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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Ashes to Ashes (Series 2, 1982)
An early sign of the show's gift for turning a funeral into farce. After Trigger's grandmother dies, Del and Rodney end up trying to scatter a set of ashes, and every attempt goes wrong in a new way, from a bowling green to the Thames to a passing road sweeper. Trigger is at his dimmest and best, and the closing twist about a second urn is one of John Sullivan's neatest punchlines. A good test episode: if this one makes you laugh, the early series are worth your time.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
A Touch of Glass (Series 2, 1982)
The chandelier episode. Del talks his way into cleaning the antique chandeliers at a lord's country house for £350, and the careful plan for taking one down is set up so patiently that the moment Grandad unscrews the wrong one lands like a punch. Fans voted the chandelier drop the second greatest moment in the show's history in a Radio Times poll for its 40th anniversary. It runs under half an hour and needs no backstory, which makes it the ideal first episode for a newcomer.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Strained Relations (Series 4, 1985)
Written after Lennard Pearce, who played Grandad, died in December 1984, this episode opens with Grandad's funeral and brings in Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert. It is the show at its most tender: Del keeps up the patter while hiding his grief, and the moment he finally admits it is one of the best things David Jason does in the whole run. Albert's arrival also changes the household for good, so watch this before any later episode.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
To Hull and Back (Christmas special, 1985)
The first feature-length special, and the moment the show starts thinking like a film. Boycie and Abdul hire Del to smuggle diamonds out of Amsterdam, so Del, Rodney and old sailor Albert set out by boat from Hull, which goes about as well as it sounds. Shot entirely on film rather than studio video, it looks bigger than anything before it, and the running feud with DCI Slater pays off nicely. At 90 minutes it is a commitment, but it is the template for every big Christmas outing that followed.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Series 5, 1986)
Del's old partner Jumbo Mills turns up from Australia with a real business offer, and for once the dream of being a millionaire is within reach. What follows is one of the quietest and most revealing episodes: Albert will not leave, Rodney's record blocks his visa, and Del has to decide what family is worth. Short on big gags, long on heart, it explains why the brothers stay together better than any speech could. Best watched once you know the characters.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
The Frog's Legacy (Christmas special, 1987)
A treasure hunt special: at a wedding, Del hears the story of Freddy the Frog, a bank robber who left his stolen gold to the boys' mother, and sets off after it. Along the way there are faulty computers, dubious massagers and Rodney's spell working at a funeral home. The real reason to watch is the seed it plants about Rodney's parentage, a thread the show keeps returning to for years. Lighter on set pieces than other specials, but essential for anyone following the family story.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Dates (Christmas special, 1988)
The special that introduces Raquel, played by Tessa Peake-Jones, who was meant to appear once and became the love of Del's life. Del signs up with a computer dating agency and passes himself off as an import-export manager, while Rodney's night out with Nervous Nerys ends in a crashed police car. The big reveal at Albert's birthday party is a classic misunderstanding, and the ending finds Del under arrest. Start here if you want the romance that drives the later years.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Yuppy Love (Series 6, 1989)
The bar fall. Del, fresh from watching Wall Street and dressed for the part, goes to lean casually on the bar and drops straight through the open hatch. The scene topped a 2020 survey of the greatest TV moments and won the Radio Times fans' poll for the show's 40th anniversary. The episode also introduces Cassandra, Rodney's future wife, and opens the first series of longer, 50-minute episodes. Even people who never saw the show know the fall, but it lands far harder in context.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Danger UXD (Series 6, 1989)
Denzil passes Del a batch of fifty dolls that turn out to be inflatable adult dolls, and worse, they are filled with explosive propane. Failing to sell them, the Trotters dress two in their mother's old clothes and drive them around, which is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds. It is the show at its broadest and silliest, with Del's yuppie phase still in full swing, and the finale goes out with a bang. A cheeky one rather than a family-friendly starter.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Chain Gang (Series 6, 1989)
