"Ashes to Ashes"

28th October 1982

As the episode starts, Del is selling tights "as worn by Sacha Distell’s Mum"!

Del’s mustard coloured Polo neck. Bleurgh!

Rodney is dating Linda – but her father has just caught Rod with his jeans on back-to-front…

This episode sees the return of Trigger, with previously his only other appearance being in the first episode of the last series.

Trigger’s Gran, Alice, has just died. She is described as having been a "live wire" and Grandad used to "visit" her whilst her husband, Trigger’s Grandad Arthur, was away in the army. Grandad implies it was not a sexual relationship but he could be lying (he knows where her bedroom is!). Arthur looked after Trigger after his Mother died – his Dad "left" some time before [Trigger says it was "before he was born" but this is obviously not possible, so either his Father walked out when he was very young, or was never properly around at all]. Alice was widowed twice, there also being an earlier husband. Arthur was a road sweeper with a false leg.

Since Trigger is "the only one" going to the funeral we must assume that if he has any siblings, they no longer live locally. Trigger has a pending court case for something, but we don’t find out what. Trigger calls Rodney ‘Dave’ for the first time. Grandad’s wife died just before he began to visit Alice. The lifts in the Trotters place of residence frequently break down.

Triggers gran is dead:

"I am really sorry about that Trig."

"It’s alright, it weren’t your fault Del"

and of course Triggers father died "a few years before I was born", possibly the first great Trigger line to seep into the national consciousness.

Some lovely witty dialogue, and it’s nice to learn some more about Trigger. But really, this is very short on plot and not much happens in the second half, leading to a sense that it’s all a bit anti-climactic.