Rodney meets Irene.
Detailed sypnosis[]
The Trotters arrive at a London street with camel hair overcoats, and plan to receive payments from Mrs. Singh. But when Rodney opens the door to her house, he meets another woman named Irene, who tells him that Mrs. Singh moved away about three weeks ago.
Rodney enters Irene's flat and is instantly smitten with her. Irene tells Rodney that she's aged 40, and married with a teenage son Marcus. She also mentions her husband Tommy Mackay, who "is away working, but will be out in 6 months." He's actually doing time in Parkhurst prison for committing wounding with intent, GBH, and attempted murder.
One week later at Nelson Mandela House, Rodney tells Del Boy and Grandad about Irene, and how she moved away from her husband because he used to beat her up a lot, and to make things worse, Tommy is getting released from prison, and Rodney wants to meet him face-to-face. This makes Del worried for his younger brother's safety.
A few days later, at the Nag's Head, Rodney tells Del that he and Irene had broken up earlier today. Del consoles Rodney and tells him that are plenty of other women to hit on. But then, Irene's son Marcus enters and tells Rodney that the break-up happened because Del told Irene over a drink to do so. Rodney is furious with Del and storms out in a huff.
Later that night, Del is confronted by Tommy Mackay in a dark alley, and Tommy thinks that Del is Rodney (Del says he is Rodney), and prepares to give him a beating for dating his wife Irene. Tommy and his henchman, Leroy, let Del take his coat off, who throws it into a puddle. Angered that his new coat has been ruined, Del puts up his fists and a brawl is on. A bloodied and bruised Del Boy manages to win the fight and walks back to the Nag's Head.
Back at the Nag's Head, Del shows Rodney his injuries, as well as say that he made Tommy Mackay see the error of his ways, which means that Rodney and Irene can still be together. But Rodney says that he had a talk earlier with Irene that their relationship was never going to work anyway. Plus, Rodney met another girl, Zoe, from the roller-disco. Zoe arrives, she and Rodney leave, and Del Boy is left with a smile on his battered and bruised face, knowing that he took the beating for nothing.
Stats[]
Season: 2
Writer: John Sullivan
Director: Ray Butt
Producer: Ray Butt
Duration: 30 minutes
Airdate: November 11, 1982
Audience: 8.6 million
Featured characters[]
Other notes[]
Story arc/Episode concept[]
- The idea for the script was to demonstrate the brotherly love that Del and Rodney have for each other, even willing take a beating for his brother. The concept of Del getting beat up in order to protect Rodney would occur again in "Little Problems" when Del, much to Rodney's ignorance, chooses to take a beating from the Driscoll Brothers after making a promise to him, having forgotten that the money he would use for his gift was also the money which he owed to them.
Production goofs[]
- The photo of Tommy McKay in Irene's flat is quite clearly not of the same man who appears later in the episode.
Previous episode: A Losing Streak
Next episode: The Yellow Peril
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