I watched the 'banned' episode of Only Fools and Horses and it should have stayed banned

It's always been one of my favourite TV series. As a child of the 80s, I'm the perfect age to have seen Del Boy, Rodney and Uncle Albert's mishaps first hand. I remember watching peak moments like the legendary chandelier smash, Del's bar fall, or that Batman and Robin moment, as they were broadcast on BBC One on a grainy old CRT TV on some winter evening.

So in recent years, my obsession with buying up all my old favourite shows on DVD or Bluray has inevitably led me back to the sitcom and, I can confirm, for the most part it really has held up well. Apart from one episode.

I had no memories of A Royal Flush, probably because it came out before I was born, but I certainly didn't see this episode repeated during my childhood, and there's a very good reason for that.

This Christmas special episode was 'banned' by the show's late creator, John Sullivan, who was not happy with it and asked for it not to be repeated, unlike all the other episodes which seemed to be on telly rotation constantly.

In fact, after its airing in 1986, the episode was only repeated twice, and after 1992 it was not seen again until it was put on DVD in 2005, 13 years later. Even then, it was slashed by 18 minutes with significant edits and the full original episode was not released until the new Bluray set in 2021, 35 years after it was aired and 29 years after it was last repeated in full.

Now, I've seen the full, unedited original version for the first time after tracking down the Only Fools and Horses Bluray release, called Only Fools and Horses: The 80s Specials, which contains every feature length special from the 1980s including banned episode A Royal Flush, all in HD for the first time.

And to be honest, they should have kept it banned.

We all know Del Boy is a bit of a character. Throughout the series, he mocked Rodney relentlessly, he flogged dodgy VHS videos to his mates, he flirted with Boycie's wife Marlene, and generally operated in a slightly morally grey zone - but his heart was always in the right place.

Not so in A Royal Flush. The episode centres around aspiring Rodney becoming friends with a Duke's daughter, and Del Boy then sees an opportunity and homes in on Rodney's invite to a well-to-do dinner party. The first 20 minutes or so are normal - Del Boy goes hunting, turns up in a silly outfit, tries to fit in with the old boys club with some mangled French and can't shoot to save his life. So far, so OFAH. But it's at the dinner party where things veer badly off course.

Del's behaviour isn't just a bit oafish, he downright becomes loud, red-faced and aggressive, shouting at everyone at the table, laughing loudly at his own tasteless jokes and making a huge scene with cruel put-downs to the guests around him. He reveals Rodney was convicted for possessing cannabis. He tells a skiing joke despite knowing the Duke's wife died skiing. It's not funny, and there's no redeeming qualities. Even Sir David Jason seems to have lost his usual warmth, turning into a villain before our eyes, going really gung-ho with his delivery.

Notably, this is the only episode not to feature a laughter track, because of problems filming, which meant it was never filmed in front of an audience like every other episode. The lack of laughter just makes the episode feel weirdly empty, and even harder to endure.

Thankfully, the Bluray contains notes from the show's creators which help explain what went wrong here.

The booklet which comes with the set, written by Steve Clark, explains: "It is generally conceded that a key dinner party scene at Victoria's father's stately home as transmitted wasn't up to the show's usual standards, with Del seemingly turning from being mischievous towards Rodney to oafish and rather mean spirited. This was something producer Ray Butt took responsibility for.

"It was the one scene I wasn't happy with," he said, "I think that David went a bit over the top. That was my fault because I should have spotted it and brought him down. I think Del turned too nasty and lost his warmth."

Steve adds: "John Sullivan was away in Paris on location with Just Good Friends while the dinner party scene was filmed, something he later regretted. 'I wish to God I'd been on Only Fools instead,' he said. That scene was written for laughs, not drama, and I wanted David to be Del as a jolly drunk rather than a morose drunk, which is what he ended up looking like."

The episode was troubled during filming and finished extremely late. The notes concede: "At one stage there had been a contingency plan to broadcast the final scene at the flat live on Christmas Day."

Now there are two versions of the episode, one having been edited for DVD in 2005 in an attempt to rescue it.

Steve adds: "We thought it was a good time to offer both versions with this Bluray release, to both illustrate the reasons behind the writer's cut and the original, and so that viewers can make up their own minds."