"Big Brother" is the first 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 is the first episode of series 1, and was first broadcast on 8 September 1981. In the episode, Del buys a consignment of briefcases, only to later discover that the

combinations In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are t ...

are locked inside.

Synopsis

Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, chairman of Trotters Independent Traders, employs his younger brother Rodney into his company. Later, at their local pub, The Nag's Head, Rodney meets Del's friend

Trigger Trigger may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Trigger (''Only Fools and Horses''), in the TV sitcom * Trigger Argee, in science fiction short stories by James H. Schmitz * Devil Trigger, a transformation ability of ...

, in order to buy some briefcases. On introduction, Trigger acknowledges to Del that he is already acquainted with his brother Rodney but then immediately calls him "Dave". Del negotiates the price of the briefcases down from £17 to £8, and tries to dupe Trigger by claiming the price for the 25 is £175, when it is actually £200. Rodney, however using his GCE in mathematics as proof of his credibility, proves to Trigger that Del's figures are wrong. It soon emerges that not only were the cases stolen, they are also rejects; the combination for them is locked inside. Rodney advises Del to throw the cases in the river. Rodney then suggests to Del that he be made the partnership's financial adviser, on the grounds of him having two GCEs (in maths and art). Del, however, is not happy about this due to Rodney's behaviour regarding the briefcases. The row between the brothers is soon made worse by the latter's buying a cheeseburger for Grandad instead of an Emperor burger due to lack of funds. Grandad gets angry with Rodney as well, and Rodney decides to leave the partnership and venture to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He wishes to go there to see a girl, "Shanghai Lil". She was at art college with Rodney but was deported after they were expelled for smoking cannabis, for which Rodney received a £300 fine and a suspended sentence. The next day, Del trawls London, looking for Rodney and attempting to sell the briefcases, having already previously failed with his telephone contacts. Returning home after having failed to achieve either goal, he is soon joined by Rodney, who only got as far as the Shangri-La doss house in

Stoke Newington Stoke Newington is an area in the northwest part of the London Borough of Hackney, England. The area is northeast of Charing Cross. The Manor of Stoke Newington gave its name to Stoke Newington (parish), Stoke Newington, the ancient parish. S ...

due to running out of money and forgetting his

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that certifies a person's identity and nationality for international travel. A passport allows its bearer to enter and temporarily reside in a foreign country, access local aid ...

. After they make up, Del informs Rodney that he took his advice and "chucked the bleeding lot in the river", but they floated.

Music

In the original broadcasts, the theme tune was one written by Ronnie Hazlehurst. This theme tune was replaced in series 2 with a new tune written and sung by John Sullivan. After the first series completed its original run, all future reruns dropped Hazlehurst's tune, using the John Sullivan version instead to match the other series. The VHS/DVD versions all contain John Sullivan's version of the theme tune, which means recordings with Hazlehurst's theme are now extremely rare. However, Hazlehurst's tune can be heard in this episode, in the scene when Del is attempting to sell the briefcases around the market.

References

External links

* * {{Only Fools and Horses episodes 1980s British television series premieres 1981 British television episodes Only Fools and Horses series 1 episodes