Dates

"**Dates**" is the seventh Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom, *Only Fools and Horses*, first broadcast on 25 December 1988. In the episode, Del Boy joins a dating agency and meets Raquel. Rodney also goes on a date, with Nag's Head barmaid Nerys.

## Synopsis

The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently thanks to selling ladies' electric razors, and Uncle Albert's 68th birthday is coming up, though Del Boy and Rodney pretend to have forgotten. Meanwhile, after being impressed by a girl Trigger had met through a local dating agency, Del himself decides to sign up for it. Calling himself "Derek Duvall", managing director of a successful import and export business, he meets an aspiring actress named Raquel Turner. The two get on well and agree to meet again. Del asks Raquel to join him at Albert's upcoming birthday party, but she declines, citing an acting class she has to attend.

Meanwhile, Rodney also arranges a date, with *The Nag's Head* barmaid "Nervous" Nerys Sansom, and is tricked into leading a wild and dangerous persona by Mickey Pearce to impress her. Rodney dresses as James Dean and takes Nerys for a ride in the Trotter Van until they are pursued by a gang of punks, which leads to a high-speed chase. They race past two police officers at temporary traffic signals. The police officers vow to apprehend the driver of the "yellow three-wheeled van".

For the entertainment at Albert's birthday party, it emerges that Del has hired a stripper, who turns out to be Raquel. The two recognise each other, and, humiliated, Del storms out of the pub and tells Raquel he doesn't want to see her again before changing his mind again a few days later at Sid's café. Raquel tells him that she plans to go and work in the Middle East, and that if he is still interested in her, he should visit her before the flight leaves. Del plans to go, but encounters the two police officers still looking for the owner of the yellow van (he had been pointed out by someone else). Believing the female police officer to be a stripper hired by Albert, Del rips her blouse open, and is arrested. Heartbroken, Raquel leaves for the Middle East just as Del is taken into custody.

## Featured characters

* Del Boy
* Rodney
* Uncle Albert
* Raquel (first appearance)
* Mike Fisher
* Boycie
* Marlene
* Trigger
* Sid
* "Nervous" Nerys Sansom
* Mickey Pearce
* Jevon
* Chris

## Other notes

### Miscellaneous trivia

* This special won a BAFTA "Best Comedy" Award in March 1989.
* At the Hilton, Raquel mentions having a line in ***Doctor Who***, which is ironic, because the waiter in that scene is played by Nicholas Courtney, who played Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart in *Doctor Who*.
* According to the book *The A-Z of Only Fools and Horses*, this is John Sullivan's personal favourite episode.

"Go West Young Man" ·
"Cash and Curry" ·
"The Second Time Around" ·
"A Slow Bus To Chingford" ·
"Ashes to Ashes" ·
"A Losing Streak" ·
"No Greater Love" ·
"The Yellow Peril" ·
"It Never Rains..." ·
"Healthy Competition" ·
"Friday the 14th" ·
"Yesterday Never Comes" ·
"May the Force Be with You" ·
"Wanted" ·
"Strained Relations ·
"Hole in One" ·
"It's Only Rock and Roll" ·
"Sleeping Dogs Lie" ·
"Watching the Girls Go By" ·
"The Miracle of Peckham" ·
"The Longest Night" ·
"Tea for Three" ·
"Video Nasty" ·
"Danger UXD" ·
"Chain Gang" ·
"The Unlucky Winner Is..." ·
"Sickness and Wealth" ·
"The Chance of a Lunchtime" ·
"Stage Fright" ·
"The Class of '62" ·
"He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle" ·
"Diamonds Are For Heather" (1982) ·
"Thicker than Water" (1983) ·
"Licensed to Drill" (1984) ·
"To Hull and Back" (1985) ·
"A Royal Flush" (1986) ·
"The Frog's Legacy" (1987) ·
"**Dates**" (1988) ·
"The Jolly Boys' Outing" (1989) ·
"Rodney Come Home" (1990) ·
"Miami Twice" (1991) ·
"Mother Nature's Son" (1992) ·
"Fatal Extraction" (1993) ·
"Heroes and Villains" (1996) ·
"Modern Men" (1996) ·
"Time On Our Hands" (1996) ·
"If They Could See Us Now" (2001) ·
"Strangers on the Shore" (2002) ·
"Sleepless in Peckham" (2003)
"Beckham in Peckham" (2014)