Only Fools and Horses fan, Nathan Lloyd, provides us with his Friday the 14th episode review. please comment below as to whether you agree with his synopsis.
In terms of overall consistency, I consider Only Fools and Horses’ third series to be the single greatest series of the programme rivalled only by its sixth series, however the two series have so many differences between them that it is almost impossible to compare. While series six lounged comfortably within one of the show’s many peaks, series three had something to prove; it pretty much had to consolidate the programme to the masses after the slow start of the first series and the sudden interest in the second series. Fortunately, writer John Sullivan was more than able to tackle the issue in providing the fans with the best episodes, some of the most quotable of the show’s jokes and one-liners as well as cementing the Trotters’ hold of Peckham. The one abnormality of this collection of episodes was the third episode, ‘Friday the 14th’ (1983), which shows Sullivan’s first foray into experimenting with his formula. For the majority of the five, half-hour length series, Sullivan stuck to the show’s main premise, that of three people trying to become millionaires, diligently eventually becoming more liberal and expansive with it as the show evolved. ‘Friday the 14th’ is one of the first episodes that shies away from the established rules; the only real goal the Trotters have in this episode is to survive. Indeed, the show’s concept of Del getting rich by fishing salmon from a stream by Boycie’s weekend cottage in Cornwall is a MacGuffin; Sullivan wanted to portray the Trotters as fish out of water and what better way to do that than isolate them in a cabin in the middle of the woods with a crazed axe murderer trying to kill them? ‘Friday the 14th’ moved from the established template, threw the Trotters out of the comfort of Nelson Mandela House, and straight into a dangerous unknown.
Friday the 14th episode review
In spite of it being a sitcom episode, there are a lot of cinematic flourishes courtesy of Sullivan’s script and Ray Butt’s direction that borrow from the conventions of film noir, thriller and horror films. Sullivan takes these conventions that are deliberately clichéd, such as a thunderstorm, power outage, heavy breathing, a mysterious hand through the undergrowth and shadowy figures to create a truly suspenseful experience; I admit that during my first viewing of this episode around ten years ago, I was watching through the cracks of my fingers, my insular mind pondering whether or not the writer was going to kill off the Trotters. These ambitious ideas were aided by the location filming in Iwerne Minster, Dorset. In one of my favourite images from the entire series, the sight of an abandoned cottage amidst a heavy thunderstorm can make one forget that they are watching a comedy- until the three-wheeled van hobbles its way onto the screen like the anachronistic sight of a car in the distance of a Lord of the Rings shot and the unlikeliest of heroes emerge from it. The cottage set is also well designed making it especially claustrophobic for the climax as well as dangerous with the incessant claps of thunder and flashes of lightning in the background.
Of course, it wouldn’t be an Only Fools and Horses episode without comedy and ‘Friday the 14th’ has this in abundance. Ironically, one of my favourite scenes is the one where the van is stopped by a policeman who warns them of an escaped axe murderer. Despite it being set-up, the facial expressions of the Trotter trio are priceless; Rodney and Grandad display pure terror while Del is simply dumbfounded, inconvenienced that his money-making weekend has hit a snag. The scene where the Trotters first arrive at the cottage is also Only Fools at its best with Sullivan’s one-liners delivered perfectly by David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst and Lennard Pearce, cementing this threesome as my favourite in the show’s history. The three have a perfect sync with each other and never miss a beat; indeed, my favourite lines in the episode are made even funnier because they flow impeccably between the three actors:
Rodney: Oh, he’s most probably half-way to London by now.
Del: Yeah, of course he is. He’s most probably looking for an empty place up there.
Grandad: Hope he don’t find our flat.
Del: Will you shut up?!
The Monopoly scene is a welcome break from the tension. It’s novel to see the Trotters talk about something other than money or girls while the thunderstorm still exists in the distance reminding us that although they’re playing a ‘safe’ board game, they are anything but safe. May be as a foreshadow to the climax, Del still adopts his business prattle when conning Rodney out of Monopoly money for putting him in the ‘penthouse suite’ of his fictional hotel, showing that he is always thinking about money, even in a friendly game. This scene also unearths some facets of Rodney’s character: he’s a sore loser who sulks like a petulant teenager when things don’t go his way. Perhaps Rodney is still reeling from failing after the previous episode ‘Healthy Competition’ (1983) and still feels that he has to prove himself to Del and Grandad? Regardless of its purpose, this notion reminds one of Harold Steptoe; Rodney has to lose to Del like Harold has to to his father in order to maintain the sense of paralysis and stagnation that all good sitcoms try to instil on their characters: the young has to lose to the old and have to gain experience, but ultimately never muster enough to leave. It shows that Sullivan was not only inspired by films in ‘Friday the 14th’, but also other sitcoms like Steptoe and Son. The scene culminates in probably the most famous moment in the episode: Rodney seeing ‘the face in the window’. John Sullivan fans would recognise the man as Bill Ward; not Black Sabbath’s drummer; but an actor who had appeared as a semi-regular as Reg the barman from Citizen Smith. His somewhat haggard looks are rather startling the first time, especially with the lightning flash emphasising his stern look as he stares at Rodney aimlessly, but the moment returns to comedy after Rodney pulls the curtain back sheepishly and is frozen by fear and disbelief. The moment is a perfect complement to the Monopoly scene because that is so light-hearted while the thought of a stranger nearby is so terrifying. Sullivan allows the drama in this episode to breathe because of the frequency of the comedy and the fact that he can change gears easily and combine them.
