2015 autobiography ''He Who Dares'' that Miranda went to prison after the police found out that Del wasn't the only person she had done this to after her shop had been inspected.[[/note]]

Where it all comes from is a mystery,\\

A British SitCom created and written by John Sullivan. It originally lasted for seven series airing between 1981-1991, followed by a number of {{Christmas Special}}s until 2003. The series follows the adventures of the working-class Trotter family, who aim to [[HonestJohnsDealership wheel and deal their way]] from a run-down council flat in Peckham (a borough in south London) to becoming millionaires. Their efforts usually involve [[GetRichQuickScheme get-rich-quick schemes]], many a FawltyTowersPlot, and selling useless or knockoff goods that have "[[FellOffTheBackOfATruck fallen off the back of a lorry]]".

In 1996, the series got a GrandFinale which sees the Trotters finally become millionaires after discovering a rare watch which was auctioned for £6 million. The final episode attracted a record British television audience of over 24 million viewers. The show was then [[{{Revival}} revived]] in 2001 for three more episodes, though with some controversy as it [[HappyEndingOverride immediately reverses the happy ending of the finale]] and [[StatusQuoIsGod returns the Trotters to poverty, even moving them back into the exact same council flat]]. There was also a one-off special in 2014 as part of Sport Relief, a charity drive held by the BBC every two years; in the special, Del and Rodney rope David Beckham into one of their moneymaking schemes. Jason also briefly reprised the Del Boy role in a recorded good luck message for the England Euro 2021 football team.

** 2001-3 saw a new trilogy of specials that served as a proper finale - "If They Could See Us Now", "Strangers on the Shore" and "Sleepless in Peckham".

** Del claims certain members of the Trotters' extended family fit this trope ("you offer them a cup of tea and they think you've adopted them!"), noting that when their father came to stay for a few nights, it took weeks to get rid of him.

** In "The Jolly Boys' Outing", both the Trotter brothers fall into this trope. During their weekend in Margate, they meet up with Del's former girlfriend Raquel, who is currently working as a LovelyAssistant to a StageMagician called the Great Raymondo. When Del discovers Raquel and Raymondo share a flat, and Raymondo berates Raquel for letting the visitors in, he flies off the handle and punches Raymondo before the man can explain he's gay. On their arrival home, Rodney discovers Cassandra's boss Steven in the flat with her (Del had previously fanned the flames of jealousy so Rodney would agree to go out for a drink in Margate, noting that Steven's wife was due to be away that weekend) and likewise starts an altercation, only for Steven's wife to walk in (her trip away was cancelled due to a train strike). While it's initially PlayedForLaughs, it turns out to be PlayedForDrama in subsequent episodes, as it takes a lot of time for Rodney and Cassandra's relationship to recover.

** In "The Jolly Boys' Outing", both the Trotter brothers fall into this trope. During their weekend in Margate, they meet up with Del's former girlfriend Raquel, who is currently working as a LovelyAssistant to a StageMagician called the Great Raymondo. When Del discovers Raquel and Raymondo share a flat he flies off the handle and punches Raymondo before the man can explain he's gay. On their arrival home, Rodney discovers Cassandra's boss Steven in the flat with her (Del had previously fanned the flames of jealousy so Rodney would agree to go out for a drink in Margate, noting that Steven's wife was due to be away that weekend) and likewise starts an altercation, only for Steven's wife to walk in (her trip away was cancelled due to a train strike). While it's initially PlayedForLaughs, it turns out to be PlayedForDrama in subsequent episodes, as it takes a lot of time for Rodney and Cassandra's relationship to recover.

* MistakenForAnImposter: Goes badly in "Dates" when Del hires a stripper to pretend to arrest Albert for his birthday. After his car is seen driven erratically (by Rodney), Del wrongly assumes the policewoman who comes to question him about the incident is another stripper hired by Albert in revenge. He is arrested for indecent assault.

* KansasCityShuffle: In "Slow Bus to Chingford", Grandad tells how he used to work as a security guard for a fancy company, and there was one suspicious employee who would always leave the building with a fancy briefcase. For an entire year, Granddad would check his briefcase, only to find nothing in there. When the employee quit the company, it turned out over three-hundred and sixty-five fancy briefcases had gone missing.

* FallingInLoveMontage: There's a lovely one of these during "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS1E06TheRussiansAreComing The Russians Are Coming]]" set to "Zoom" by Fat Larry's Band.
* FalloutShelterFail: In "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS6E04TheUnluckyWinnerIs The Unlucky Winner Is]]", Del Boy and Rodney acquire some lead sheets with intent to sell them at a profit, but they later learn that what they actually have is the parts for a fall out shelter. They completely miss the point and assemble it on the roof of their apartment building.

