Revisiting "Royal Flush" a very special from "Only Fools and Horses"

Only Fools and Horses is a BAFTA winning British television sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. Episodes are regularly repeated on GOLD.

Set in Peckham in south London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney, and Lennard Pearce as their ageing grandfather (later replaced by Buster Merryfield as their Uncle Albert). Backed by a strong supporting cast, the series chronicles their highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich.


A Royal Flush
Transmitted: 25.12.1986
Duration: 75 minutes
Viewing Figures: 18.8 million


Rodney meets Vicky, a seemingly impoverished artist who it transpires is the daughter of the Duke of Maylebury.

Having obtained a pair of tickets to the sold-out production of Carmen, Rodders seems to have deeply impressed Vicky. She is less taken by the presence of Del and his peroxide blonde dolly bird. Especially when they open the crisps.

Vicky then invites Rodney to a party at the Duke’s country home, and it seems romance may be on the cards. Then Del Boy turns up, hits the vino-plonko and ruins everything for his little brother.





"Del Boy"is trying to make a "hit" sale at the market using his known Cockney rhetoric's ...


In the meanwhile his brother Rodney is on the watch ... for the police ...


Bored ... suddenly he sees a nice looking girl on the other side of the market ...


She smiles back ... and Rodney is very suprised ...


Rodney approaches her ... and they start talking


Immediately we realise that she uses an "U" speech ...or URP pronunciation
This brings them to colourful adventures ...
I let you with the images ... Try to "decode" what happens ...

As Del Boy sells cutlery to the local market crowd, Rodney spots an attractive woman, and abandons his lookout position to talk to her. At Sid's cafe, she introduces herself as Vicky. Upon further reading, Rodney discovers that she is Lady Victoria Marsham Hales of Covington House, Berkshire, the daughter of the Duke of Maylebury, a second cousin of the Queen and explains that her mother died in a skiing accident. Sensing a chance to make the Trotter family millionaires, Del decides to assist Rodney's blossoming friendship with Lady Victoria, such as by acquiring tickets for the opera Carmen.

On the night of the opera, Rodney and Victoria arrive, only to see that Del has also shown up, along with June Snell (last seen in "Happy Returns"), a former girlfriend of Del and mother of one of Rodney's ex-girlfriends. Del and June ruin the night by noisily eating snacks, talking during the performance, and arguing with other members of the audience. Nonetheless, Victoria invites Rodney to stay at Covington House for the weekend. Wanting Rodney to make a good impression, Del insists that he dresses as a country gentleman in a tweed suit. Already nervous during the weekend in Berkshire, Rodney is horrified when Del arrives with a reluctant Albert in the Reliant Regal, claiming to have turned up to deliver Rodney's evening suit that he "forgot" (although Rodney knows that he packed it and Del removed it so he had an excuse to turn up). As Rodney seethes with anger, Del introduces himself to Victoria's father Henry and invites himself to that evening's dinner having coincidentally brought his own evening suit. Del takes part in their clay pigeon shoot using a pump-action shotgun borrowed from Iggy Iggins, a local bank robber, and quickly begins to irritate Henry.

At dinner, Del gets drunk and boorish and starts insulting the guests with lewd comments, touting a marriage between Rodney and Victoria, not shutting up about the artist Leonardo Da Vinci and embarrassing Rodney by revealing his conviction for possession of cannabis. Del finally pushes the Duke over the edge by telling a skiing joke (despite knowing that's how Victoria's mother died). In a fury, the Duke demands Del meets him outside. As the two leave, Victoria asks Rodney if he's still staying overnight. He regretfully declines and decides to go home, which Victoria allows. Outside the Duke orders that Del, Rodney and Albert are to leave his premises immediately. Del tells the Duke that Rodney may need to be paid off to leave Victoria alone.

Back at the flat, a furious Rodney relates to a very hung over Del how he has always ruined his opportunities to make a success of his life by interfering, and injures his hand punching a vent cover out of anger. After Rodney reveals that he refused the offer of a £1000 pay-off from the Duke to stop seeing Vicky (angering Del, who had arranged the offer), Del says that had Rodney refused to stop seeing Victoria, he would probably have been assassinated by the Special Branch because of his conviction for marijuana use. Del ostensibly apologises to Rodney and asks him to shake his hand, but this turns out to be a ploy for Del to inflict punishment on Rodney for refusing the £1000 by squeezing his bad hand.