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Recap / Only Fools And Horses S 2 E 02 Ashes To Ashes

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Arthur's Ashes? That's the black bloke who won Wimbledon, innit?

The episode with Trigger's grandad's ashes. First broadcast 28 October 1982.

Trigger is feeling sad after the death of his grandmother, and the Trotters console him. After the funeral Trigger tells them that she'd had an affair with another man during the war; Grandad later admits that it was him. Del, always on the look-out for a potential earner, sees two old urns at the grandmother's house and persuades Trigger to part with them.

When it later transpires that one of the urns actually contains the ashes of Arthur, Trigger's late grandfather, they feel it's best to do the right thing and dispose of his mortal remains in the most appropriate manner possible — though this isn't as easy as they first thought.

Tropes:

  • Ashes to Crashes: Trigger's grandfather's ashes end up being sucked up by a streetsweeper.
  • Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: 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 street-cleaning machine. They decide this is appropriate, as Trigger's grandfather had been a road sweeper (as is Trigger).
  • The "Fun" in "Funeral": The entire episode centres on Del and Rodney trying ever more ridiculous ways to dispose of the ashes, while genuinely trying to be thoughtful. At one point, Grandad 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 also ashes in the other urn; Trigger's grandmother married twice.
  • Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe: Trigger did not know his father, and when Rodney asks, he says he died "a couple of years before I was born". Del's 2015 'autobiography' revealed the truth behind his parentage:
    It was generally agreed, though, that his dad was Donald Turpin (brother of Mum's best mate, Reenie) ... when Elsie started showing, she claimed she'd been "visited by an angel", leading the rest of the Ball clan to start making plans for the arrival of a new messiah. But Donald had been heard bragging about how he'd lost his virginity, giving full details of the time and place, and was therefore fingered as a much more likely suspect than the Archangel Gabriel.
  • Talking to the Dead: Grandad fears that Arthur (Trigger's dead grandfather) is trying to communicate with him. He'd had an affair with his wife, and when Arthur found out, he told Grandad that he'd come back and haunt him someday. Del decides to have a little fun with him...
    Grandad: Well, I know you can't hear me, Arthur.
    Del: [picks up a traffic cone and speaks in a ghostly voice] That's what you think, Trotter!

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