"Sleeping Dogs Lie"

21st Mar 1985

Del hits upon the idea of becoming a pet-sitter for Boycie and Marlene’s new "puppy" Duke. But looking after baby Dukey isn’t going to be quite as easy as he first thought…

We meet Marlene, played by the incomparable Sue Holderness, for the first time, although she’s been mentioned on and off since "A Losing Streak" in Series 2. This at last gives Boycie a worthy foil, and a great and ongoing double act is established in this episode.

Marlene and Boycie have been trying for a baby for "years" and Boycie buys Marlene a dog because she is "broody". The plotline of the couple’s fertility is one that would re-appear many times in later years.

Del appears not to know what Salmonella is here (the "Sam and Ella" line) but he referred to "Salmonella and Chips" back in "Big Brother".

Del feels a bit "Tom Dick" (sick).

Viewers at the time might have had to reach for sunglasses for the scene in the Vets – Del wears a ghastly bright orange sweater.

Watch out for John D. Collins as the Vet – he played popular Doctor Who character Talor from "Arc of Infinity".

"How long have you had the dog?"

"Oh… one day."

(the genius is in Nicholas Lyndhurst’s delivery!)

"When Albert boarded his last ship, the crew shot an albatross for luck."

(no idea what it means, it just sounds funny)

"How’s Marlene going to find out? I suppose Dukey’s going to grass us up is he!"

I remembered this as being a really good episode, but on re-watching it reveals itself to be yet another stop off on the downward trajectory of this season. There are some naff gags that fall very flat (Rodney’s "Is he flat trained?", "Have you had him long, or has he always been that length?", "Shall I get his balls?") and make you wonder if the writer of this script is really the mastermind that penned "Strained Relations" and "Hole in One" a few weeks before. New character Marlene is by the far the best thing in it, and she’s only in one short scene. And would the Doctor at the hospital really find a bottle of pills in the locker of one of his patients and not even bother to check what they were? Sloppy.