The axe murderer (or the ‘Madman’ as described in the cast list) is an interesting character because he is one of an exclusive club who manage to draw out fear from Del. Throughout the series, Del has been frightened of very little people; Tommy McKay (initially) in ‘No Greater Love’ (1982), The Driscoll Brothers in ‘Little Problems (1989), Eugene McCarthy from ‘Stage Fright’ (1991) and, arguably, Roy Slater because of his tenacious and illegal efforts to imprison him in ‘May the Force Be With You’ (1983) and ‘To Hull and Back’ (1985) are the only few that spring to mind, however, as violent or manipulative as they may seem, they are only gangsters, thugs or bent coppers; the axe murderer, on the other hand, is worse than all of those because he is of course a killer, but he is also insane and unpredictable. He’s raving mad of course, but he does speak some logic about how winning can leave one ‘open to attack’. The only competition for the murderer would be the Occhetti family from ‘Miami Twice’ (1991) yet Del never confronts the Don directly nor does he engage with the Mafia after he knows the truth about them; so it makes Del’s encounter with the axe murderer in ‘Friday the 14th’ one of the more intense moments in the entire series. It is to Sullivan’s credit that he can twist such a frightening situation into a classic comedy scene. Sullivan mainly kept the drama and comedy separate save for a few select moments, yet here he writes the scene as nail-biting but also very tongue in cheek. Lines like ‘It’s all right, it’s Barratts!’ diffuse the tension and make what could have been a hard to watch scene very watchable. Also amusing is Del’s attitude to the whole situation. Del has shown to be streetwise, so this episode highlights how much of a survivor he is; his natural charisma persuades the murderer to give him his axe and he effectively stalls the murderer until the authorities arrive. The crafty facets of Del’s personality come to the fore when he progresses from trying to save his life to his taking liberties with the murderer such as wagering on an invisible snooker game. This shows a kind of refuge for Del; he’s in deadly danger yet he thinks about money and earning the upper hand. As Sullivan himself said: ‘…even in his hour of need in a terrifying situation, Del will still try to find a way of earning a fiver! He’s in another part of the world, but Del Boy’s still trying out his Peckham tricks.’
In closing, ‘Friday the 14th’ is my favourite episode of Only Fools and Horses and one of my favourites of any sitcom because John Sullivan did something different and successfully married comedy and various forms of drama to create a perfect example of comedy-drama that films such as Scary Movie should watch and study. The fact that this episode runs at thirty minutes and is nigh on perfect is a testament to Sullivan’s accomplished writing talents and his knowledge and faith in his characters. Taken out of Peckham for half an hour, they are allowed to grow a little more and indulge in behaviour they wouldn’t normally have to. The joy of ‘Friday the 14th’ is other than it being hilariously funny, the crew create an atmosphere that isn’t found in any other episode of Only Fools and Horses making it totally unique. While ‘Miami Twice’ had a very similar premise, basically that the Trotters were under the mercy of killers, it has an entirely different mood, that of consciously being a film; while ‘Friday the 14th’ has the quiet dignity of being a drama akin to an episode of Tales of the Unexpected except with far more laughs and this, to me at least, makes it more enjoyable to watch. It is just the Only Fools episode to watch at Halloween or any Friday the 14th that happens to be on the calender. It is just one of series three’s many gems and a part of John Sullivan’s attempts to experiment with mood for that particular year; ‘Homesick’ was a tearjerker, ‘Healthy Competition’ had a strong Steptoe and Son vibe, ‘Yesterday Never Comes’ was a caper, ‘May the Force Be With You’ was a parody of cop shows, ‘Wanted’ and ‘Who’s a Pretty Boy?’ were simply laugh out loud funny and ‘Thicker Than Water’ started to retcon and shape the series’ backstory. It was them and episodes like ‘Friday the 14th’ that demonstrated that there was more to this series than meets the eye and the belief that the series would have a bright future was more than a suggestion.
-John Sullivan quotes from issues 6 and 18 of The Only Fools and Horses DVD Collection.
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