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in: Only Fools And Horses Episodes., 1990 episodes.

The Sky's the Limit

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Ofah skys

Del and Rodney watch as a plane comes towards Nelson Mandela House.

"The Sky's The Limit" was the first episode of the 7th series of Only Fools And Horses, , airing on the 30th December 1990 with a viewing figure of 15 million, even though "Rodney Come Home" is sometimes seen as the first episode of series 7 as it kickstarted the chain of events for the 7th series. While trying to get Rodney to reconcile with Cassandra, Del is into sattelite dishes and has bought one off Marlene's brother, and one of them vanished from the main runway of Gatwick Airport.

Synopsis[]

Rodney Trotter has been drinking a lot and is suffering hangovers, which is resulting in many days off work. His marriage to Cassandra Trotter has well and truly hit the rocks. Derek "Del Boy" Trotter feels the time has come to tell Albert Trotter that he is now sleeping with Raquel Turner in his bedroom. Albert is in a good mood and keeps singing "Step Back In Time" by Kylie Minogue. Albert leaves a mug of tea outside what he thinks is Raquel's room, unaware she is with Del and Rodney is sleeping in her old room. Del asks Albert to make him a fry up but be quick as Raquel wants him to not eat fried food as Dr Meadows had told Del to stay off fried food two years ago.

Rodney has another hangover that morning and asks Albert to pass on a message to the HR that he is off again today with a viral condition. Albert says he may be a bit egg bound. Del berates Rodney for having too much time off with hangovers and he may get the sack if he carries on. Del says that Alan Parry wants to see him tonight down The Nag's Head so asks Albert to iron his midnight pink shirt. Rodney is limping. Del worries and offers to book Rodney a doctor's appointment, but Rodney says his sock is soaking wet. Someone left a mug of tea outside his bedroom door.

Del calls in to see Boycie to drop his printing round. Boycie has bought a satellite dish that picks up adult movies from Helsinki and Sweden. Marlene reminds Boycie it is hookie and Boycie says they have a Chief Inspector living next door. Marlene says he is the one that Boycie bough it off. Boycie is angry at Marlene's brother Bronco Lane for making a mess up of the decorating and to lower the price he is asking. Del turns up and has a chat with Bronco who says he is living near Gatwick airport runway. Del then gives Boycie his printing.

That night at The Nag's Head, Del meets up with Alan Parry. They chat about how Rodney's drinking too much and pretending he's enjoying it, which is why he's been having so many days off work recently due to Cassandra leaving him. Alan then mentions that when he retires and settles into his villa with Pam, he would like to leave his business in Rodney and Cassandra's hands. Del then gets a phone call from Bronco who is offering to sell Del something.

The next day, Rodney says that Alan has told him to pick Cassandra up from the airport and is not happy about having to do so. but before Del can explain to him, Boycie arrives and tells Del that someone stole his satellite dish. Del then promises to help get him a new one. Del follows Rodney to the balcony, and Rodney says that he will stop complaining about Cassandra's big promotion at her bank. Del then points out that he knows the manager of a luxury hotel not too far away from the airport. So when Cassandra flies in, Rodney will be waiting to take her to the bridal suite. Rodney now agrees to this idea. Del then points out that a satellite dish installed on the balcony.

Rodney arrives at the hotel the following night and is met by the concierge who says Del has ordered champagne for £70 and the room for the night will cost £150. Rodney says "150 quid" loudly in shock before going quiet and polite again. He goes to the main gate at the airport and checks the flights and asks the receptionist who says that particular flight will be landing in about 10 minutes but not at Gatwick, in Manchester. The flight had been rerouted due to chaos at the airport. Rodney is dejected and leaves the flowers behind before walking off.

About an hour or two later, back at the Nag's Head, things become more worse for the Trotters when Boycie enters and tells Del Boy that his satellite dish wasn't stolen, it was just taken away by engineers to be repaired. Albert appears to tell Rodney that Cassandra has phoned and he has told her that Rodney's spending the night in a hotel booked under the names "Rodney and Mrs Trotter", thus giving the impression Rodney is with another woman. Del and Rodney shout at Albert for not telling her that he had gone to meet Cassandra at the airport and had booked the hotel for them. Del says "She will think Rodney has gone caso with some tart". They quickly rush back to the flat to contact Alan.

A few minutes later, back at the flat, Rodney is not having any luck phoning Alan, since he's driving to Manchester. Just then, Del remembers that Bronco told him that he and his family are living in a small bed-and-breakfast hotel called the Hotel Schubert. Del phones Bronco, only to learn from him that the satellite dish on his balcony was stolen from Gatwick Airport's main runway, causing international chaos throughout Europe, which explains how Cassandra's plane ended up in Manchester. The Trotter Brothers head for the balcony, and as they do so, the dish switches on and a huge 747 airplane flies towards Nelson Mandela House. The episode ends with the Trotter Brothers huddling together while yelling, "Switch it off!"

Cast[]

Guest cast

Previous Episode Rodney Come Home[]

Next Episode The Chance of a Lunchtime[]

Observations[]

  • The idea for the script was based on John Sullivan's holiday to Portugal, and discovering that he wasn't booked on the plane.
  • This is John Challis' favourite episode.
  • Dr. Robbie Meadows is briefly mentioned in this episode. Due to being diagnosed with IBS, Del has been told to stay off fried food by Dr Meadows but still secretly likes the odd fry up. Raquel saw egg on his chin and she reminded Del how a doctor told him to say off fried food.

Blunders[]

  • The studio scene on the balcony when the satellite dish is seen for the first time shows a small window in the kitchen wall, but in "Video Nasty", the kitchen wall was blank. Also, in "Fatal Extraction", when the riot started due to Del's drunken singing, the outside scene shows the block of flats used for Nelson Mandela House clearly is built in a way that the door is on the side of the kitchen and not from the lounge.

Locations seen[]

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