S5.E3

The Longest Night

Name: The Longest Night
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1986-09-14
Duration: 28 min
Rating: 8.5
Cast: David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Buster Merryfield

Episode aired Sep 14, 1986
TV-14
28m

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

690

YOUR RATING

David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, and Buster Merryfield in Only Fools and Horses (1981)

Comedy

Del, Rodney, and Albert are mistakenly apprehended as shoplifters by an overzealous security guard at the Top Buy Supermarket, and things get worse when they're taken to the manager's office... Read allDel, Rodney, and Albert are mistakenly apprehended as shoplifters by an overzealous security guard at the Top Buy Supermarket, and things get worse when they're taken to the manager's office and realize that they've lost their receipt. Shortly after, Tom the security guard brings... Read allDel, Rodney, and Albert are mistakenly apprehended as shoplifters by an overzealous security guard at the Top Buy Supermarket, and things get worse when they're taken to the manager's office and realize that they've lost their receipt. Shortly after, Tom the security guard brings a cocky shoplifter, Lennox Gilbey, into the manager's office, where he promptly pulls out... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.5/10

690

YOUR RATING

5User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos15

+ 10

User reviews5

8.5690

Featured reviews

5Lunerar

I'm the Shadow!

I don't know if I'm maybe overdosing on the show at the moment but this was another disappointing episode from a pretty average season.

There are some good moments (Rodney not grabbing the pistol when he had the chance and the shoplifting scene with the Shadow) but it has an unsatisfying ending and nothing much really happens. Not bad but not great either.

8jameswyattranks

A lot of fun

Rodney and Uncle Albert have some funny scenes in this one, particularly with their physical antics but the highlight for this one is David Jason's line deliveries, he's just excellent, especially with "fourteen hours". Also quite like that they gave us twists and a backstory for a character we hadn't seen before.

It's clever, it's funny and a little bit tense. The watch gag was another continuous and funny one, which we'd seen before in "To Hull and Back" and I also enjoyed the line Lennox had about his mothers feet given what Del was said to have done. One of the better episodes of the show in my opinion.

9Sleepin_Dragon

An early classic.

After leaving a supermarket, Del, Rodney and Albert are stopped by the security guard, and hauled up into the managers office, soon after another guy is marches in, only produces a gun and demands the safe be opened.

When I think of Only Fools, I break it down into to early years and the classic years, for me it's a show that always got better with time, when I think of classics from the early years, this is one of the standout episodes, a classic.

I love the confined environment, it was a device John Sullivan used several times, it worked so well.

A sign of the times, 1986, I don't think many people had money.

The best moment has to be that glorious scene where Rodney reaches over and picks up the cigarettes.

Perfectly written and brilliantly played out, Vas Blackwood puts in a really great performance as Lennox.

An out and out classic.

9/10.

7studioAT

Good moments in a rushed episode

This is often listed as being one of the best 'Only Fools and Horses' episodes ever, and it's certainly up there for me with one of the better 30 min instalments.

It's full of great moments and now iconic lines, and the script flies along at pace.

As with a few of the 30 min instalments it does perhaps feel a bit rushed towards the end, but on the whole this was great fun.

9snoozejonc

Nice departure from the early formula

The Longest Night is a very good and different episode.

The story which is reportedly based on true events is one of the strongest in the half-an-hour era of OFaH, with a nice bit of intrigue and decent twist.

Additionally the humour flows consistently in the form of banter between the Trotters and various guest characters. There are also plenty of decent sight gags, particularly the shoplifting and later on involving a packet of cigarettes.

The main stars are on great form as always, but in the one the guest actors are equally as good, especially Vas Blackwood.

It is an 8.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

Trivia
The idea for the script was based on a true story that John Sullivan had read about a small-time criminal who went into a supermarket and pulled off a scam with the security manager and the store manager.

Goofs
While Lennox is shoplifting he has a packet of spaghetti sticking out from his jacket. It then disappears and then you see him stealing it and putting it in his jacket.

Quotes
Lennox: [explaining his soubriquet, The Shadow, by paraphrasing lines from 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'] They seek him here, they seek him there/ those policemen seek him everywhere/ is he in heaven or is he in hell/ that dammed elusive... sh-a-a-a-a-dow.