** And paid off brilliantly when, at the end of the episode, Del is in possession of a winning lottery ticket - but is forced to give up the money because the ticket is in Rodney's name, and local law states that 14-year-olds are not allowed to gamble. At this point they are ''unable'' to break the lie, because Del went to the trouble of forging all their travel documents.

* Del Boy (Derek Edward Trotter): A LoveableRogue who always comes up with daft schemes to try and make money. Famous for awful attempts at French (namely confusing "Bonjour" and "Au revoir"). Pretty much Sir Creator/DavidJason's defining role, to the point that "Arise Sir Del Boy" was the joke made by several newspapers when his knighthood was announced.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: In the third and final episode of ''Rock and Chips'', "The Frog and the Pussycat", Freddie Robdal manages to allay Joannie Trotter's (perfectly correct) suspicion that a diamond ring in a box from "Margate Jewellers" is stolen from a jeweler's shop in Margate by claiming it is the work of a French jeweler pronounced "Mar-jay".

** 1996 saw the the "Christmas Trilogy" that was to be the finale of the series - "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS8E01HeroesAndVillains Heroes and Villains]]", "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS8E02ModernMen Modern Men]]" and "Time on Our Hands".

** 1996 saw the the "Christmas Trilogy" that was to be the finale of the series - "Heroes and Villains", "Modern Men" and "Time on Our Hands".

* BlackComedyBurst: "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS5E08TheFrogsLegacy The Frog's Legacy]]" has largely been disowned by the fandom. It involves Rodney falling for an upper class girl, only for Del to sabotage the relationship with his boorish, obnoxious behaviour, which is played up even more than usual. Afterwards, Del is completely unsympathetic and even mocks Rodney for calling him out on it. John Sullivan and David Jason have both shown regret that the episode was made.

* SympatheticAdulterer: In ''Rock and Chips'', Reg is neglectful, crude, abusive, and all too happy to sit at home, watch Joan bring home the bacon and then waste her meager wages down at the pub. Is it any wonder she jumps into bed with Freddie Robdal — debonair and attentive, if somewhat unreliable and immoral — the first chance she gets?

* InformedAttractiveness: In ''Rock and Chips'', while Joannie is decent looking, the sheer amount of gushing she gets over her looks, from pretty much everybody, is somewhat disproportionate.

** The first series and subsequent Christmas special doesn't start or end with the famous theme songs, instead starting and ending with a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmM8k1XzyM saxophone-led instrumental theme]] composed by Ronnie Hazlehurst. It wasn't until the first episode of the second series, "The Long Legs of the Law", when people heard the immortal line "Stick a pony in me pocket...". Less obvious to modern-day viewers however, as the DVD releases and nearly all television repeats have the newer theme dubbed onto the Series 1 episodes (though the VHS releases still used the original theme).

** Happy Ending One was in the third and final chapter of the 1996 Christmas trilogy, ''Time on Our Hands'' (which was originally the series finale). Del and Rodney discover a 18th century watch in the garage and manage to auction it for £6,200,000. They proceeded to start new lifestyles with their friends and family, but ended up losing all the money in a Central American stock market crash.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Joannie Trotter changed her hairstyle four times: the first time was in the pilot episode of ''Rock and Chips'', modelled after Creator/MarilynMonroe; the second time was in the second episode "Five Gold Rings", modelled after Creator/ElizabethTaylor; and the third and fourth times were in the third episode "The Frog and the Pussycat", modelled after Creator/AudreyHepburn and Creator/JaneFonda.

* FallingInLoveMontage: There's a lovely one of these during "Diamonds Are For Heather" set to "Zoom" by Fat Larry's Band.
* FalloutShelterFail: In "The Russians are Coming", Del Boy and Rodney acquire some lead sheets with intent to sell them at a profit, but they later learn that what they actually have is the parts for a fall out shelter. They completely miss the point and assemble it on the roof of their apartment building.

* FawltyTowersPlot: In "The Unlucky Winner Is...", Del Boy sends a painting Rodney created as a teenager to a competition. When it wins the children's prize (a holiday for the child and his parents), he confirms that Rodney is fourteen. This necessitates other lies, such as not telling Rodney and Cassandra ''why'' it's a holiday for three until they've arrived, claiming he and Cassandra are Rodney's parents, and preventing Rodney and Cassandra from exposing his scheme by insisting to them both (separately) that the other is really enjoying the break.

** "Danger UXD" revolves around blow-up dolls which have a tendency to blow up as they've been filled with propane instead of air.

* FlashbackToCatchphrase: In ''Rock and Chips'', a teenaged Del says "One day, I'm gonna be a millionaire!"

* FreezeFrameBonus: At the end of "May the Force Be with You", a signature that looks suspiciously like Jim Broadbent's own appears on [[spoiler:the immunity to prosecution that his character gives to Del Boy]].

