Miami Twice

Miami Twice
Series 07, Episode 09

Air Date	December 24, 1991 (Part 1: The American Dream) & December 25, 1991 (Part 2: Oh To Be In England)
Written by	John Sullivan
Director	Tony Dow
Length	50 minutes (Part 1: The American Dream) 95 minutes (Part 2: Oh To Be In England) 139 minutes (The 1998 "Miami Twice: The Movie" Version - VHS & DVD release)
Previous episode	"Three Men, a Woman, and a Baby"
Next episode	"Mother Nature's Son"
List of episode

When Cassandra is unable to go to Miami with Rodney, Del kindly steps in, but the brothers run into a little trouble with the Ochetti Crime Family.

Synopsis

Part 1: The American Dream

It is now August 1991 and Damien Trotter is now a few months old. He is being christened at the local church. Boycie and Marlene are about to jet off for 3 weeks to America and Boycie is more worried about getting home to finish the packing than attending his best friends sons baptism. After the service outside the church Rodney Trotter is given a payoff from the printing firm by his father in law Alan Parry. Rodney and Cassandra Trotter's marriage is still in stormy waters. Del Boy, meanwhile sees £££ signs yet again and has a scheme to save the vicar money.

In the vestry the vicar who baptised Damien says he blesses the Communion wine but before he blesses it, the wine is just ordinary wine. Del does a time and motion study of the wine and comes up with an idea of blessing it by the lorry load, thus saving the vicar many hours. He offers to sell the vicar the wine cheap. Del Boy then slips him a few quid for the christening then hurriedly leaves, knowing the vicar was trying to butt in with questions about the scheme, ones Del may not like.

As Del is leaving the church Mickey Pearce offers to do Del some good turns in the future. Del offers him a challenge, babysit Damien. That evening at the Nags Head Rodney and Cassandra have a chat together in the pub garden, talking about their marriage troubles. In the pub Boycie says how he has got Del to take him to the airport as all his trusted friends were busy. Back outside Cassandra says how she would love to go to America. Del meanwhile has said he will pay rodney's payoff into his account tomorrow.

A few days later at Sid's Cafe, Del meets Rodney, who is yet again giving another lecture about the state of the world. Del says he had lunch with Cassandra and she was saying how she would love to go to America. He says after the meeting he went down the travel agents and booked two tickets to Miami for Rodney and Cassandra, on Rodney's payoff money from the printing firm. Del says to Rodney to take her out to dinner and throw the tickets on the table and say he is taking her to MIami. When Del says he took money out of Rodney's account, an angry Rodney gets up but ever sharp Del says "Dont you dare thank me. No worries, I can forge your signature as easy as that".

The following night Del comes home, having trouble with the wine deal, he had sold them white wine, unsuitable for Holy Communion. Rodney comes in and says that Cassandra cannot come to Miami that week as she is attending a seminar at the bank. The tickets are also non refundable but Rodney says he may still go. Rodney goes off to have a shower and Del has volunteered to take Cassandra's place.

Raquel hears him say this over the baby intercom and smiles, knowing what Del is like, even though she said to baby Damien that maybe Del could go with Rodney. Del also says the tickets are non transferrable after Albert says Mickey Pearce could go with Rodney. This means Rodney has to go with someone named Trotter. Raquel suggests to Del why dont he go with him. Del pretends to say no but when Raquel persuades him, knowing he wants to go really, Del becomes excited. He then pretends he wont enjoy it as he is only doing it for Rodney. When Rodney comes back form his shower, Del happily announces he is coming to Miami with him. Rodney does not beat around the bush and says "No you bloody ain't".

Del takes Rodney into him and Raquel's bedroom and asks what his problem is. Rodney says he is not going 4000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean with Del is his earhole all day and night. Del starts explaining he is now changed since their last holiday, where he shouted at women, got drunk and got him and Rodney into fights. After much reluctance, and much persuasion from Del Boy, Rodney finally agrees to let Del come with him.

A few days later at Gatwick Airport, Del and Rodney are waiting for their plane to Miami. As they board the plane the meet Richard Branson. They then get on the plane ready for the 9 hour flight to Miami, a holiday to remember.

Part 2: Oh To Be In England

With Del and Rodney having arranged a holiday to Miami, this chapter takes place predominantly in that location. It emerges that boss of a local mafia family, a Don Corleone parody named Don Vincenzo "Vinny the Chain" Ochetti, is on trial and facing life imprisonment for murder, kidnapping and drug trafficking. Ochetti is also a doppelgänger for Del. When his son Rico is with members of the family in a bar, they spot Del. Befriending him and Rodney, they hatch a plot to assassinate Del with the intention of fooling everyone into thinking that the Don himself has been murdered, thus sparing him the trial and likely imprisonment.

