The robbery episode. First broadcast 14 September 1986.
While shopping at their local supermarket, Del, Rodney, and Albert are summoned by security guard Mr. Clark to the manager Mr. Peterson's office. They initially assume they have won an advertised £1,000 cash prize for being the store's millionth customer, but instead are accused of shoplifting. At the same time, a 20-year-old man enters the supermarket and shoplifts several items. Mr. Clark catches him in the act and takes him to the manager's office as well.
In the office, the young man brandishes a handgun at everyone in the room, including the Trotters, and demands that the manager opens the safe. Unfortunately, the safe is fitted with a time lock and will not unlock until the following morning. The thief locks the office door, forcing everyone to stay in the office overnight.
Throughout the night, the Trotters try to keep themselves from boredom. The robber brags that the police have nicknamed him "The Shadow" because he is a fast and quiet mover who they can't catch.
The next morning, with only half an hour to go until the safe's time lock reopens, Del, Albert, Peterson and Clark awake to find Rodney tip-toeing over to reach and grab the sleeping Shadow's gun — although instead of the gun, Rodney grabs his cigarettes. The Shadow wakes up, recognises Del and introduces himself as Lennox Gilbey; Del used to sell shoes to his mum. Lennox isn't really a wanted criminal, it's just that he's been driven to desperation by unemployment. When Del tries to persuade him to give the robbery up, Lennox admits that Peterson and Clark are in on it as well — Peterson has a spendthrift wife, and Clark's pension from his impending retirement is too small to live on. In order to solve their respective problems, the three planned to break into the safe (which contained approximately £60,000) and share the money. However, they needed some independent witnesses, so they brought the Trotters into the office after falsely accusing them of shoplifting.
Instead of going to the police, Del strikes a deal with them. Peterson will hire Lennox as a trainee security guard with a view to him becoming the main guard when Clark retires, and when the Trotters return to the supermarket later that day, they will be named the supermarket's millionth customers and awarded the £1,000 prize. Peterson agrees with the proposal, and Del shakes hands with him to seal the deal.
Tropes:
- Bottle Episode: The episode spends most of its runtime being confined to one room.
- Briar Patching: Lennox 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 in order to steal the contents of the safe. Subverted, though, as this was unnecessary given that the security guard was in on it.
- Didn't Think This Through: After missing the initial time he had to get the safe's money, Lennox decides to wait it out until the next morning with his hostages. Once Del realizes he's simply in over his head, he explains how this plan will backfire, since the only employees who can let him out are the newly-arriving security personnel. Furthermore, when Rodney brings up the fact he'd never reach his getaway vehicle, Lennox realizes he didn't get one, meaning from the beginning he was going to simply run for it.
- Genre Blind: Lennox has absolutely no clue whatsoever about how to be an armed robber. Also, Rodney takes his cigarettes when he could have had the gun, which would have saved the situation (sure, it's a toy gun, but he didn't know that at the time).
- Inside Job: The robbery turns out to be this — Peterson and Clark need money just as much as Lennox, so they've planned for him to pose as a robber with a view to splitting the cash three ways. The Trotters get caught up in it because they need independent witnesses to prevent Peterson and Clark from being implicated.
- Running Gag: Not for the first or last time, a faulty item sold by Del (in this case, Lennox's watch) turns out to be a significant plot device. Had it worked properly, they would've been able to access the safe without having to wait in the office overnight.
- Laughably Evil: Lennox isn't really evil, but he's easily the most hilarious part of the episode.
- Oddball in the Series: This is the only episode to feature none of the usual supporting cast or usual locations, guest stars never seen before or since, and a location that's only used on this single occasion.
- Shout-Out: Lennox compares himself to The Scarlet Pimpernel.Lennox: They seek him here, they seek him there, those policemen seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell, that dammed elusive ... sh-a-dow.
- Spanner in the Works: If Del hadn't sold the faulty watch to Lennox's mother, the whole heist would have gone different.
- Umpteenth Customer: The Trotters are shopping when they're asked to go to the manager's office. They see a sign saying the millionth customer will get a thousand pounds, and assume that's them. Instead, they're accused of shoplifting. And then held hostage along with the manager and store detective by an armed robber. It eventually transpires that this was all a plot by the manager and detective to take the money, with Del, Rodney and Albert as independent witnesses, but went wrong because the robber's watch was slow, so he missed the safe's time lock. After everything's been resolved with no harm done as long as the Trotters don't spill the beans, Del suggests to the manager that maybe they will turn out to be the millionth customers after all, to which the manager agrees.