** In "Ashes to Ashes", Del and Rodney buy a couple of urns from Trigger. One of them turns out to have the ashes of Trigger's grandfather, Arthur, in it. The entire episode centers on Del and Rodney trying ever more ridiculous ways to dispose of the ashes, while genuinely trying to be thoughtful. At one point, Rodney's grandfather sits up talking to the ashes, while Del responds, pretending to be Arthur. Eventually the ashes are accidentally sucked up by a street-cleaning machine; after some initial horror, Del and Rodney reflect that maybe Arthur would have wanted it that way, since he was a road sweeper. Then they find out that there are more ashes in the other urn; Trigger's grandmother married twice.
** A more good natured case in "Strained Relations", which featured Grandad's funeral to coincide with his actor Leonard Pearce's passing. While the scene is fittingly poignant and respectful, it is characteristically laden with a few light hearted gags and hiccups. In particular, one moving scene has Del Boy put what is supposedly Grandad's trademark hat inside his grave to be buried with him, only for the priest to later ask where his hat has gone.
** In [[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesStrangersOnTheShore Strangers on the Shore]], Del and Rodney decide to give Albert a burial at sea, by scattering his ashes from the boat they were on (Albert was, before, during and after the war at separate points in the past in both the Merchant and Royal Navy). After doing so, they notice Rodney's wife Cassandra's contraceptive tablets at the bottom of the urn, where Damien had hidden them as a joke, resulting in Cassandra getting pregnant while they were all dirt poor. As well as desecrating his great uncle's ashes, Damien also used the urn as target practice for his toy NERF gun.

* FrivolousLawsuit: In "Hole in One", Del Boy decides to sue the Nag's Head after Uncle Albert falls into its cellar, despite the fact that he incurred no injury (they base the suit on emotional damages) and the Nag's Head offer Del a large settlement. The suit ends up being thrown out when the defense points out that Albert is a trained paratrooper (thus having knowledge of how to fall without injuring himself) and that he has "accidentally" fallen down pub cellars numerous times in the past, and taken the settlements.
* GallowsHumour: Most of "The Russians Are Coming", where Rodney convinces them to build a nuclear fallout shelter after Del unknowingly buys a kit along with a shipment of lead. Most of the episode highlights just how unprepared the average person in 1981 was to cope with the possibility of nuclear war and life afterwards, particularly with only a "four minute warning" to seek shelter.

* GamblersFallacy: In "The Losing Streak", after beating Boycie at poker, Del Boy offers him double or nothing on the spin of a coin. Boycie's response is "I've beaten you on a spin twice, Del. By the law of averages, you've got to win this time." (The coin isn't fair, as it happens, but Boycie doesn't know that.)

* GayBarReveal: In the episode "Go West, Young Man", Del and Rodney go to a wine bar, and while Rodney has his drink, Del tries to chat up two characters in dresses we only see from the back. He quickly returns.

* GenreBlind: In "The Longest Night", Lennox has absolutely no clue whatsoever how to be an armed robber. Rodney in the same episode taking his cigarettes when he could have had the gun beside him is equally blind.
* GenreShift: Happened most notably with ''Rock and Chips'' (see below), but it did occasionally happen within the series itself.
** The 1985 Christmas special "To Hull and Back" was treated more like a crime caper film than a sitcom

* GlobalIgnorance: In "The Yellow Peril":

* GotMeDoingIt: "Stage Fright" had Raquel singing a duet of "Crying" with Tony Angelino The Singing Dustman ... who turns out to have ElmuhFuddSyndwome.

* GrailInTheGarbage: The Trotter's become millionaires after the missing John Harrison Watch (which in real life, exists only as plans and may never have been built), ends up being found in their garage. Del likewise mentions he got it from an old woman who paid him to clear an attic.

* HellHotel: Parodied in "The Jolly Boys' Outing". The Trotters become stranded in Margate, but cannot find anywhere to stay the night, so they end up in a terrifying-looking guest house which in Rodney's words "looks like Series/TheMunsters' weekend place"

** In "The Losing Streak", Boycie is offered Trigger's car as part of a poker bet. His response: "You must be joking, I sold it to him!"
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: In the 1988 Christmas special "Dates", Raquel Turner was introduced as one of these. She wanted to be an actress, but could only get not-real-acting jobs like stripogram or (in her second appearance) magician's assistant. After meeting Del, she gave up this profession after a StripperCopConfusion at Albert's birthday party.

* HypocriticalHumor: Played straight in "Little Problems". Del is asked to make a contribution for his younger brother's wedding, and doesn't want to pay out too much money. Once he realizes that the bride's father only means a contribution of ideas and opinions, he attempts to get out of his earlier suggestion of using the old pub for the reception and back to a country club. When Alan anxiously asks, "But surely you don't like all that type of thing, do you?", Del replies, "Oh, I hate it. I hate it, Alan. I mean, those sorts of people only do things for effect," as he is served a massive cocktail, complete with fruit and umbrellas.

