Only Fools and Horses - S5E8 - The Frog's Legacy
Comments (107)
I never noticed that before, but it looks like the bus driver is the same actor as Sid from the greasy spoon. That would fit, as he does say in Jolly Boy’s Outing that he used to be a bus driver.
Not gonna lie, the old vicar being Freddie the Frog in disguise all these years would have been a fantastic alternate ending 😂
Top 3 episode for me 😃🇬🇧
1:06:20 - "It took 'em seventy years to find the Titanic" - I think that's all the proof I need that was a deliberate pisstake of "Raise the Titanic". :) Which ended with the protagonists leaving a Hampshire graveyard empty handed...
1:01:50 - "Kept patting the coffin" - That is actually a direct lift from "Raise the Titanic"! "As the vault was lowered down, he kept patting it saying 'Thank God for Southby'"! "Southby" turned out to be a Churchyard village in HAMPSHIRE. I never noticed in 40 years that this IS "Raise the Titanic" but... just without the Titanic!!!
57:00 - This is basically like the final scene in "Raise the Titanic", where Dirk Pitt and Gene Seagram finally realise - the treasure was not only never on the Titanic, but also too dangerous to recover. And the treasure was buried in a grave in Hampshire... ... I wonder if John Sullivan who wrote this in the late 80s was a fan of certain Clive Cussler novel from 1976... ??
You could be on to something there Ronnie.
51:05 - Albert saying "Looks like peace in our time!" as Rodney waves a piece of paper above his head is a reference to... Probably the worst British Prime Minister ever. In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain went to Munich and sat down with Adolf Hitler to discuss worries about Germany's expansion into neighboring territories. Together, they worked out "The Munich Agreement", and signed it together. Chamberlain accepted everyhing Hitler said at face value, despite his actions in Europe. He honestly expected Hitler to honour this agreement, completely oblivious to the atrocities the Nazis were already carrying out. When Chamberlain returned to Britain, as soon as he disembarked his plane, the paparazzi shot film of him waving the Munich Agreement above his head as he declared "This piece of paper guarantees peace in our time!" A year later, WW2 started, causing the deaths of 85 million people. So whenever anyone says Kier Starmer, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, Gordon Brown... Or just whoever they don't like today... Is the "WoRsT pRiMe MiNiStEr EvAh!!!!111one!!"... ...They have forgotten that we had a Prime Minister who made a deal with Hitler that caused 85 million deaths. A toll greater than the total population of the UK even now in 2026.
32:50 - Limitations on prosecution are complex in the UK, and most apply to civil matters. For a bank robbery, there is no limitation, and the gold would permanently allowed to be confiscated as Proceeds of Crime.
After this show, please watch "Goodnight Sweetheart" starring Rodney Trotter, I mean Nicholas Lyndhurst. It's a time travel comedy. He plays Gary Sparrow, a hen-pecked married man who time travels back and forth between modern day 1990's London, and London during the 1940's blitz where he meets and falls in love with a pub landlady. He has to juggle his two lives between two timezones and two women, with only his long suffering best friend Ron from the 1990's who knows his secret, and who supplies him with fake old money. He spends his time collecting artefacts from the 40's to sell in his antique war memorabilia shop in the 90's, as well as being an amazing 1940's songwriter who wrote such memorable wartime hits such as Yesterday, Hey Jude, I am the Walrus, and When I'm 64 😆 It ran for six series's, with a one-off 2016 special.
27:29 Jess synchronised perfectly with the show, I thought I was tripping 😂
"Oliver Twist" = Pissed, as in drunk. Also, Joan Sims, legendary English actress!
I like the bit about getting a job as a Trainee Computer Programmer, cos I got a job that was exactly that about three months after this episode first aired and ended up working in IT for around ten years. Some of best years of my life!
Aunt reenie was played by joan sims who was one of the main cast of the carry on films. I would love for you to watch carry on camping.
Del knew Marlene before Boycie. Him goosing her is just joking around to wind Boycie up.
Joan Simms is a legend. ❤️
One of my favourite episodes this one. Learning more of the history and it's dramatic and funny.
14.5 million people watched this on Christmas Day 1987, more than a quarter of the UK population at the time!
Although in those days viewing figures were extrapolated from a small sample size, they had no way to know the actual number.
Great reaction guys, I knew you would get into this one. The true start of the great episode era, apart from the engrossing storyline in the Frogs legacy it really is a episode where we see everyone coming into their charecters and exchanging banter and we see the friendships. I always enjoyed hearing the back stories and history to the trotters family. Your reactions everytime Del grabs Marlenes butt is so funny, Del is no threat to Boyce and Boycie knows it and he's secure with Marlenes flirty Ness and knows she's a good girl, it really isn't a big thing to anyone involved Dates next week, please pkease check you have the real episode and not the butchered one with edits, check the length on IMDB or Wiki to the length of your episode and you'll know if it's the uncut version,tue edits really take away from scenes.
