Ashes to Ashes

**"Ashes to Ashes"** is an episode of the BBC sitcom, *Only Fools and Horses*. It was the second episode of Series 2, and was first screened on 28 October 1982. The episode title was based on the Christian funeral service phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust".

## Synopsis

*Del and Rodney try to get rid of Trigger's grandad's ashes.*

## Plot

As Del Boy and Rodney are in the market conducting business as usual, Trigger walks by and asks them if they'll attend the funeral of his grandmother Alice. After discovering that they will be the only other mourners, the Trotter Brothers agree.

Later, after the funeral, Del, Rodney, Trigger, and Grandad hang out at Alice's house, and Trigger tells the Trotters that his father died a few years before he was born, as well as the story of how Alice had an affair with someone else while her husband Arthur was away fighting in the war. Among the many things in the house are two urns that Del can sell.

That night, back at the flat, as Del comes to the conclusion that the urns are valuable, Grandad looks in one of them to see the ashes of Trigger's grandfather Arthur. Then, Grandad comes clean as he tells his grandsons that *he* was the other man who Alice had the affair with while Arthur was away, because his wife Violet had left him at the time. When Arthur found out, he told Grandad that he would come back and haunt him someday. Del and Rodney do not believe that Arthur's ghost could've found Grandad, and go to bed.

Later that night, at 3:00am, Del comes out of the bathroom, just to eavesdrop in on Grandad talking to the urn with Arthur's ashes in it. Del decides to wind him up by talking through a traffic cone, making Grandad think that Arthur's ghost is really talking to him. But unfortunately, Rodney is awakened by the noise and scares Del from behind. Grandad finally has enough and demands that Del and Rodney get the ashes out of the flat. But, Del and Rodney can't get hold of Trigger, since he's on holiday in Ireland. Grandad suggests scattering Arthur's ashes at his old hangout, the Peckham Bowling Green, tomorrow night.

The next night, at the bowling club, Del and Rodney decide to scatter the ashes evenly while saying a prayer, but unfortunately, they don't get to do so as the clubhouse lights up and the players arrive. The Trotter Brothers quickly escape into the night.

The next morning, Del and Rodney try to pour Arthur's ashes into the water at St. Katharine Docks, but are stopped by the river police from doing so.

After failing to pour the ashes into a cement mixer, the Trotter Brothers get lucky when a council cleaning lorry sucks up the ashes from the urn. Del is convinced that it makes sense since Arthur used to be a roadsweeper, but Rodney isn't sure.

When they get back home, Grandad tells Del and Rodney that Trigger received their telephone calls, since he's fogbound at the airport. Trigger tells Del something that Grandad forgot to mention: Trigger's grandmother Alice had been married twice. Del then shows Grandad the other urn which of course is full of ashes.

## Featured characters

* Del Boy
* Rodney
* Grandad
* Trigger

## Story Notes/Trivia

* This is the first episode that Grandad is in a different outfit to his regular attire, donning a suit for Alice Ball's funeral
* When Rodney stats 'It's Arthur's Ashes' Del replies to 'Arthur Ashes, that's the black bloke who won Wimbledon' Del is referring to Arthur Ashe who won Wimbledon in 1975.

### Story arc

* Grandad's affair with Alice would be mentioned again in the third episode of ***Rock & Chips***, "The Frog and the Pussycat", as the main reason why Violet threw her husband out of their house in Deptford.

"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)