* IChooseToStay: In the Series 5 finale "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", Del decides to stay in England with Rodney and Albert, rather than go to Australia with his old friend Jumbo Mills to run a car business.
* IDontPayYouToThink: In "To Hull and Back", DCI Slater says this several times to his [[ServileSnarker subordinate and driver PC Hoskins]]. This ends up backfiring horribly on him, when it turns out the Met are onto his corrupt practices and Hoskins drives him into a police sting.

* IdenticalStranger: "Miami Twice" featured an American Mafia boss who looked exactly like Del.

* IfIWereARichMan: ''Every single business deal'' Del enters into is part of his get-rich plan. He is constantly saying "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!" He and Rodney actually sing the song in "And the Unlucky Winner Is ...", when they thought they'd won a million pasetas. Of course, because they told all those lies, they are unable to collect the money.

** In "Mother Natures Son", Del-Boy (who lives almost exclusively on fried food, takeaways and alcohol) reacts to Rodney's revelation that he and Cassandra like the health food from the organic store with "Oh, well that must be very appetizing then. Knowing that everything on your plate was once underneath a big pile of horse shit!".

* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: In "The Unlucky Winner Is...", Del wins a family holiday for the Trotters by entering a children's art contest with a picture painted by Rodney when he was 14. In order for them to be eligible to claim the prize, Rodney (who's in his early 20s) has to pose as a 14-year-old boy, with Del (who was 16-17 when Rodney was born) pretending to be his father. Del at least has the sense to claim Cassandra, about the same age as Rodney, as a stepmother.

* AdultsDressedAsChildren: Rodney has to pretend to be 14 years old to go on a Spanish holiday in "The Unlucky Winner Is...".

* AgeGapRomance: In "No Greater Love" Rodney, then in his early 20s, dates a woman in her 40s.

** In "Dates", Mickey and Jevon manage to convince Rodney that the GirlOfTheWeek likes bad boys, so he dresses like the Fonz and acts like Creator/JamesDean on their date, only to terrify her to the point of tears when they get chased in the van.

* AllNaturalSnakeOil: The whole bottled water thing was mocked in "Mother Nature's Son", with the bottled water coming from the tap and being bottled in a production line through their kitchen.
* AmoralAttorney: "Hole in One" involves Del suing the brewery for a fall suffered by Uncle Albert. He hires a lawyer called Solly Atwell, who Rodney describes as being "more bent than the villains".

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Rodney takes his policewoman girlfriend Sandra home following her visit to the Trotters' flat. They share an affectionate cuddle and she asks the following:

** In the 1989 Christmas special "The Jolly Boys' Outing", after the Jolly Boys are stranded in Margate following the destruction of their coach, Boycie complains that he might miss the christening of his son, Mike and Sid complain that they have to run their pub and cafe respectively, Jevon complains that he's going to miss out on a date he had arranged for that night... and then Trigger chimes in and complains that his inflatable dolphin got blown up with their coach.
** While on holiday in Spain in "It Never Rains...", Grandad gets arrested. He tells Del and Rodney that during the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar he was a mercenary who used to [[ArmsDealer smuggle guns]] for both sides (or in his words '[[WarForFunAndProfit whichever side had the most money]]') and ended up being captured, deported and ordered not to return to the country. He believes that they are going to put him on trial for these past crimes so Del bribes the guard to turn a blind eye and let them walk out. After taking Del's money, the guard tells Del that the charges have been dropped and Grandad is free to go, explaining to a flabbergasted Del that Grandad had only been arrested for... jaywalking.
** In "Rodney Come Home", Rodney laments that "My mum's left me, my wife doesn't love me and some bastard's nicked my bike!"
* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: In "A Royal Flush", Rodney's posh girlfriend take him clay pigeon shooting on her father's estate. On his first turn, Rodney stepped up to the shooting area then turned round to speak to the others, inadvertently pointing his shotgun at them. The others yelled at him to lower the barrel but because he was wearing ear protectors he couldn't hear them. Not until the girlfriend's father stepped forward and pushed the gun barrel down towards the ground did Rodney realise what he had done.
* ArtisticLicenseStatistics: In "The Losing Streak", Boycie refuses to bet on a coin toss against Del because, having beaten Del in the previous few tosses, the "Laws of averages" dictate that he would likely lose this one. When Del suggests that Boycie challenged Rodney instead, he agrees!
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: In "From Prussia With Love":

* AsYouKnow: Del delivers a lot of information about his and Rodney's childhood -- including his mother's death and then their father's abandoning the family -- in this manner during "Big Brother", clearly as a way of getting the audience up to speed with the Trotter family's backstory. While not too uncommon for the pilot of episode of a sitcom (or TV show in general) from this era, latter episodes also depict Del going on lengthy speeches about their childhood and mother when he's trying to guilt-trip Rodney into doing something, making it an actual character trait for Del instead of just a clumsy way of delivering a one-off InfoDump.
* AshesToCrashes: In "Ashes to Ashes", Del and Rodney are trying to dispose of Trigger's grandfather's ashes. The ashes end up being sucked up by a streetsweeper. Made funnier when it turns out that the guy was actually a street cleaner himself. They eventually conclude that this was an appropriate funeral for him.