After arranging for their camper van to be robbed, the group invite Del and Rodney to stay at the family mansion. Over the following days, several attempts to assassinate Del, including shooting him in a beach-side restaurant and sending him off on a jet ski with a broken throttle, prove unsuccessful.

Whilst browsing around the family mansion, Del inadvertently stumbles on information about Ochetti and what they're trying to do after being led into a meeting with two Colombian drug barons by Rico, who mistook Del for his father. Meanwhile, Rodney gets in touch with Cassandra and during their conversation learns that Del knew Cassandra would be unable to go on holiday that particular week and therefore booked it to wangle himself a free holiday with Rodney's pension money. A furious Rodney bumps into Ochetti and, believing him to be Del, shoves him up against the wall and promises to make him pay. However just after the confused Don leaves, Rodney meets Del, who admits to Rodney that he wanted to run away from Britain to avoid repercussions from the church for selling them the white wine, and also informs him of Rico and the family's true nature. Realising he's just threatened the head of a mafia family, Rodney agrees to quickly leave, and the Trotter Brothers escape through the window and flee, ultimately ending up in the Everglades, dodging the gangsters and a vicious alligator where they meet the holidaying Boycie and Marlene. Despite being shot at by the gangsters, they manage to escape.

After pinning the drug dealing papers on the park ranger station's door, the Trotter Brothers go straight to the airport and wait there until their return flight to Britain, where it is revealed on a news programme that Ochetti had been found guilty on all counts. Upon returning home, Del and Rodney find stacked boxes of white wine in their flat, as well as a relieved Raquel and Uncle Albert.

Featured characters

Other notes

Story arc

Outside The Nag's Head after Damien's christening, Cassandra tells Rodney that she is not dressing up as a Victorian maid for anyone. This foreshadows what happened in Rodney's futuristic nightmare of Peckham in 2026 in "Heroes and Villains" when Cassandra dresses up as a maid after Damien bought out her bank.

Production goofs

Rodney and Cassandra are seen in the beer garden of the Nag's Head with benches, soft lights, and patio. Yet the carpark in "Dates" when the police pull up to the rear of the Nag's Head looks a little different.

Miscellaneous trivia

Del mentions Rodney's "Maxwell money", a reference to the scandal surrounding British businessman Robert Maxwell, who "borrowed" large sums of money from his employees' pension funds.
When Rico introduces himself to Del and Rodney in the nightclub, the background music is "Killer" by Seal, prophecising his intentions towards Del.

DVD cuts and edits

This episode of Only Fools and Horses is something of an anomaly in the series. The episode is shot entirely on film, and is without a laugh track. There is also incidental music throughout the episode, which is not normally used on the show. It is one of only two episodes to be shot entirely on film (the other being "To Hull and Back" although, unlike that episode, the Nag's Head and Trotter flat sets do not have an extra wall), only three without a laugh track (the others being "To Hull and Back" and "A Royal Flush"), one of three not to use the regular closing music (the others being "The Jolly Boys' Outing" and "Rodney Come Home") and the only episode after the first season not to use the regular opening titles and theme music, instead opting for a cover of The Lovin' Spoonful song "Summer in the City", recorded by The Gutter Brothers. The only on-screen mention of "Only Fools and Horses" in this episode appears at the very end of the closing credits, only the "Miami Twice" name appears in the opening titles. For the 1998 VHS release, the episode was titled "Miami Twice: The Movie" and the two episodes were combined into one, with the on-screen titles & credits removed from the second episode (presumably by using the original 16mm footage, rather than the master videotape of the episode) and a laugh track added (often drowning out dialogue). The end credits are also remade, including the credits for both episodes and carrying the 1997 BBC logo. This version was also used for the 2003 DVD release, though it has never been broadcast.
The following bits were cut from the 2003 DVD Region 2 release:
- Part 1:
  - The final exchange betwen Del and Rodney before they get on the plane.
- Part 2:
  - The original song at the start of this scene where Del and Rodney are on the plane was "Rockin' All Over the World" by Status Quo. This was replaced by "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears For Fears. Most dialogue is intact apart from a brief section when Del removes his headphones. On the broadcast, he says, "Oh!" On the DVD, the sound of him laughing at the start of the scene is noticeably repeated in its place.
  - Del and Rodney meet the Mafia at the nightclub and the following lines are cut. ("Killer" by Adamski and Seal is on the original soundtrack at this point, but this does not seem to be why the cut has been made as other music tracks in this episode have simply been replaced. It is possible that the track was actually being played at the time of filming, and so the dialogue could not be isolated. This track continued originally over the next scene of Lurch breaking into Del and Rodney's camper van.)