Watch rock and chips it’s the films before fools and horses of all the characters but younger u can see how Freddie robdall came on the scene
This was the last episode of the Ray Butt and the end of an era. Ray Butt was a long-time collaborator of John Sullivan and was responsible for insisting the BBC consider the OFAH script. He also insisted on David Jason being cast as Del Boy while many at the BBC, including Sullivan had doubts. He was a true OFAH great. Things change from ‘Dates’ onwards. Tony Dow was promoted to director, Gareth Gwenlan moved across from Head of Comedy to be producer, and the filming location permanently moved from London to Bristol, mainly due to cost but also because the cast kept getting mobbed by fans in London. John Sullivan also decided to change how Del & Rodney’s lives move forward. With this in mind, please, please, don’t call ‘Dates’ Series 5, Episode 9. It doesn’t have a number in the UK but if you have to, it’s more likely to be Series 6, Episode 1. It was broadcast a week before the official S6E1. Series 5 was more than two years prior. Trust me. Would I lie to you?
Brilliant!! Can't wait for next week!
I feel really old now you said that 😂 (I was born in ‘73)
Sets up for rock and chips James Buckley playing del
Only Fools & Horses is in the top 5 tv series ever made. I grew up watching it from Ireland and have every episode on VHS still to this Day. Watching Jess & Mike engaged in it, laughing and loving it in 2026, is so wonderful to see and it just shows what great writing and acting can do for a show. The actors they cast for every role was spot on, but David + Nick as Del and Rodney was Perfection! I'm loving being on this journey with you both all over again and look forward to all the great episodes to come. Bonjour :)))
No statute of limitations. Most serious crime in the UK has no limit on when it can be prosecuted, and proceeds of crime that are found, aren't "finders keepers".
You should react to the new film Citizen Vigilante. Amazing stuff! Soooo satisfying. 👍
As someone who does contract work for Sea of Thieves, I didn't expect that namedrop in this episode! I would pass on Jess' thalassophobia concerns to the team at Rare, but I imagine it'd only encourage them to add more scary ocean content. :-) I also never put two-and-two together regarding the RDR2 references, now I can't unhear them!
I really hope Jess And Mike checkout Rock And Chips After finishing OFAH
Gotta love the fact Del is pretty much told Rodney has a different father but can't see his mum in that way so doesn't even consider it as a possibility.
Love this episode but next series is my all time favourite. It’s phenomenally good
They should really have been 'Del' computers. Back then you did need to do courses in computer literacy
Excellent 🫡
Gotta be said jess looks stunning today as does mike lol. you beautiful plonkers!
John Sullivan was a comedy genius 🙂
Well, you've reached the pinnacle, guys. It's all downhill from here, I'm afraid ☹️
I dare you to say hell, Fordy7169
I don’t think there’s a statute of limitations in the UK, only a time limit for filing civil cases
This is in my top 3 episodes, came out the year I was born
Did you say “statue of lamentations”? That was almost a Del phrase.
Was looking forward to this one
Such a strange guest list at that wedding. Del and Rodney and Albert are odd enough, but why is Mike there, the bloke who runs the pub she's been into maybe once or twice ever? And has she ever met Boycie at all? Seems like this wedding contains everyone the bride and groom have ever met in their lives.
It's almost as if the writer had a cast of regulars that the public loved and were making the show as big as it was and he decided to write them into the story. Crazy, don't understand what he was thinking.
Hey Jess and Mike Just a few references for next week episide dates that I remember ! When you hear berty basset mentioned by Rodney He was the mascot for liquorice allsorts in the UK https://youtu.be/U9OSJsTpvSQ?is=fhyNjpFhJoO2Jns8 Always creeped me out as a kid Also when you hear shaw There was an Irish playwright called George Barnard Shaw born in the mid 80s Also a 1960s uk singer called sandy Shaw who sang puppet on a string And obviously del would only know the latter Because it's del ! There is a British 1945 film called brief encounter with actors trevor Howard and Celia Johnson They say they their goodbyes at a train station at the end Del has never watched it
Stop with the spoilers
Red dead redemption 2 story is written by a main British writer
“The Flying Eye” that blamed Rodney for the traffic jam was a spotter plane used by London local radio at the time to keep listeners, about to start their rush hour commute, up to date of where to avoid traffic holdups.
Joan Sims (Trigger's aunty), is comedy royalty. She was best known for appearing in the comedy film franchise 'Carry On' , which ran from the late fifties to the late seventies. It's a shame that this was her only appearance in Fools and Horses, because she was ideal for it.
If you haven't already, its worth watching some of the Carry On Movies but remember, they are a product of their time.
So this was the 1987 Christmas Special. I assume next week will be the 1988 Special and then we've reached Series 6, 1989 when OFAH reached a new level. Enjoy M&J.
I am very much so looking forward to Series 6 Episode 2
Just me or is the sound off-sync on the OFAH vid? Jess and Mike are synced alright but becomes obvious at 34:00, you can see Del's voice isn't matching the sound I think, or is it just me?
Fellow member of the 1987 club
You should play Assassins Creed Black Flag, if you like tense/terrifying underwater levels. Ralph Ineson (Finchy from The Office) also does an amazing voiceover job in it.