* TheBet: In "Watching the Girls Go By", Mickey Pearce bets Rodney "fifty" that he doesn't have a date for a party at the Nag's Head. To Rodney's surprise, Del buys the bet for £5, and after various disastrous attempts at finding a girl, pays a stripper £20 to pretend to be Rodney's date (including to Rodney, who thinks he somehow chatted her up in ten seconds, including telling her about the party). After Rodney is humiliated at the party, Del says at least he won the bet, and Rodney agrees and flips him a 50p piece.

** Anna, the pregnant German au pair, does speak some lines of French fluently.

* BlackBeltInOrigami: The exact line is used in "Cash and Curry" by Del, as he attempts to bluff an ability in martial arts.
** Inverted in "Happy Returns":

* BlackComedyBurst: "A Royal Flush" has largely been disowned by the fandom. It involves Rodney falling for an upper class girl, only for Del to sabotage the relationship with his boorish, obnoxious behaviour, which is played up even more than usual. Afterwards, Del is completely unsympathetic and even mocks Rodney for calling him out on it. John Sullivan and David Jason have both shown regret that the episode was made.

* BottleEpisode: There were a few, but "The Longest Night" stands out, spending most of its runtime being confined to one room.

* BriarPatching: In "The Longest Night" a criminal blatantly steals from the supermarket and tries to walk out. When the security guard stops him to take him to the management office he tells him he's innocent and pleads not to be taken there. It turned out that he wanted to be taken there to commit a robbery. [[spoiler: Subverted when it turned out that the security guard was in on it, so the double bluff was unnecessary.]]
* BribeBackfire: In "It Never Rains..." Del tries to bribe a Spanish prison guard to release Grandad. An inversion in that the guard accepts the money, but it turned out Grandad was going to be released anyway.

* BrokenWinLossStreak: {{Subverted}}. In "Losing Streak", Del constantly says to Rodney that the reason he keeps losing money to Boycie at poker is because he is on a "losing streak" which he feels is about to come to an end. It's actually because Boycie cheats. Del does end up winning a lot of money off of Boycie, but the reason he does so is by cheating better.
* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: In the episode "Ashes to Ashes", Del Boy and Rodney spend the entire episode trying to find an appropriate way to dispose of the ashes of Trigger's grandfather (so they can flog off the urn he is in). After all of their attempts are thwarted, the ashes are accidentally sucked up by a road sweeper. They decide this is appropriate as Trigger's grandfather had been a street sweeper.
** In the {{Prequel}}, ''RockAndChips'', Freddie the Frog tells Joan about a friend of his whose dying wish was to be scattered on his favourite football pitch, and how this got them in trouble with the authorities.
-->'''Joan''': Did they say you needed permission?
-->'''Freddie''': Nah, they said he should have been cremated.
* TheButlerDidIt: Invoked by Rodney when he mocks Del's suggestion that "There's a Rhino Loose in the City" could be a {{whodunit}}:

** Slater in the first chapter of ''RockAndChips'' was one, being eternally victimised by Del and all his friends, hence giving him a good reason to join the police force after leaving school.

* CanonDiscontinuity: The show's writer, John Sullivan usually liked to pretend that the 1986 Christmas special "A Royal Flush" never happened. In the episode, Del cruelly humiliates Rodney and sabotages his friendship with Lady Victoria. Sullivan thought Del went too far and was overly nasty and mean-spirited. He only allowed the episode to be released on video and DVD due to demand from the fans, and even then it was in the form of a severely edited version in which Del is less mean.

* CatchPhrase: "DuringTheWar" (for which the show was the TropeNamer), "Lovely Jubbly", "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!", "You plonker!"
** FlashbackToCatchphrase: In ''Rock and Chips'', a teenaged Del says "One day, I'm gonna be a millionaire!" At the end of "Time on Our Hands", when the Trotters are millionaires, Del remarks: "This time next year, we could be ''billionaires''!" When Del uses the phrase in "If They Could See Us Now", Rodney snaps back "this time last week we ''were'' millionaires!"

* TheCavalry: When on the run from [[ItMakesSenseInContext Italian American mobsters in Florida]], Rodney and Del Boy get backed into the [[ArtisticLicenseGeography Everglades]]. Minutes before they get caught (and promptly shot) Boycie and Marlene show up on a hovercraft exploration with a tour guide, and carry them off to safety.

* CelebrityParadox: In Raquel's first episode, "Dates", she mentions being on ''Series/DoctorWho''. Funnily enough, the head waiter is played by Creator/NicholasCourtney, who played the Brigadier.