The best con in the show, because for once Del is the mark. He and Rodney pool money from a group of friends to buy 250 gold chains from a retired jeweler named Arnie for £12,500, and then Arnie appears to drop dead before the deal is done. The plotting is tight, everyone who chipped in gets something to do, and watching the gang work out what has really happened is pure pleasure. Ideal for viewers who like a twisty caper alongside the laughs.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
The Jolly Boys' Outing (Christmas special, 1989)
Del, Rodney and the Jolly Boys take their annual coach trip to Margate, and almost everything that can go wrong does: Rodney ends up arrested, the radio Del supplied blows the coach up, and the gang is stranded in a grim guesthouse. Underneath the chaos, Del runs into Raquel again and Rodney's marriage to Cassandra hits real trouble. Watched by more than 20 million people on Christmas Day, it balances seaside farce and sadness better than any other special and works for newcomers too.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Stage Fright (Series 7, 1991)
Del books Raquel as a singer at his old friend Eric's club and pairs her for a duet with Tony Angelino, a crooner who cannot pronounce his Rs. Nobody spots the problem until they are on stage, when the Roy Orbison ballad Crying comes out as "Cwying." The slow build to that one joke is masterful, and the episode also gives Raquel real depth as someone chasing a dream of her own. Works for newcomers who already know who Raquel is.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Three Men, a Woman and a Baby (Series 7, 1991)
The birth of Damien, and the closing episode of the last regular series. The comedy comes from Del's unsellable stock of wigs, Rodney's new vegetarianism and an ill-judged clip-on ponytail, but the episode is remembered for the night Raquel goes into labor, when Del becomes a father and the show's hard-shelled hero lets the softness show. It is the emotional peak of the regular series and a fitting end to the run. Watch it after Dates and The Jolly Boys' Outing so the payoff means what it should.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Miami Twice (Christmas special, 1991)
A two-part special shown on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Part one, The American Dream, has Del selling "pre-blessed" wine at Damien's christening; part two, Oh to Be in England, sends Del and Rodney to Florida, where Del turns out to be the double of a Mafia boss facing trial, whose family would like him dead. It is the show's biggest and most cartoonish adventure, and the fish-out-of-water jokes come thick and fast. Watch both halves together, and treat it as a break from the Peckham routine.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Mother Nature's Son (Christmas special, 1992)
Peckham Spring. After a trip to a health food shop where Del is shocked at what people pay for bottled water, he spots a gap in the market: bottle ordinary tap water and sell it as Peckham Spring Water. It is Del's most quotable scam and one of the sharpest satires the show ever did, poking at the idea that anything in a fancy bottle must be worth more. Self-contained and easy to follow, it is a fine pick for a first Christmas special.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Fatal Extraction (Christmas special, 1993)
Del's late nights at the casino, supposedly for a deal in Russian camcorders, push Raquel to walk out, and his brief fling with a dentist's receptionist named Beverley turns into a comic riff on Fatal Attraction once she starts following him. It is a darker special than most, honest about how Del's habits hurt the people around him, while Rodney and Cassandra decide to try for a baby. Nearly 20 million people tuned in on Christmas Day. Best for viewers already invested in Del and Raquel.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Heroes and Villains (Christmas special, 1996)
Batman and Robin. A broken-down van leaves Del and Rodney sprinting through Peckham in superhero costumes on their way to a party, and they end up stopping a mugging for real. The run through the streets came third in the Radio Times fans' poll of the show's greatest moments. It opens the 1996 trilogy, so this is where to begin the final stretch, and it ends with news from Cassandra that sets up the next two episodes.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Modern Men (Christmas special, 1996)
The middle of the 1996 trilogy, and the one that hurts. Del, inspired by a book called Modern Man, toys with a vasectomy, while Rodney goes looking for a better job ahead of becoming a father. Then the comedy stops: Cassandra loses the baby, and the scene where Del tells Rodney to be strong for his wife, then breaks down himself, is among the most moving the show ever made. It is not the place to start, but it gives the finale its weight, so do not skip it on the way to Time on Our Hands.
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Only Fools and Horses (1981)
9.0/10on IMDb
First aired
Time on Our Hands (Christmas special, 1996)
The ending the show built toward for 15 years. Raquel's father, an antiques dealer, spots a long-lost 18th-century marine timekeeper by John Harrison, and when it sells at Sotheby's for £6.2 million, Del and Rodney are finally millionaires. Its 24.35 million viewers put it top of a 2016 Press Association chart of the most-watched programs in British TV history. Written as the series finale, it is funny, generous and earned. Watch it last, straight after the other two 1996 specials.
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