The Chance of a Lunchtime

Del Boy and Raquel have lunch with Adrian, director of Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Detailed sypnosis

Raquel has been offered the chance to really get her acting career off the ground by auditioning for the part of Rosalind in Shakespeare's As You Like It, and Del Boy is behind her all the way for it.

Meanwhile, Del, knowing that Rodney hasn't spoken to her since she got back from her holiday, goes round to see Cassandra, as well as fix the door to her and Rodney's flat. Del then tells Cassandra that Rodney wants to meet up with her tonight at a little restaurant over Wapping Way at 7:30pm. Cassandra agrees to the date and time.

Later, back at Nelson Mandela House, Del promises to help Raquel rehearse. Just then, Rodney is about to open the front door when Del urges him to ring the doorbell. Rodney does so, and the Star-Spangled Banner plays, because Del has just installed his latest item to flog: the Anthachime, a doorbell that plays 36 different national anthems. Del then tells Rodney the same thing he told Cassandra: meeting up at the restaurant in Wapping Way at 7:30pm. Rodney also agrees to the date and time.

Sometime later at the Nag's Head, Del fails to convince Mike to buy an Anthachime, but has better luck when Trigger buys one. Marlene and Boycie, along with their son Tyler, enter. Boycie complains about how many toys that Marlene is buying Tyler. Marlene asks Del is he misses Rodney when he got married to Cassandra and went to work for her father's printing firm. Del admits it by saying, "Oh yeah, I missed him like George Michael missed Andrew Ridgely." Marlene takes Tyler and leaves. As Boycie waves to his son, Del, Mike, and Trigger do so as well, and Boycie leaves the pub angry, while the others laugh.

Meanwhile, at the restaurant in Wapping Way, Rodney and Cassandra both show up, and their chat gets off to a rocky start by mentioning the disastrous consequences of Rodney's near-date with Tania, but eventually, they both make up after reazlizing that Del was the one who really set all this up. They decide not to eat, and just decide to head back to their flat.

Back at the Nag's Head, a drunken 38-year-old peroxide blonde woman, who wants a taxi to Battersea, throws herself all over Del, who barely remembers her as Trudy, another old girlfriend from 1970. Rodney enters to tell Del the good news about his date with Cassandra, as well as mention that he saw Raquel and Albert getting off a bus. This makes Del worried, so he asks Rodney to take Trudy to her taxi. Outside, Rodney tries to keep Trudy from falling, but Cassandra drives by, sees what's happening, thinks Rodney is kissing Trudy, and speeds off into the night in a huff. Rodney lets Trudy fall to the ground, races back to his door, fails to open the door, and rings the doorbell which plays the French National Anthem, before walking back to Nelson Mandela House.

Back at Trotter Towers, Rodney returns to the flat dejected with the bad news, as Del Boy and Raquel rehearse. As Raquel continues her rehearsal in the bedroom, Del admits that he didn't know Cassandra would see Rodney with Trudy. Just then, Alan phones the flat, asking for Rodney. Del tells him that Rodney's asleep, as well as tell his younger brother that his father-in-law wants to see him in work tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Del follows Raquel into the bedroom, as Rodney worries that Alan is going to fire him. Albert then tells his latest boring war story, which is about a chief communications officer on board named Tubby Fox, who was a real party animal who brought a Maltese girl onto the ship. The captain put Tubby on a charge and started court-martial proceedings. But Tubby resigned his commission, which meant the ship couldn't sail, and the captain had no choice but to refuse to accept Tubby's resignation. Once he'd done that, the court martial was deemed null and woid. What Albert's trying to say is that Rodney should realize his own importance. This makes Rodney more relieved with his situation, so he thanks his uncle and goes off to bed.

The next day, at Parry Print Ltd, Rodney enters Alan's office and leaves an envelope on his desk. Alan enters all happy and excited, because he's got the three-year contract from a mail-order company. Meanwhile, Del and Raquel have lunch with Adrian, the director of the play, and his gay partner, Jules.

Later that day, back at Trotter Towers, Rodney is shocked to find out that Alan has cheerfully accepted his letter of resignation and replaced him with a teenager named Elvis. Del is furious at Rodney's immaturity, and tells him now he's got no wife, no home, and no job.

Much later that night, Raquel glumly tells Del that the Shakespeare play is a tour around schools, and that she turned it down because she's pregnant. Del is happy to hear the news and also tells Albert and Rodney before embracing with Raquel.

Stats

Season: 7
Writer: John Sullivan
Director: Tony Dow
Producer: Gareth Gwenlan
Duration: 50 minutes
Airdate: January 6, 1991
Audience: cinama

Featured characters

• Del Boy
• Raquel
• Rodney
• Cassandra
• Uncle Albert
• Boycie
• Marlene
• Tyler
• Duke
• Mike
• Trigger
• Alan Parry
• Trudy (Del's ex-fiancee)
• Adrian
• Jules

Other notes

Story arc

• Rodney quits working for Parry Print Ltd, yet doesn't rejoin Trotters Independent Traders until "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle".
• Raquel mentions that her ex-husband is a police officer, which foreshadows his appearance in "The Class of 1997

Production goofs

• When Del is in bed with Raquel, the extremely tacky purple headboard has a large golden heart within its design, whereas in "Modern Men", the heart was not incorporated within the design.
• At the end of the episode, when Del runs out into the hallway to call Albert and Rodney after hearing that Raquel is pregnant, he runs to the door which is the sitting room door to call Albert who is in his bedroom, but all that's there is a wall which was obviously not there in past episodes (haunting scene of "Ashes to Ashes" etc.).

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Next episode: Stage Fright