** In "From Prussia With Love", Del and Rodney befriend a pregnant German girl who doesn't want her baby, and Del concocts a scheme to sell the baby to the Boyces, who are having trouble conceiving. In the end, it turns out the father of the child is West Indian. Marlene wants to go ahead, but Boycie doesn't see how they can claim it's theirs.

** 1981 - "Christmas Crackers". Del and Rodney are waiting for Grandad's traditional poisoned Christmas dinner to arrive at the table. But it turns out that, for once, after dinner and the exchange of gifts (including £20 given to Grandad by Del), Grandad is going to an OAP party, meaning that the Trotter brothers can hit the Monte Carlo Club. Unfortunately, Rodney is unable to attract any women, and when he does finally make some progress, he is beaten by two other men, much to his and Del's horror.
** 1982 - "Diamonds Are for Heather". Del meets Heather, who seems to be one friend short of company. Del Boy, ever the gentleman, entertains her and sees her home safely. At her flat he discovers that she has a young son, by a husband who seems to have joined a very long queue at the Job Centre 18 months previously and not come back. In no time at all, their romance blossoms and all is running so smoothly that Del decides to propose. However, when he takes her for a candlelit curry, she refuses his offer of marriage. Her husband has returned, employed as a department store Santa, and she wants to give it another go, leaving Del Boy without an angel for Christmas.
** 1983 - "Thicker than Water". Reg Trotter, absentee father to Del and Rodney, unexpectedly arrives to sponge Christmas with his boys. Reg explains that he has been living in Newcastle and was diagnosed with a hereditary blood disorder. Scared for their well-being, he decided to tell his two sons. However, several tests later, Reg is given the all clear but it seems Del Boy and Rodney have different blood types. It would seem the wayward father has some explaining to do. Reg explains that he frequently argued with their mother before they split. She had several dalliances with other men, and Del is the mystery child. Fortunately a visit to the family doctor gives Del the news to put the smile back on his face.
** 1985 - "To Hull and Back". Boycie and Abdul ask Del to smuggle diamonds from Amsterdam into the country. Del initially declines the offer, but ultimately agrees in exchange for £15,000. When Del learns that DCI Roy Slater is aware of the cases of diamond smuggling, but does not know who is involved, and realising that he wouldn't get the diamonds through airport security, Del gets Uncle Albert to take him and Rodney to Amsterdam from Hull in a hired boat. The Trotters arrive at the location and collect the diamonds. Meanwhile, back at the police station, Slater deduces that Boycie and Del are involved in the smuggling and waits at the airport for the Trotters to arrive. Del, Rodney and Albert arrive back a day late because Albert got lost. All seems to have gone well until Slater catches Boycie and the Trotters in the act. However, Slater lets them case go and is later arrested when the police work out that he has been working with the man in Amsterdam who keeps the diamonds until the couriers arrive. Although Boycie used fake money to pay for the diamonds, he paid Del with real money. Unfortunately, Del thinks the money is fake and throws it out the window.
** 1986 - "A Royal Flush". Rodney meets Vicky, a seemingly impoverished artist who it transpires is the daughter of the Duke of Maylebury. Having obtained a pair of tickets to the sold-out production of Carmen, Rodney seems to have deeply impressed Vicky. She is less taken by the presence of Del and his peroxide blonde girlfriend, June Snell in a cringeworthy scene at the opera where they ruin the night for Rodney. Vicky then invites Rodney to a party at the Duke's country home, and it seems romance may be on the cards. Then Del Boy turns up, hits the vino-plonko and ruins everything for his little brother again.
** 1987 - "The Frog's Legacy". Trotters Independent Trading is causing mayhem with their faulty RAJAH computers. Rodney gets a new job at a funeral directors, while Albert and Del con the public with their miracle cure body massagers. At the wedding of Trigger’s niece, Del hears the tale of Freddy the Frog, a bank robber and close friend of the boys' mother. He left everything in his will to their mum, including the stolen gold bullion. While Del hunts for treasure, Rodney puzzles over Freddy and his mother's 'friendship' – and a son who would by now be his own age.
** 1988 - "Dates". Surprised by Trigger's success with a new computer dating agency, Del joins and meets aspiring actress Raquel Turner and the two quickly hit it off. However, Raquel is not aware that Del is a market trader, as he claimed to be the manager of his own export and import business. Meanwhile, Rodney has a date with Nags Head barmaid "Nervous Nerys", which ends in disaster after Rodney jumps a red light in the van and causes a police car to crash, having been convinced by Mickey and Jevon that Nerys enjoys the company of tough and manly men. A few days later, Uncle Albert's birthday party is held at the Nags Head but Del is horrified when one of the surprise strippers he booked turns out to be Raquel. The pair eventually make it up and Raquel reveals that she has been offered an acting role in a tour around the Middle East. Del is about to go around to her flat and ask to her stay but blows his chance when he rips the clothes off of a policewoman, believing she is a stripper booked by Uncle Albert in revenge for his birthday party.
