Diamonds Are for Heather

On a November evening at The Nag's Head, Del Boy is drowning his sorrows due to his loneliness, and cheers himself up by ordering a mariachi band to sing "Old Shep". He also meets a beautiful woman named Heather, who seems to be one friend short of company. Del entertains her and escorts her home safely.

When he brings her back to her flat, Del discovers that Heather has a son named Darren, aged three and a half, and a husband named Vic, who has not returned since joining a very long queue at the Job Centre 18 months earlier.

Over the next six weeks, Del and Heather's romance blossoms, Del gets along well with Darren, and all is running so smoothly, that, with Christmas imminent, Del decides to propose to Heather, even if it means moving away from Rodney and Grandad.

However, at a candle-lit curry dinner, Heather refuses Del's proposal, because her husband Vic wrote to her one week earlier and is now living in Southampton, working as a department store Father Christmas. He also wants to give his marriage with Heather a second chance by asking her and Darren to move in with him. Heather says she never knew Del felt so strongly for her and sees him like a brother. Heather then says goodbye to Del, who manages to cheer himself up by paying some carol singers to sing "Old Shep".

• The idea for the script was to demonstrate Del's love for children, and that he really could be a family man if he put his mind to it.[1]

• Fat Larry's Band - "Zoom"

• "Diamonds Are For Heather" at bbc.co.uk