The truth is only relative to what you can earn from a lie.
The Trotters Ethnic Tours episode. First broadcast 6 October 1981.
Del persuades the local bus company to hand over one of their open-top buses in exchange for Rodney working as a trainee nightwatchman. With the bus, Del launches "Trotters' Ethnic Tours" — a scenic tour around the less touristy bits of London, taking in such sights as Croydon, the Lee Valley and the last resting-place of Jack the Ripper. Despite a great deal of whinging, Del persuades Rodney to drive the bus, whilst Grandad agrees to distribute the publicity leaflets.
Tropes:
- Artistic Licence – Geography: At play in terms of the proposed tour itinerary, given that Croydon is about nine miles south of the Thames and the River Lee flows into said river from the north.
- Artistic Licence – History: Del's proposed tour itinerary includes taking people to the house where Sherlock Holmes was born and the place where Jack the Ripper is buried. The former is fictional note and no-one knows who the latter was. Whether the street smart but Book Dumb Del is unaware of this or knows it full well but is just making it up for the gullible mugs who he hopes will turn up for the tour is open to debate.
- Captain Oblivious: While Rodney rightly accuses Del of being seriously out of line by making him out to be a sex pervert and causing Janice to walk out on their date in apparent disgust, he's completely oblivious to the fact that said date was going horribly before Del even showed up, and Janice was clearly looking for an excuse to bail out on it.
- Catchphrase: With a comeback, this time:Del: This time next year, we'll be millionaires!Grandad: You said that this time last year!
- Economy Cast: Janice is the only character other than the three regulars who appears, giving this the smallest cast of any episode in the series.note
- Fun with Acronyms: Rodney points out their company's skyscraper, as described in Del's dream, would have the word TIT on the roof.
- Kansas City Shuffle: 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 briefcase. For an entire year, Grandad, who was convinced that the guy was on the take, would search the briefcase, only to find nothing in there. When the employee quit the company, it turned out that over 300 briefcases had gone missing.
- The Slacker: Grandad. Rather than distribute the tour publicity leaflets as Del wants him to, he just chucks them all down the rubbish chute.