** 1989 - "The Jolly Boys' Outing". Cassandra organises a dinner party, inviting her 'yuppie' boss and his wife in the hope of getting a promotion. Del and Uncle Albert soon arrive to put their feet firmly in their mouths and ruin the chances of that. Despite it being Rodney and Cassandra’s first wedding anniversary, Rodney agrees to go on the annual Jolly Boys Outing to Margate. The outing goes as well as can be expected considering that Rodney gets arrested, and the coach's dodgy radio - supplied by Del Boy - emits fumes that incapacitate the driver and then ignite the fuel line, causing the vehicle to explode. Forced to stay the night by this twist of fate, the Trotters stay at an old, scary bed and breakfast. Rodney is still concerned that Cassandra's boss is staying with her while he is away, so he and Del go out for a drink to a club, where Del encounters his lost love Raquel, now working as magician’s assistant. As one Trotter rekindles his love life, the other returns to find Cassandra entertaining her boss at home. Punching first, and asking questions later, Rodney blows it.
** 1990 - "Rodney Come Home". Rodney is settling into married life, and his job at his father-in-law's printing firm (his first proper job). Raquel has returned from America and is now living with Del. Del is worried about his brother's marriage: Rodney resents Cassandra for working all the time (Rodney's job provides Del with cheap printing - his sole source of income). Del's attempts to save Rodney's marriage result in him being homeless for the third time in 18 months.
** 1991 - "Miami Twice". At Damien's christening, Del secures a deal with the Vicar to sell pre-blessed wine around the country. Rodney is living with Del and Albert on week days, and with Cassandra at weekends, on the advice of their therapist. Del steals Rodney's pension money and buys a holiday with it, he then tricks Rodney into going on holiday with him, knowing that Cassandra's work commitments, will prevent her from attending. When Del and Rodney arrive in Miami, the family of Mafioso boss Vincenzo Ochetti are drawn to Del – who bears a striking resemblance to their Don, who is facing trial, and the possibility of life imprisonment, so they come up with a plan to kill Del so that they can escape a sentencing. Soon realising they are not simply being shown American hospitality, Del and Rodney flee aided and abetted by Boycie, Marlene and their baby Tyler who are also in the States. Upon a safe return to Peckham, they find dozens of crates of wine, which were deemed unfit for Holy Communion.
** 1992 - "Mother Nature's Son". Del Boy hires Denzil and Trigger to clean out some mysterious yellow gunge that has been dumped in Grandad's allotment, which Del has been lumbered with following the purchase of his flat. After learning about a man called Myles who sells health foods and natural fertilizer and has become a millionaire in two and a half years, Del tricks him into believing that there is a natural spring at the allotment. When the water passes the relevant tests, Del sells it (tap water) as bottled water called Peckham Spring. Soon hundreds of pounds are winging their way to Del's wallet and he, Raquel, Damien, Rodney and Cassandra go for a weekend away at the Grand Hotel, Brighton. As they settle down, the Trotters are unaware that there is a news article being shown on the TV which explains that Peckham's water supply has become toxic, thanks to the yellow gunge that Denzil and Trigger "deposed" of a few days before. As Del falls asleep, a bottle of Peckham Spring on his bedside table glows yellow.
** 1993 - "Fatal Extraction". Raquel is frustrated with Del who is spending his evenings at the casino, frequently returning past midnight. Rodney raises the problem with Del, who explains he is brokering a deal to get hold of some Russian ex-military Camcorders. Rodney and Cassandra have decided to try to have a baby. When Del comes home at 8.15 am - stopping only to change his clothes, Raquel leaves him. Del organises a date with Beverly, his dentist’s receptionist. But he cancels it after much persistence from Rodney and Uncle Albert. A changed man, he invites Raquel back. Whilst celebrating, he drunkenly starts a riot on the estate. All seems calm, but Beverly seems to be stalking Del.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Jevon, who was Mickey Pearce's trading partner in the sixth series, vanished after "The Jolly Boys' Outing" as his actor had joined ''Series/EastEnders'', though he's mentioned a few times in series 7.
* ClassReunion: In "Class of '62", the main cast were all part of a ClassReunion set up in mysterious circumstances. This turned out to be part of a revenge scheme by Rory Slater, although not the usual ReunionRevenge.

