"A Slow Bus to Chingford" is an episode of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Only Fools and Horses ''Only Fools and Horses'' (titled onscreen as ''Only Fools and Horses....'') is a British television sitcom that was created and written by John Sullivan (writer), John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Ki ...

''. It was the fifth episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 6 October 1981. In the episode, Del acquires an old

double decker bus A double-decker bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but Open top bus, open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are Coach (bus), coaches too for long-d ...

and decides to give tours around London.

Synopsis

As Rodney invites his girlfriend to the flat,

Del Boy Derek Edward Trotter, more commonly known as Del Boy, is a fictional character from the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' and one of the main characters of its spinoff series, '' Rock & Chips''. He was played by David Jason in the original ...

gives him a job as a nocturnal security officer (NSO) within new security company ''Trotter Watch'' (TW). As Rodney is sent to guard a bus depot, Del frightens him by whistling along with him while out of sight. The next morning at Nelson Mandela House, as Grandad tells Del that he used to be a security officer before the war, Rodney is woken up to hear Del's latest

get-rich-quick scheme A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to obtain high rates of return for a small investment. Most schemes create an impression that participants can obtain this high rate of return with little risk, skill, effort, or time. The term "get rich qui ...

: Trotters Ethnic Tours. Rodney will drive the bus, Del will be the tour guide, and Grandad will distribute leaflets to the whole of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The next day, while the tour bus is ready to go, nobody has turned up at the departure time, but Del bets Grandad £50 that the tourists ''will'' show up. Throughout the day, Del tells Rodney and Grandad that he will take the tourists to the house "where

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...

was born" (despite being a fictional character), and to

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

"where

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

was buried" (knowing that he cannot be proven wrong). The following day, Del stands on the top floor of the bus and explains to Rodney and Grandad his dream to become a millionaire. He claims to have had a vision in which he sees himself standing on the balcony of a tower block, with the initials of his company in giant flashing lights. As soon as Rodney points out that ''Trotters Independent Traders'' spells out "TIT", a dejected Del decides to give up and go home, reluctantly paying Grandad his £50 bet. As the Trotters get back to Nelson Mandela House, Del finds out the real reason why nobody came: Grandad threw all the leaflets in the rubbish chute. Furious, Del tries to attack Grandad and Rodney starts chasing after his brother, trying to restrain him.

Episode cast

Notes

*The actress who played Rodney's girlfriend, Janice, was

Nicholas Lyndhurst Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst (born 20 April 1961) is an English actor. He began his career as a child actor and is best known for his role as Rodney Trotter in the BBC sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'' (1981–2003). He was cast as Professor Alan C ...

's girlfriend at the time of filming the series. *The episode title is a pun on the

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser ( "lesser"; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway theatre, Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls (musical), Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business ...

song ''

(I'd Like to Get You on a) Slow Boat to China A contraction is a shortened version of the spoken and written forms of a word, syllable, or word group, created by omission of internal letters and sounds. In linguistic analysis, contractions should not be confused with crasis, abbreviations ...

Episode concept

According to John Sullivan, he got the idea for the script from his father's favourite pub called the ''Duke of Devonshire''. The man who ran it was even called Boycie. The place suffered from terrible business, but the owner explained it was "Ethnic English" thus the idea was implanted in Sullivan's mind.Did You Know?
ofah.net

Music

Rock Spectrum: "Layback"

Ronnie Hazlehurst Ronald Hazlehurst (13 March 1928 – 1 October 2007) was an English composer and conductor who, having joined the BBC in 1961, became its Light Entertainment Musical Director. Hazlehurst composed the theme tunes for many well-known British ...

: ''Original Theme Tune'' Note: In the original series 1 broadcasts of Only Fools and Horses, the theme tune was very different to the version adopted from series 2, which became the standard version known today. Composed by Ronnie Hazlehurst, the original theme tune was a jazzy instrumental tune that played over the start and end credits. This tune was replaced in series 2 with a version written and sung by John Sullivan. After the initial run of series 1, all future re-runs replaced the Hazlehurst version with John Sullivan's to match the other series. The VHS/DVD versions all contain John Sullivan's version, and recordings with Hazlehurst's original tune are extremely rare, though it can be heard in a scene during episode 1 of the first series.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slow Bus to Chingford, A 1981 British television episodes Only Fools and Horses series 1 episodes