Dates (Only Fools and Horses)

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Episode of Only Fools and Horses

"Dates"

Only Fools and Horses episode
Episode no.| Episode 7
(Christmas Special)
Directed by| Tony Dow
Written by| John Sullivan
Original air date| 25 December 1988 (1988-12-25)
Running time| 79 minutes

* 1:19:47 (DVD)
* 1:19:53 (iTunes)

Episode chronology
| ← Previous
"The Frog's Legacy"  | Next →
"Yuppy Love"

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List of episodes

"Dates" is the seventh Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, first broadcast on 25 December 1988. In the episode, Del Boy joins a dating agency and meets Raquel. Rodney also goes on a date, with Nag's Head barmaid Nerys.

## Synopsis

[edit]

The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently, and Uncle Albert's birthday is upcoming, which Del Boy and Rodney pretend to have forgotten. Meanwhile, after seeing a girl Trigger has met through a local dating agency, Del also decides to sign up. Styling himself "Derek Duvall", managing director of a successful import and export business, he meets a struggling actress named Raquel Turner. The two form a bond and agree to meet again. Del asks Raquel to join him at Albert's birthday party, but she declines, saying she has to attend an acting class.

Rodney also arranges a date, with Nag's Head barmaid, "Nervous" Nerys. He is convinced by Mickey and Jevon that Nerys likes "macho" men. Wearing a leather jacket and acting aloof, he goes driving with Nerys. They get into a high-speed car chase when Rodney tries to live up to his bad boy role by swearing at a gang of young punks who are playing very loud music from their open-top vehicle. In his attempts to outrun the punks, Rodney speeds past two police officers at temporary traffic lights. The officers vow to apprehend the driver of the "yellow, three-wheeled van".

As a surprise for Albert's party, Del has hired a stripper, who turns out to be Raquel. The two recognise each other and, hurt, Del storms out of the pub before telling Raquel he no longer wants to see her but soon regrets his actions. Raquel tells him that she has received an offer to work in the Middle East, and that if he wants her to stay, he should visit her before the flight leaves. Del plans to meet her, but while at the Nag's Head, he is approached by the two police officers still looking for the owner of the yellow van. Believing the female officer to be another stripper hired by Albert as a joke, Del rips her blouse off and is arrested. Dispirited, Raquel leaves for the Middle East just as Del Boy is taken into custody.

## Episode cast

[edit]

| Actor  | Role

|

David Jason | Derek Trotter
Nicholas Lyndhurst | Rodney Trotter
Buster Merryfield | Albert Trotter
Tessa Peake-Jones | Raquel Turner
John Challis | Boycie
Roger Lloyd-Pack | Trigger
Kenneth MacDonald | Mike Fisher
Sue Holderness | Marlene
Patrick Murray | Mickey Pearce
Roy Heather | Sid
|  | Actor  | Role

|

Leslie Rogers  | Policeman
Andrée Barnard | Nerys (barmaid)
Martin Cochrane  | Naval Officer
Nicholas Courtney | Charles
Tony Marshall | Chris
Maggie Norris  | Policewoman
Chris Stanton  | Technomatch agent
Jean Warren  | Sonia the prostitute
Steven Woodcock | Jevon

## First appearances

[edit]

* Tessa Peake-Jones as Raquel Turner

## External links

[edit]

* "Dates" at BBC Online
* "Dates" at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Only Fools and Horses

Characters|

* Derek Trotter
* Rodney Trotter
* Grandad
* Trigger
* Boycie
* Roy Slater
* Denzil
* Mike
* Uncle Albert
* Raquel
* Cassandra
* Damien

Episodes|

| Series 1 (1981)|

* "Big Brother"
* "Go West Young Man"
* "Cash and Curry"
* "The Second Time Around"
* "A Slow Bus to Chingford"
* "The Russians Are Coming"
* "Christmas Crackers"

|

Series 2 (1982)|

* "The Long Legs of the Law"
* "Ashes to Ashes"
* "A Losing Streak"
* "No Greater Love"
* "The Yellow Peril"
* "It Never Rains..."
* "A Touch of Glass"
* "Diamonds Are for Heather"

Series 3 (1983)|

* "Homesick"
* "Healthy Competition"
* "Friday the 14th"
* "Yesterday Never Comes"
* "May the Force Be with You"
* "Wanted"
* "Who's a Pretty Boy?"
* "Thicker than Water"

Series 4 (1985)|

* "Happy Returns"
* "Strained Relations"
* "Hole in One"
* "It's Only Rock and Roll"
* "Sleeping Dogs Lie"
* "Watching the Girls Go By"
* "As One Door Closes"
* "To Hull and Back"

Series 5 (1986)|

* "From Prussia with Love"
* "The Miracle of Peckham"
* "The Longest Night"
* "Tea for Three"
* "Video Nasty"
* "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Christmas specials
(1986–1988)|

* "A Royal Flush"
* "The Frog's Legacy"
* "Dates"

Series 6 (1989)|

* "Yuppy Love"
* "Danger UXD"
* "Chain Gang"
* "The Unlucky Winner Is..."
* "Sickness and Wealth"
* "Little Problems"
* "The Jolly Boys' Outing"

Series 7 (1990–91)|

* "Rodney Come Home"
* "The Sky's the Limit"
* "The Chance of a Lunchtime"
* "Stage Fright"
* "The Class of '62"
* "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle"
* "Three Men, a Woman and a Baby"

Christmas specials
(1991–2003)|

* "Miami Twice"
* "Mother Nature's Son"
* "Fatal Extraction"
* "Heroes and Villains"
* "Modern Men"
* "Time on Our Hands"
* "If They Could See Us Now"
* "Strangers on the Shore"
* "Sleepless in Peckham"

Other episodes|

* The Funny Side of Christmas: "Christmas Trees" (1982)
* "Licensed to Drill" (1984)
* "White Mice" (1985)
* "Royal Variety Show" (1986)
* "The Robin Flies at Dawn" (1990)
* "Comic Relief special" (1997)
* "Beckham in Peckham" (2014)

See also|

* Awards
* The Green Green Grass
* Rock & Chips
* "Five Gold Rings"
* "The Frog and the Pussycat"
* Only Fools and Horses The Musical

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