"Time on our Hands"

29th December 1996

This was the third of three hour-long episodes making up the so-called "1996 Trilogy" that was to finish the series.

Consideration was given to making Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert into cartoon characters as they walked into the sunset at the end. Ultimately, only the background was CGI-treated to make it into a sunset.

All the stuff about John Harrison the watchmaker is absolutely true - he built the world's first marine chronometer in the eighteenth century, and was paid the equivalent of £6 million for his troubles (by chance (?), the same amount as Del and Rodney earn from their find at Sothebys). However, the lost "lesser watch" which Del Boy and Rodney find appears to be a Sullivan invention - in real life, Harrison ended his career with the much troubled "H5". One line of dialogue in "Time on our Hands" identifies the Trotter's watch as an "H6".

John Harrison (1693-1776)

The final sequence in the flat features some very nostalgic voices from the past, including Grandad, in a clip from the first episode, "Big Brother" ("Your dad always said that one day Del Boy would reach the top... but then again, he always used to say that Millwall would win the cup!") and Reg Trotter, in a clip from Series 2 ("I never raised a hand to your Mother Rodney, except in self defence!"). We also hear the voice of Joannie Trotter for the first time, played by an unknown extra ("Del Boy, it's time to get up! It's seven thirty! It's your fault if you've got a hangover. You can't have today off, you're taking your eleven plus!").

The DVD robs us of the gorgeous Crosby, Stills Nash & Young track "Our House", used over the montage of the family becoming wealthy. Clearances mean we get a rather less effective cover by an unknown Irish woman (who replaces "Cats" with "Dogs" in the lyrics).

"Time on our Hands" holds the record for highest audience for a UK sitcom episode (24.3 million)

Cassandra's parents (absent here) turned out to be the Doctor Who dream team of Ventham and Lill. As if trying to top her, Raquel's Dad is played by Valeyard actor Michael Jayston... but her Mum is lost (Ann Lynn). If only they'd got Nerys Hughes and completed the Doctor Who connection.

Del "borrows" an enormous dining table and chairs from the council, especially for his first meeting with Raquel's parents.

Much is made of the fact that Rodney began working for Del 16 years ago, and that he apparently "kept receipts" in the early days.

This episode reveals that events of "Modern Men" took place "2 weeks" ago, and those of "Heroes & Villains" occurred "a few weeks ago".

In the early 1700's, John Harrison invented the first ever accurate marine timekeeper. The last watch, the "H6" or "The Harrison lesser watch", has been missing for over three hundred years. It somehow wound up in a house clearance, and then in the Trotter's garage.

More over the top acting from Jason, most notably when he pretends to be ill to give Rodney a 'counter worry'. He's atrocious - perhaps it was a good thing the series was to end (sic)!

Lyndhurst's "you git..." lines are a bit cringe worthy in the lift scene.

The script is as sparkling as usual.

"What you gonna do us to eat?"
"Noisettes of lamb in red wine and cognac."
"You don't need to go to all that trouble sweetheart, a bacon sandwich will do me!"
(Del thinks she means now)

"During the war..."
"If you say 'during the war' one more time..."
"I wasn't going to say 'during the war'.. bloody little know-all! (pause) During the 1943 to 1945 conflict with Germany..."!

"The only time Del's suffered from pleurisy is when he's tried to spell it!"

"She did say she was older than him!"
(Raquel's Mum meets Albert first)

"It lets you know where you are, anywhere in the world."

"How did it get lost then?"

"Unfortunately they held onto the piece for sixteen years, believing it to be a Victorian egg timer"

And, best of all...

"I'll get the sandwiches. Because you got the rolls"!

Del's first meeting with his in-laws is immediately wrecked with his opening gambit: "Au Revoir"! But he still thinks he's "knocking 'em bandy"!

Despite "you git..." (see Production Goofs), the lift scene is rather lovely ("you can't hide in a broken lift") as well as being funny (the cigar smoke wafting over when Rodney explains the cleanest air is at the bottom of the lift, and Del's suggestion of playing "hide'n'seek"!).

The ending is heart stoppingly perfect, as our heroes set off into the literal sunset having made their fortune.

"All the dreaming, and the scheming and the trying... that was the fun part. The hunt is over. Trotters Independent Traders has ceased trading."

The genius of this, what should have been the final ever episode of "Only Fools and Horses", is it's subtlety. A lesser writer, at a time when the nation was gripped by the recently newly-licensed National Lottery, would have had Del and Rodney scooping the Jackpot. But having them find a valuable antique instead is both fitting to the history of the characters (the irony of the watch having apparently been in the Trotters garage throughout the entire history of the show is noted on-screen) and more dignified. Such is the realism with which the story is told, complete with Sothebys showdown, that watching it one truly feels like something fantastic has happened to someone ordinary - akin to oneself winning the proverbial jackpot in fact. Sullivan plays with the audience throughout the script (at one point we join Sotheby's with a £40,000 bid being called... and of course it's for another lot, because our heroes OBVIOUSLY aren't going to get that lucky). Even aside from the fabulous denouement, the story is one of the funniest and at the same time most touching the series had to offer (the scenes where Rodney finally admits Cassandra's miscarriage - "Happy families became dungeons and dragons").

The final scenes are an absolute treat and a reward for those that had followed the show for a number of years. It is, quite honestly, one of the most satisfying payoffs in TV history, as, over a beautifully chosen "Our House" by Crosby, Steels, Nash & Young (cruelly uncleared for DVD release), Uncle Albert gets (and crashes!) his own boat, Del, Rodney, Cassandra and Raquel are shown living in wonderful houses, and all of them walk into the Nags Head, clad in furs and expensive clothes, to a stunned silence. Then, slowly, everyone begins to clap. It's just about impossible not to watch this as a devotee of the series without crying!

Wrapping up the show in as perfect a way possible, weaving laughs and tears in equal measure, and still ending on an upbeat note, "Time on our Hands" is a wonderful closing episode.

If only it really had of been...