If They Could See Us Now

Del taking part on Goldrush.

Detailed sypnosis

In 1996, Del Boy and Rodney, the Trotter brothers, finally realized their dream of becoming millionaires when they found a Harrison watch, auctioned it, and got £6,200,000.

Five years have passed since that incident...and now some of the cast have turned into Inflatables ready to be soled at Dirty Barry,s

The episode opens with Del and Rodney driving to see someone in an office block. They tell him all about what their lives were like before they became rich. The Trotter brothers then talk about what happened on their most recent holiday with their lovers Raquel and Cassandra, and Del's son Damien.

As the Trotters arrive at a fancy hotel in Monte Carlo, France and get all settled in, they get up to all sorts of mischief, such as Damien urinating from the high diving board into the swimming pool.

One night, as Del and Rodney go off to get drunk, Rodney feels guilty about not taking Uncle Albert with them, but Del reminds him that Albert never had a passport, and that he's staying with Elsie Partridge. They then head off to the bar, while mocking Albert's catchphrase "During the war..."

It seemed that the Trotters were on top of the world, but one day, Del read a horrifying story in the newspaper that the Central American stock market had crashed, and to make matters worse, the Trotters invested all their money in that spot! They quickly escape without having to pay for their hotel bill.

It is revealed that the man the Trotters were talking to is a barrister. Once in a courtroom, the barrister asks if the two brothers have any witnesses. Del explains that Mike is now in jail for embezzlement (Sid has now taken over as landlord of the Nag's Head) and that he and Rodney had to sell their country mansion and penthouse suite in order to pay off debts. They do, however, still own their flat at Nelson Mandela House.

Back at the flat, Del tells everyone that they owe a large sum to the Inland Revenue and risk being evicted from their flat. Elsie Patridge's son then phones to say that Albert has passed away, and the Trotter family end up attending the wrong funeral. Later, Rodney agrees to become the new chairman of Trotters Independent Traders after Del is declared bankrupt.

A few days later, Rodney and Cassandra discuss how best to celebrate Rodney's promotion, eventually deciding on dressing up for each other. The next day, Mickey Pearce phones Rodney pretending to be an associate of the Sultan of Brunei. Later that night Del, Raquel, and Damien get ready to go out while Rodney listens to a Mozart record. Trigger arrives stating that Del promised him a lift to the pub despite the fact that he lives closer to the Nag's Head than the Trotters. A bit later, Cassandra - unaware that Del is still in the flat - enters the living room dressed as a policewoman followed by Rodney dressed as a Roman gladiator (supposed to be Russell Crowe, whom Cassandra fancies).

It turns out that Del is going to be a contestant on the gameshow Goldrush (as hosted by Jonathan Ross) and takes Damien and Raquel with him. Del manages to reach the "Rainbow Road" but has to phone Rodney when he doesn't know the answer to a question. Rodney mistakes Jonathan Ross for Mickey Pearce until he looks at the TV and then tries to help Del with the final question but unfortunately answers incorrectly.

Raquel and Damien return home via taxi because Del ran off after losing. After he eventually returns, Del gets a phone call from the producer, telling them that he actually got the final question right. Unfortunately Del thinks that it's Mickey Pearce winding him up tells him to give all the prize money to charity. The episode ends the Trotter family drinking champagne as Del triumphantly says, "We're the Trotters, and we're back!"

Stats

Season: Christmas Special
Writer: John Sullivan
Director: Tony Dow
Producer: Gareth Gwenlan
Duration: 71 minutes
Airdate: December 2011
Audience lovefilm

Featured characters

• Del Boy
• Raquel
• Damien
• Rodney
• Cassandra
• Mickey Pearce
• Boycie
• Marlene
• Denzil
• Sid
• Jonathan Ross

Other notes

Continuity errors

• In the flashback about how the Trotters lost their millions, Rodney is seen flying abroad, yet in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", Rodney was not allowed an immigration visa because he smoked cannabis.
• During their holiday, Rodney tells Del that Albert couldn't go on holiday with them because he didn't have a passport. However, in "To Hull and Back", Del asked Albert if he had brought all the passports with him when he got to Hull, and Albert said they are in his bag. Albert would obviously have had a passport when he went to Amsterdam with his nephews.

Production goofs

• When the Trotters are flying in Concorde, the seat behind Rodney is empty. Then when you see it again, Damien is in it. This may just be a joke about how Damien is a "devil child".
• The Capri Ghia's registration number is CCR 412W, yet in "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle", the registration number was UYD 177R.
• When Rodney and Cassandra come back from the restaurant to have sex in their bedroom (which used to belong to Grandad, then Albert), Del talks about Grandad having his first fit on that bed, but that is unlikely because the bed in this episode is a double, and the one that Grandad slept on in "Homesick" was a single.

The stretched Trotter van.

Miscellaneous trivia

• In the trailers for this episode, a stretch version of their Reliant Regal van was shown but never made the final cut. It never really existed, just a superimposed picture.
• Del was originally going to appear on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Chris Tarrant making a guest appearance. However, ITV did not grant the rights for it to be used on repeat runs of the episode, so instead the fictional quiz show Goldrush was created to be used and Jonathan Ross made an appearance as the host.
• The clips used to describe how "normal" the Trotter brothers were before they became millionaires are used from the following episodes:
  • Grandad dropping the wrong chandelier ("A Touch of Glass").
  • The Jolly Boys' coach blowing up ("The Jolly Boys' Outing").
  • The sex dolls inflating ("Danger UXD").
  • Del and Rodney dressed as Batman and Robin ("Heroes and Villains").

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Next episode: Strangers on the Shore