The Second Time Around

"**The Second Time Around**" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, *Only Fools and Horses*. It was the fourth episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 29 September 1981. In the episode, an old fiancee of Del's returns and they rekindle their relationship, to Rodney and Grandad's horror.

## Sypnosis

Del Boy and Rodney are at work as usual, flogging handkerchiefs to the market crowd. They then pop into *The Nag's Head* for a drink, until Del is surprised to see one of his old fiancees, Pauline Harris, back in London after twelve years. Pauline tells Del that she got a job as an air hostess in San Francisco after her husband Bobby Finch died. Del decides to arrange a date with Pauline so they can be together just like old times, but Rodney remembers how she messed Del up the last time they were together.

Later that night, at Nelson Mandela House, as Grandad and Rodney talk about how much trouble Pauline is, Del comes in and announces that he and Pauline are getting married, and that Pauline will be staying with the Trotters.

The next night, Pauline gets on Rodney and Grandad's nerves by refusing to cook for both of them. Del decides that he and Pauline will have to apply for a house of their own.

The next morning, as Rodney and Grandad decide to leave for Auntie Rose's cottage in Clacton, and Pauline goes shopping for her wedding ring, Del gets a phone call from Trigger, who tells him that Bobby Finch died of food poisoning. Del does not believe it at first, but eventually follows Rodney and Grandad behind before Pauline kills him.

The Trotters arrive at Auntie Rose's cottage in Clacton and decide to stay for five days. Later that night, while having shepherd's pie for dinner in the living room, Del tells Rodney what he put in his eviction notice to Pauline: "My dearest darling Pauline. The engagement's off, the wedding's off, and as you can gather from this letter, I'm off. I'll give you five clear days to get out of the flat and do not ever come back, you money-grabbing old murderess! All my love, Del Boy." As Rodney wonders what Pauline will do to their flat, Auntie Rose enters the room and asks Del one question: "Who are you?" Del tries to help her remember that she was at Joan and Reg Trotter's wedding in 1947, but it is revealed that the real Auntie Rose had moved many years ago. Nevertheless, the Trotters still stay at the cottage under the pretence of being the adopted children of Joanie Hollins and her Jamaican husband, even though they have no idea who these people are.

A week later, the Trotters return home to their flat to see that Pauline cleaned it and left a letter for Del before she left informing him she'd dialed the talking clock in America. Rodney comes clean when he says that it was he and Grandad who put Trigger up to phoning Del, who then forgives his younger brother and grandfather. Grandad goes to answer the phone, and Del and Rodney order him to hang it up, risking a huge telephone bill.

## Featured characters

* Del Boy
* Rodney
* Grandad
* Trigger
* Joyce (barmaid)
* Pauline Harris
* "Rose"

## Other notes

### Story arc

* This episode marks the first appearance of one of Del's former fiancées in the series, which later became a regular occurrence.
* Del says that he was a little infant when his parents got married in 1947.

### Episode concept

* This episode is clearly linked to "The Miracle of Peckham" when Grandad is talking to Rodney about how Del used to donate to the church roof fund. John Sullivan went and wrote a whole episode based on the same idea five years later.

### Production goofs

* When the Trotters return to the flat after staying with "Auntie Rose", they rush in and while Del is checking the living room, Grandad can be clearly seen standing by the kitchen door waiting for his cue.

"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)