The Russians are Coming is mostly - and deservedly so - remembered for Grandad's stunning monologue at the end of the episode, but this article points out the politics of the show, particularly with Doom Times coming for all of us:
Forty years on, with tensions flaring between Putin and the West, it’s easy to believe that the Trotters might be preparing for WW3 again – dusting down the fallout shelter, stockpiling bottles of Peckham Spring, and cramming the freezer with one-legged turkeys.
Only Fools and Horses was always political – it was rough-and-ready life in Thatcher’s Britain. Creator John Sullivan wrote London as he saw it – vibrant, multi-ethnic, and buoyant in the face of social unrest. The black market, unemployment, privatisation, recession, right to buy, and deregulation of the financial markets all figured into Only Fools’ gags and storylines.
Even Del Boy’s dodgy French phrases (“Bonnet de douche!”) came from a proliferation of European lingo after Britain joined the Common Market. Del Boy was the embodiment of free enterprise, or as Rodney says in The Russians Are Coming, “a ruthless little mercenary”. During the Brixton riots, Del Boy had rushed down in the van to sell paving slabs to the rioters.
“Rodney is the conscience of the show,” says Steve Clark, author of Only Fools and Horses: The Inside Story. “But Del takes every political twist and turn as an opportunity to make money. That’s Del for you. It’s a comedy but John Sullivan had his finger on the pulse of current affairs. It reflects what people would have been talking about down the pub.”
My favorite line from the episode:
Grandad also recalls how teenage boys were conned into signing up for king and country – boys of 14 pretending to be 18, just so they could fight. Grandad’s own brother lied about his age. “Pretended he was 18?” asks Rodney. “No, he was 18,” says Grandad. “He pretended he was 14.” John Sullivan’s writing is never far from a stellar line.
And here's Grandad.
I'm re-watching Only Fools and Horses and the famous speech Grandad gives, telling Del Boy off for glorifying war, feels relevant to the 'hero' rhetoric we're seeing right now: "They promised us homes fit for heroes, they give us heroes fit for homes" pic.twitter.com/Ib75II3Q6c
— Stephanie Soh (@steph_soh) May 17, 2020
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