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"Ashes To Ashes" was the 2nd episode of the 2nd series of Only Fools And Horses, airing on the 28th October 1982 with a viewing figure of 9.8 million.

Synopsis[]

Derek "Del Boy" Trotter and Rodney Trotter are down the market selling tights. Trigger is sweeping the streets nearby and says his gran has died. Del says him and Rodney will come to the funeral.

At Trigger's grans house, Del spots 2 urns that he can sell. Trigger wants to get rid of some of the stuff. It is revealed that during the war when Trigger's grandad Arthur Ball was away, Alice Ball had another man in the house. Grandad looks away suspiciously.

That night, back at the flat, as Del comes to the conclusion that the urns are valuable, Grandad looks in one of the urns and is shocked 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 had 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. They all then go back to bed.

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. They try to dispose of the ashes in the river Thames but get stopped by a river policeman.

An hour or so later, Del walks past a cement mixer and considers throwing the ashes into it. A workman sees him and Del pretends to be just admiring the cement mixer. Del and Rodney then walk off. A short time later, the Trotters are sat by the roadside chatting, and as they get up they leave the urn on the side of the road. They then 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 road sweeper, 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. He then grimaces at Grandad.

Cast[]

Main cast

Guest cast

Observations[]

  • 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.

Blunders[]

Locations seen[]

  • Street market
  • Trigger's grans house (living room)
  • The Trotters flat (living room, hallway)
  • Bowling green
  • Bowling clubhouse
  • St Katherine's Dock, London
  • Unknown streets in Peckham
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