Mother Nature's Son (25 Dec. 1992)

Strapped for cash as ever, Del is clearing Grandad's allotment, which has become a health hazard and where he finds some bottles of yellow liquid, which he dumps. He also finds a tap, ... See full summary »

Director:

Tony Dow

Writer:

John Sullivan

Stars:

David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Buster Merryfield

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
David Jason	...	Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter
Nicholas Lyndhurst	...	Rodney Trotter
Buster Merryfield	...	Uncle Albert Trotter
Tessa Peake-Jones	...	Raquel Turner
Gwyneth Strong	...	Cassandra Trotter
Paul Barber	...	Denzil
John Challis	...	Boycie
Robert Glenister	...	Myles
Sue Holderness	...	Marlene
Kenneth MacDonald	...	Mike Fisher
Roger Lloyd-Pack	...	Trigger (as Roger Lloyd Pack)
Robert Liddement	...	Damien Trotter
Denis Lill	...	Alan Parry
Tony Marshall	...	Chris
Patrick Murray	...	Mickey Pearce

Storyline

Strapped for cash as ever, Del is clearing Grandad's allotment, which has become a health hazard and where he finds some bottles of yellow liquid, which he dumps. He also finds a tap, hidden by rocks, but claims that there is an actual spring, yielding 'Peckham Spring Water'. Using a bottle of mineral water for the lab test he gets the water accepted and sold to a supermarket chain. Unfortunately he is unaware that it has been contaminated by the same yellow liquid he chucked in the reservoir and, as he turns out the light, the water starts to glow green.

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Plot Keywords:

christmas

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1992 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

65 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The idea for the script was based on a real incident where people had their water supply closed as something had been dumped in a nearby reservoir.

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Quotes

Uncle Albert: You call that music, sounds more like noise to me. That's all you youngsters are interested in nowadays.
Rodney: Didn't your generation ever enjoy itself Albert?
Uncle Albert: When I was your age I was fighting in the war.
Rodney: Well then you must have made more bloody noise than me then!

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Connections

References The House of Eliott (1991)

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Soundtracks

"Merry Xmas Everybody"
(uncredited)
Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea
Performed by Slade

User Reviews

Peckham Spring Water

A great 1992 Christmas special of 'Only Fools and Horses'

Recession is in the air and the Trotters are struggling. Del has paid so much rent on the flat he now officially owns it and the mortgage is two and a half times the price of the rent and Del was struggling to pay the rent. He now also owns Grandad's old allotment. Del goes to try and clear up the allotment and finds an old yellow barrel with gunge in it, he with the help of Trigger and Denzil throw it away, in a reservoir. Rodney and Del go to an organic stall where they meet Myles, a friend of Rodney's who to was poor but his 'organic' store has made him a millionaire. Del notices bottled water in this stall at sixty-five pence a bottle, giving him an idea. He creates a kind of stream at the allotment and shows it Myles, who thinks it is a potential gold mine as spring water could be taken from it. He asks for a sample and Albert gives him Buxton water (Myles doesn't know this), so obviously it is pure and he wants an order for his organic store. Peckham Spring Water is born, potentially it comes from a stream but in reality it comes from Del's tap. It does well, Myles orders loads of it and the major supermarkets become interested as do restaurants and pubs etc. If they were to get found out, it would definitely mean prison. Obviously though with all this, there is a drout as a ridiculous amount of water is coming out of Del's tap. As they have made a lot of money, Del, Rodney, Raquel, Cassandra and Damien go for a weekend at the seaside. They get some news on the news, the local reservoir has been suspended from giving the people from Peckham water as a barrel of something yellow, the gunge, was found in it and it is being investigated. Then Del and Raquel go to bed, with a bottle of Peckham Spring which is being sold in the hotel. When they turn out the light, the bottle glows yellow.

A brilliant special, taken from the later episodes from 'Only Fools and Horses' where series weren't being made and just specials. It was a clever idea and something you could only imagine happening to the Trotters. Playing Myles was Robert Glenister, who is the brother of Phillip Glenister, who so brilliantly played Gene Hunt in 'Life on Mars' and its special 'Ashes to Ashes'

Best Bit: Del, Trigger and Denzil are about to put the yellow gunge in Denzil's van: DENZIL: How can you be certain this stuff isn't dangerous, DEL: Because it's not and that's the truth, TRIGGER: There you are you've heard it from the horses mouth, now lift, DENZIL: What do you mean I've heard it from the horses mouth, that's Derek Trotter, not bloody Einstein, TRIGGER: Del knows what he's talking about and I don't see what the Beatle's manager's got to do with it.

Second Best Bit: Del, Trigger and Denzil are driving the gunge to a council tip late at night which Trigger said would be open, they get there and it's closed, DEL: It's closed, TRIGGER: Well it is a bit late innit, DEL: What do you mean it's a bit late, you said it was open twenty-four hours a day, TRIGGER: Yeah, but not at night.