She goes automatically for Boyce because Boyce looks more like Del than Rodney 😂
I've enjoyed the watch through of OFAH. I'd seen them before but to go back and watch them in sequence has been great. For me the UK's greatest ever tv comedy.
as a big fan of the carry on films it was great seeing Joan Sims in this
She was superb wasn't she!
Jess has the best laugh ever!
Any chance you could add English subtitles? Despite being born the same year as you guys, I’m pretty much deaf, so struggle to watch tele without subtitles..only so much you can lip read. Thankfully I’ve seen OFAH dozens and dozens of times, so don’t miss anything :)
I'm getting hard of hearing too as I get older, along with damage from very loud concerts giving me tinitus. I'm really frightened about it as music is everything to me. I watch television and films with subtitiles too but they are so bad. I can't believe they haven't sorted this out yet so that subtitles match accurately what is being said. As for live TV, forget it! I really feel for you, it just seems like one area where no advances are being made. Really sorry to hear you are struggling with this, I know lip reading only hopes so much.
Genuinely one of the best OFAH episodes, in my top 3.
Joan Sims is an icon
She's a rite Carry On ! Sorry bad dad joke 🤭
This was a great episode and one of the storylines in this gets resolved 16 years later. Ofah- greatest British show in my opinion
English show :-)
Only fools father ted gavin and stacey peep show still game friday note dinner. What a week of shows unreal 👏
The stadium crowd wave thing was named the ‘Mexican wave’ because I think we first encountered it at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. So that was quite recent at the time.
My sister dropped by this morning with a salted caramel doughnut and a big Toblerone. Majestic. Today's gonna be a good one 💪
Superb. The ideal start to Sunday. Can’t wait for next week already ❤️
Honestly for a while I just thought you were friends or something some times you say "my son" and things like that wasnt until I saw the wedding pics ahahaa
A frogman is a professional deep sea diver, usually military trained.
The ‘Mexican wave’ joke seemed to pass you by, one of the funniest in the episode 🤣
Please watch rock and chips after OFAH 🙏
This is the moment when the show goes up levels in quality. I cannot wait!!
Everyone always says this, as if the previous five years, certainly the last two, weren’t already absolutely fantastic.
Always felt like this was an underrated episode, I know dates is next but I can't wait for series 6
The beginning of the best story in tv history
The writer of the entire show, John Sullivan, is a genius. How did he come up with this kind of plotline? Many different threads and linked together. RIP John Sullivan.
Dear Rob, have a bee in your bonnet all you want, but stop with the spoilers eh? 🙄
I think The Mexican wave is called "the wave" in America. That's why you didn't get that joke.
Bit of Rickrolling in that opening pub scene!
In the future when this is over if you put the green green grass on the pole that is Boise on the run
No....that should be at the very bottom of their list of shows to watch 💔
one more episode and then its all weve been waiting for season 6
Mike, you and Jess are related...Husband and wife are legally and socially considered relatives, though not by blood. They are related in the "first degree by marriage" (often called consanguinity/affinity)
You need to watch rock and chips after you finish only fools its about del boy when he was a teenager and explains a lot also del is played by Jay from the inbetweeners and it works so well lol
Rock and chips was awful. It was a massive let down and I think most people who watched it though the same. I could only sit through 2 episodes
Only halfway through the ep but I assume they could melt the gold. I don't think the police can prove it's stolen.
It has been done before but they were making gold bracelets and selling them up and down the country, cops caught on and found where they were melting.
The later mini series (drama) Rock n chips tells the story of Freddie the frog. (I apologise have edited)
This show will never be free from spoilers
Same here, big up 87 clang
I was at a funeral a while ago in Little Gaddesden. My aunt leaned in and whispered “there will be a chief mourner, so DON’T think of Rodney and DON’T laugh”. Of course, it wouldn’t have crossed my mind otherwise, but now it was impossible not to see it, and I was biting the inside of my cheek the whole time to keep from laughing. I was ready to kill her after that.
Sorry for your loss.
Can’t wait for dates next week!!
It’s a date!
It’s a running joke that Del treats the GCE’s as a big deal. It’s equivalent to high school level. Although, to be fair, Rodney does know a fair bit about art.
I always wondered if they were a bigger deal in 80’s compared to how they are viewed now. 😆
This was the last story to be directed and produced by Ray Butt. He had been one of John Sullivan’s strongest supporters at the BBC for over 10 years, but he was offered a job as Head of Comedy for ITV and so had to leave. After this, Production Manager Tony Dow stepped in as director for the remainder of the series. This is also the last time we see Grandad’s iconic armchair in the flat.
Wow I never saw that, and ive watched this episode zillions of times!! Great spot Daniel :-)
The comment I left on your reaction of Ep 1 is finally come home to roost! Yay!
I can't be bothered. What did he say?
Boycie – "Albert, your mini-cab’s arrived" is a classic Boycie line
Apparently, it was a spontaneous comment made amongst the crew, and they put it in the script. I don’t remember who said it to whom though.
I saw a reflection in the mirror i look like a wand 🤣 I love this one