Yuppy Love

"Yuppy Love" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, Only Fools and Horses. It originally aired on 8 January 1989 and is the first episode of series six, marking the start of the increase in running time from thirty minutes to fifty minutes per episode.

"Yuppy Love"
Only Fools and Horses episode
Episode no.Series 6
Episode 1
Directed byTony Dow
Written byJohn Sullivan
Produced byGareth Gwenlan
Original air date8 January 1989
(13.9 million viewers)
Running time50 minutes
  • 47:33 (DVD/iTunes)

Synopsis

Having seen and been strongly influenced by the film Wall Street, especially its lead character, the ruthless corporate high-flyer Gordon Gekko, Del Boy has decided to adopt a new "yuppy" image, donning a striped shirt and red braces, and carrying a filofax and a silver briefcase. Rodney in turn has joined an evening computer class in an attempt to earn a diploma and finally get a proper job. His efforts to learn the Amstrad CPC 6128 are mocked by his family. At the computer class Rodney meets and is attracted to Cassandra Parry and meets her again later at a nightclub, where she offers to give him a lift home. She first drives to her house and Rodney feels upstaged by Cassandra's luxurious lifestyle. Embarrassed at the thought of Cassandra seeing their council flat in Nelson Mandela House, Rodney instead leads her to The King's Avenue, an expensive and very up-market road, implying that he lives there and has to stand in the driveway, being seen by the homeowners. Despite soon finding out that he actually does not Cassandra still phones and agrees to meet Rodney again.

"Falling Through The Bar" scene

The episode features a scene in which Del, leaning against a bar flap in a local bistro, moves away from it to point some women out to Trigger, and then leans back again, unaware that, in that short space of time, the bartender had just lifted it up. He falls straight down, and Trigger does a double-take when he looks around and finds that Del has "disappeared".[1][2] On 21 December 2006, this scene was nominated in the UKTV Gold Top 40 Greatest Only Fools Moments, and subsequently voted the most popular scene of the entire programme.[3] It was also named 7th Greatest Television Moment of all time in a 1999 Channel 4 poll, beating the likes of John F. Kennedy's assassination, the Queen's coronation and Winston Churchill's funeral.[4] In 2008, Empire placed Only Fools and Horses 42nd on their list of "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time" and cited "Yuppy Love" as the show's best episode.[5]

In a critique of the sometimes vacuous nature of sitcom humour, the scene was parodied in an episode of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle in which Stewart visits a village which recreates the scene with giant figures of Del Boy and Trigger as an annual folk tradition. A similar scene also occurs in Last of the Summer Wine when Eli falls behind the bar.

Episode cast
Actor Role
David Jason Del Boy
Nicholas Lyndhurst Rodney
Buster Merryfield Uncle Albert
Roger Lloyd-Pack Trigger
Gwyneth Strong Cassandra
Patrick Murray Mickey Pearce
Steven Woodcock Jevon
  
Actor Role
Francesca Brill Emma
Laura Jackson Marsha (girl in bar)
Diana Katis Dale (girl in bar)
Hazel McBride Snobby girl
William Thomas Barman
Tracy Clarke Girl in disco

First appearances

Episode concept
  • The new image for Del Boy was based on Gordon Gekko from the movie Wall Street (Rodney mentions that his brother saw the film six times), as part of the yuppy movement that was popular at the time. The episode also introduces Cassandra into the series.[6]
  • The episode title is a pun on the popular song and saying, Puppy Love.

Music

Note: "The Spell! (Get Down With The Genie)" and "Enchanted Lady" are removed on the VHS, DVD and iTunes versions and over-dubbed with generic music, leading to some scenes of dialogue being removed.

References
  1. "Del Boy's wine bar fall is favourite television pub scene". Ananova. Retrieved 2 September 2006.
  2. BBCWorldwide (21 July 2010), Del Boy falls through the bar - Only Fools and Horses - BBC, retrieved 16 May 2016
  3. "Top 10 Only Fools Moments". UK Gold. 21 December 2006. Retrieved 21 December 2006.
  4. "100 Greatest ... (TV's 100 Greatest Moments)". Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  5. "The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time". Empire. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  6. Did You Know? Archived 18 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine ofah.net
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