** Del and Rodney's mother Joan can also be considered this in ''RockAndChips''.

** In "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle", Uncle Albert laments that his place of birth (a marina where ships from all over the world used to dock) which, when he was young, was filled with rough but good people has since been utterly cleared away so as to build luxury flats. Del thinks that is in fact terrific as the flats happen to be worth a lot of money.

** In "Rodney Come Home", Uncle Albert's three botched attempts at looking "shocked" about Rodney taking a girl who isn't his wife to the cinema.

* ContinuityNod: In the 1982 Christmas special "Diamonds Are For Heather", Del's favourite song is revealed to be "Old Shep". In the second chapter of the 1996 Christmas trilogy, "Modern Men", the hold music on Del's new phone is a version of "Old Shep".

* {{Corpsing}}: In "Rodney Come Home", David Jason is clearly trying hard not to laugh as Albert unsuccessfully tries to look "shocked" at Rodney.

* CounterfeitCash: "To Hull and Back" had Del acting as a courier between Boycie and some Dutch diamond smugglers. Del quickly realises the cash Boycie gave him for the transaction is counterfeit. What he doesn't realise is that his own payment for services isn't fake, and the episode ends with him throwing it away.

* CriminalDoppelganger: The show had the 1991 Christmas special "Miami Twice" where Del and Rodney go to Miami, where a Mafia boss who looks identical to Del is facing life imprisonment. His son hatches a plot to murder Del in public, hoping that everyone will believe that it is his father who has been killed, and thus spare him the prison sentence.
* CrookedContractor: Del has been known to dabble in this when the market trading isn't going so well. In the episode "Who's A Pretty Boy Then?", after stealing the job of painting Denzil's flat from Brendan O'Shaughnessy, he then offers his services when Mike says the brewery want the pub painted. Mike says Brendan has already put in a bid of a thousand pounds. Del immediately offers a counterbid of ''two'' thousand pounds.

** Also done in the famous episode "A Touch of Glass'". Del Boy and co offer to clean some chandeliers at a wealthy lord's mansion, and most obviously don't know a thing about how to do so. Cue [[FallingChandelierOfDoom Falling Chandelier]] and hasty retreat.
* CutHimselfShaving: "No Greater Love" has this:

* DeadPetSketch: When painting Denzil's flat, Rodney accidentally creates a sauna in the kitchen by leaving the kettle on too long. The Trotters find Corrine's beloved canary [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus pining for the Fjords]] and go to a lot of trouble and expense to substitute it with another one. Corrine gets a hell of a shock when she returns home to find it alive and well, because it was dead when she left the flat that morning.

* DirtyOldMan:
** Ernie Rayner in ''Series/RockAndChips''.
** "Dirty Barry", the proprietor of a sex shop to whom Del tries to sell those blow-up sex dolls in "Danger UXD".
* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: In "Sickness and Wealth," Del is worried that he might be suffering from a certain disease, and subsequent dialogue makes it obvious that he's talking about AIDS. The disease was still pretty taboo in 1989, hence why it isn't mentioned by name, but the episode shows quite a surprising degree of AIDS awareness, most notably the fact that it isn't--as was widely considered to be the case at the time--something that only gay men contract.

* DoomedByCanon: Joanie Trotter was DeadToBeginWith, so it's not hard to work out where the story arc in ''Rock and Chips'' was going had it not been cut short by John Sullivan's death.

** Early episodes were 30 minutes long with a [[MonsterOfTheWeek get-rich-quick scheme of the week]] plot, in contrast to later episodes which were longer (up to 90 minutes), had more drama, more characters and plotlines which spanned several episodes.

* ElmuhFuddSyndwome: A singer that Del Boy contracts to sing at someone's mom's birthday party. Thing is Del doesn't discover this until ''after'' he's signed him, only knowing that the singer only sang ''a very specific and limited amount of songs''. (None which contained the letter R.). The big song he ends up singing on stage after a heart breaking performance by Raquel? ''Crying''.

* EpicFail: Del slaps a woman on the bottom and invites her out for a curry. To Rodney's amazement, she smiles and accepts (though he's unaware that she has an ulterior motive). Rodney decides to try out the same move on another woman. It results in her slapping him. Hard.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Most of the main characters, as lampshaded when the Class Reunion episode "The Class of '62" doesn't feature ''anyone'' we don't already know.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Del's idea for a film; ''There is a Rhino Loose in the City''. His explanation of the plot, unsurprisingly, makes no sense whatsoever, and by the end, ''There is a Rhino Out In The Sticks Where No Sod Lives'' better describes it.

* IWasQuiteAFashionVictim: Most people tend to look back on what they wore during the 80's with embarrassment. Mickey Pearce on the other hand, averts this by ''never'' changing his look at all... leaving his wardrobe stuck TwoDecadesBehind by the end of the series.* IWasQuiteALooker: Sid has claimed to have been in "Sleepless in Peckham" when looking at himself in the photograph of the 1960 Jolly Boys' Outing.

* AllThereInTheManual: Various spin-off books, such as Del's 'autobiography' (published in 2015) provide an explanation for certain plot holes (such as the repercussions of the mineral water scam, which was not mentioned in or after "Mother Nature's Son") and the fate of several one-off characters (like Tony Angelino, the singer in "Stage Fright").