Old Fools
TO many of us the impending Christmas season affords the chance to spend some quality time with loved ones in front of the telly.
To eat in front of the telly; to drink in front of the telly; to fall asleep in front of the telly; to wake up and begin a new day of drinking, eating and telly watching.
And every year, the British share so much of this spiritual telly watching with David Jason, better known to the greater British public as Del Boy, lead character in the seasonal BBC TV show Only Fools And Horses.
Like the appearance of mistletoe above unattractive people’s desks at work, a sighting of Del Boy heralds the start of the Holiday Season.
“It must have been one Del of a night..” says the Mirror’s front page. And inside, we see Del emerging from a TV do, naturally, and looking for his car. “Where’s the car?” an onlooker hears him ask. “It was here earlier. Someone’s moved it.”
Many of us know this feeling all to well. But Del’s car has not been airlifted by London mayor Ken Livingstone’s goons to a place of safety. Del’s wife Gill (surely Roxanne?) locates the car and helps him into the four-wheel vehicle.
And Del’s not the only one having trouble seeing things straight. While the Mirror says the do was at London’s Curzon cinema, the Star has Del drinking at the Hilton Hotel on the same night.
And (you’re ahead of us here) we wonder if there is more than one Del Boy. Just as there is a Father Christmas on every street corner and in every department store, is there more than one Del? Does Del repeat?
And how much longer can the real Del, the prototype Del, go on. As the Sun says: “DEL OLD BOY!” He’s not getting any younger. He’s 66.
But the Sun tells us that Del will never die. The paper’s telly expert says that Del is to return to the show in a “long-awaited” prequel.
What worked for Star Wars and Batman will work just as well for Del. Who needs repeats when you can just start all over again?
It’s the Only Fool & Horses nativity. Del’s birth is the beginning of it all.
It’s what Christmas is all about…
Posted: 29th, November 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
