Our take
One of the best-built Christmas plots: the barrels, the bottled water and the news report click together perfectly. It satirises the early 1990s craze for green products and designer water without preaching. There is a gentle thread about new parenthood alongside the scheme. The final reveal is one of the show's best punchlines. A smart, funny hour that holds up well.
What happens
Del and Rodney are short of money for Christmas. Cassandra has finally won her promotion, but Raquel is struggling with post-natal depression, and Rodney worries that his brother has lost his drive. On top of everything, Grandad's old allotment has become a health hazard and Del has to clear it. Digging it over, he finds several barrels of a suspicious yellow liquid, and with Trigger and Denzil's help he gets rid of them under cover of darkness. Meanwhile Rodney's talk of pollution and the environment gives Del an idea: there is money in nature. He spots a gap in the market and starts bottling ordinary tap water to sell as spring water. Business booms, and both couples are enjoying a romantic evening when a news flash reports a serious contamination of the local water supply, caused by the very barrels Del dumped.
Can the kids watch it?
Suits most children from about 8: mild language and a con involving tap water, nothing graphic.
Cast and crew
Starring
- David Jason as Del
- Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney
- Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert
- Roger Lloyd-Pack as Trigger
- Tessa Peake-Jones as Raquel
- John Challis as Boycie
- Sue Holderness as Marlene
Guest stars
- Wanda Ventham as Pamela Parry
- Denis Lill as Alan Parry
- Tony Marshall as Chris
- Robert Glenister
Writer
- John Sullivan
Director
- Tony Dow