After a visit to the dentist Del unwisely makes a date with the comely receptionist Beverley, but, on Rodney's advice, cancels it. After Del has got drunk and been responsible for causing a ... Read allAfter a visit to the dentist Del unwisely makes a date with the comely receptionist Beverley, but, on Rodney's advice, cancels it. After Del has got drunk and been responsible for causing a riot, he finds Beverley at his flat and fears that she has come for revenge, though she ha... Read allAfter a visit to the dentist Del unwisely makes a date with the comely receptionist Beverley, but, on Rodney's advice, cancels it. After Del has got drunk and been responsible for causing a riot, he finds Beverley at his flat and fears that she has come for revenge, though she has only come to buy Damien's old high chair. In exchange she gives Del an answer-phone, and... Read all
Featured reviews
Most of the jokes are just not funny. Sullivan obviously couldn't think of something actually funny, so he used the old, worn out trick of going over the top instead. Unfortunately, that never works. Over the top, ridiculous or silly is not the same as funny. The Trigger jokes here are an example of that, it is just painful to watch how Trigger's stupidity is so completely blown out of proportion in pursuit of laughs that never come. And the rioting scene where the combatants stop and separate to let Del pass was just embarrassing.
Comparing the specials that came after season 7, Miami Twice was probably worse than this, but this is not much better.
When it's good; it's good and the actors still seem to enjoy playing their characters. John Sullivan seems to still enjoy writing them. It's just that some elements of this one don't quite work, in my opinion.
Another good but not great episode.
Fatal Extraction lasts for 85 minutes and for a good deal of that runtime it meanders. It often does so entertainingly, with plenty of good gags and smart dialogue to keep the interest up, but it ultimately becomes a bit wearing just following Del and Rodney from flat to pub to van and hearing them thrash out the same issues of male pride and relationship crises. The actual plot, involving an apparently obsessive dental receptionist who begins haunting Del after he cancels a date he impulsively arranged with her, is a half-hearted riff on Fatal Attraction, already a tired reference point by the time this episode aired. Fatal Extraction spends so long just hanging out with the characters that it doesn't leave itself enough time to properly develop the central premise, meaning that the strange atmosphere falls flat rather than inspiring the sense of entertaining unease at which it appears to be aiming.
There are plenty of big laughs in Fatal Extraction, including some of the best Trigger jokes Sullivan ever wrote, while other sequences are notable for their unusually ambitious staging, such as a scene of a drunken Del serenading the entirety of Nelson Mandela House, or some comparatively large scale depictions of rioting. But other moments fail to land completely, such as a highly unlikely reveal about Marlene being an old girlfriend Del was struggling to remember, or an over-the-top scene of police and rioters standing aside to let Del through in the Capri Ghia. The final image is thoroughly predictable and wholly unsatisfying, leaving the episode on a disappointingly depressing note. As Only Fools and Horses would subsequently disappear for three years, many people assumed that this would be the final episode, and what a peculiar and unfitting final note this would've been. Fortunately, Sullivan was presumably just taking the time to work out how to appropriately end a series that has clearly run its course. The subsequent Christmas trilogy of 1996 delivered that perfect ending, while the 21st century comeback episodes proved that the show really had run out of steam. If only that wonderful final trilogy had remained as the official denouement... but that's a story for another time.
In the wake of the extended disappearance of Only Fools and Horses from the festive schedules and then its triumphant return, the peculiar anomaly of Fatal Extraction was largely forgotten. It's not one of the more frequently repeated or discussed episodes and it does fall well short in terms of plot, but for fans there are still plenty of good lines and funny gags to relish.
Did you know
- TriviaThe "rioters" were students from the Old Vic drama school in Bristol, including former chorister Aled Jones.
- GoofsRodney tells Cassandra that Del did not turn for his O-Level/GCE exams and got eight straight 'A's which stood for "Absent", yet in the second Rock & Chips (2010) episode, "Five Gold Rings (2010)", Del was shown to have left school before taking his GCE's. His family were fully aware of it, and they did not send Del back to school because he was their breadwinner.
- Quotes
Raquel Turner: The only time my clothes look fashionable is when I'm watching UK Gold!
- ConnectionsFeatures Crimewatch UK (1984)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 25m(85 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1