Sickness and Wealth
| "Sickness and Wealth" | |
|---|---|
| Only Fools and Horses episode | |
 |
|
| Episode no. |
Series 6 Episode 5 |
| Directed by | Tony Dow |
| Written by | John Sullivan |
| Produced by | Gareth Gwenlan |
| Original air date | 5 February 1989 (18.2 million viewers) |
| Running time |
50 minutes
|
50 minutes
"Sickness and Wealth" is an episode of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. It was the fifth episode of series 6, and was first broadcast on 5 February 1989. In the episode, Del is suffering from stomach cramps, but refuses to see a doctor. Elsewhere, Del organises a séance.
Del Boy is suffering from a mysterious illness that is giving him stomach pains, but he refuses to admit to it or go to see a doctor because he is scared of them. He is also under a great deal of stress; his recent line in women's summer fashion has not been selling well with all the frost and sleet and he has been unable to pay the rent on the flat for the past three months. In spite of the fact that he, Rodney, and Albert are facing the possibility of eviction, Del is still living the yuppy lifestyle, eating in the curry houses and bistros, and drinking and buying rounds in wine bars and pubs, all on the slate, causing further debts.
Over a Chinese Del learns that Albert's new girlfriend Elsie Partridge used to be a medium in the 1960s and thinks their bathroom is haunted (though the council installing their extractor fan the wrong way round might have something to do with it), and he instantly sees it as a chance to make money and the answer to his financial worries.
Having convinced Elsie Partridge, Del holds a 'dummy run' séance with all the regular cast (Trigger, Boycie, Rodney, Mike and Uncle Albert) in the hall above the Nag's Head pub. Mike is concerned about 'messing with the forces of darkness' due to the pub being built on the site of a public grave for victims of the Great Plague, but Del and Boycie laugh off his and Rodney’s concerns. At the séance Elsie gives Boycie a message from his father that Boycie must look after his child (it was previously established that Boycie and his wife Marlene could not have children) and then gives Del a message from his late mother Joan prompting him to go to the doctors. Del still refuses to believe in Elsie until Marlene announces she is pregnant, thus confirming his fears that he may be genuinely ill (the message from Joan was actually a ploy by Albert to make Del see sense, as he tells Elsie that the only person Del would ever listen to was his mother).
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