| The Second Time Around | |
| Series 01, Episode 04 | |
 | |
| Air Date | September 29, 1981 |
| Written by | John Sullivan |
| Director | Martin Shardlow |
| Length | 30 minutes |
| Previous episode | Cash and Curry |
| Next episode | A Slow Bus To Chingford |
| List of episode | |
"The Second Time Around" is the fourth episode of the first season of Only Fools and Horses, which was first broadcasted on September 29, 1981.
Sypnosis
Del Boy and Rodney are at work as usual, flogging handkerchiefs to the market crowd. They then pop into The Nag's Head for a drink, until Del is surprised to see one of his old girlfriends, Pauline Harris, back in London after twelve years. Pauline tells Del that she got a job as an air hostess in San Francisco after her husband Bobby Finch died. Del decides to arrange a date with Pauline so they can be together just like old times, but Rodney does not agree with it, since he knows about Pauline's true personality and now suspects that she may be a cold-blooded killer.
Later that night, at Nelson Mandela House, as Grandad and Rodney talk about how much trouble Pauline is, Del comes in and announces that he and Pauline are getting married, and that Pauline will be staying with the Trotters.
The next night, Pauline gets on Rodney and Grandad's nerves by refusing to cook for both of them. Del decides that he and Pauline will have to apply for a house of their own.
The next morning, as Rodney and Grandad decide to leave for Auntie Rose's cottage in Clacton, and Pauline goes shopping for her wedding ring, Del gets a phone call from Trigger, who tells him that Bobby Finch died of food poisoning. Del does not believe it at first, but eventually follows Rodney and Grandad behind before Pauline kills him.
The Trotters arrive at Auntie Rose's cottage in Clacton and decide to stay for five days. Later that night, while having shepherd's pie for dinner in the living room, Del tells Rodney what he put in his eviction notice to Pauline: "My dearest darling Pauline. The engagement's off, the wedding's off, and as you can gather from this letter, I'm off. I'll give you five clear days to get out of the flat and do not ever come back, you money-grabbing old murderess! All my love, Del Boy." As Rodney wonders what Pauline will do to their flat, Auntie Rose enters the room and asks Del one question: "Who are you?" Del tries to help her remember that she was at Joan and Reg Trotter's wedding in 1947, but it is revealed that the real Auntie Rose had moved many years ago. Nevertheless, the Trotters still stay at the cottage under the pretence of being the adopted children of Joanie Hollins and her Jamaican husband, even though they have no idea who these people are.
A week later, the Trotters return home to their flat to see that Pauline cleaned it and left a letter for Del before she left informing him she'd dialed the talking clock in America. Rodney comes clean when he says that it was he and Grandad who put Trigger up to phoning Del, who forgives his younger brother and grandfather. Grandad goes to answer the phone, and Del and Rodney order him to hang it up, risking a huge telephone bill.
Featured characters
- Del Boy
- Rodney
- Grandad
- Trigger
- Joyce (barmaid)
- Pauline Harris
- "Auntie Rose"
Other notes
Story arc
- This episode marks the first appearance of one of Del's former fiancées in the series, which later became a regular occurrence.
- Del says that he was a little infant when his parents got married in 1947.
Episode concept
- This episode is clearly linked to "The Miracle of Peckham" when Grandad is talking to Rodney about how Del used to donate to the church roof fund. John Sullivan went and wrote a whole episode based on the same idea five years later.
Production goofs
- When Del, Rodney, and Grandad return to the flat after staying with "Auntie Rose", they rush in and while Del is checking the living room, Grandad can be clearly seen standing by the kitchen door waiting for his cue.