Miami Twice (part two)

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Only Fools and Horses episode
"Miami Twice - Oh to be in England"
Series	Christmas Special
Writer	John Sullivan
Director	Tony Dow
Producer	Gareth Gwenlan
Duration	95 minutes
Airdate	25 December 1991
Audience	14.9 million

Miami Twice was a two-part Christmas special addition of the BBC sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. The second episode, sub-titled Oh to be in England, was first screened on 25 December 1991.

1 Synopsis
2 Anomalies
3 Trivia
4 Errors
5 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

With Del Boy and Rodney having arranged a holiday to Miami in the prior episode, this one takes place predominantly in that location. Whilst in a bar during their first night in the city, the two are befriended by a group of local men, who turn out to be members of a mafia family. It emerges that the boss of the family, a Don Corleone-inspired character named Don Vincenzo "Vinny the Chain" Ochetti, is on trial and facing life imprisonment for various major crimes. It also emerges that Ochetti is a Doppelgänger for Del Boy (and is thus also played by David Jason) and his family hatch a plot to assassinate Del, with the intention that everyone will assume the Don himself has been actually assassinated and thus save him from a prison sentence.

After arranging for their camper van to be robbed, the group, led by the Don's son, Rico, 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. Del convinces Rodney of it and the two escape through the window and flee, ultimately ending up in the Everglades, where they meet the holidaying Boycie and Marlene. Despite being shot at by the gangsters, they escape.

After pinning the drug dealing papers on the park ranger station's door, Del and Rodney go straight to the airport and wait there until their return flight to England, 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 Albert.

[edit] Anomalies

This episode of Only Fools and Horses is something of an anomaly in the series. The episode is shot entirely on location and on film (with the exception of a few scenes at the flat and one in the Nag's Head pub), 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"), 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 series 1 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.

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.

[edit] Trivia

This episode features brief cameo appearances by Barry Gibb, member of The Bee Gees and resident of Miami and Richard Branson, who were both fans of the series.

[edit] Errors

When Rico is handing his sunglasses to one of his henchmen whilst in the Everglades, the henchman drops them but doesn't attempt to pick them up.
One of Rico's henchmen breaks into Del and Rodney's camper van. But at this point they could not have known it was their van because the Mafia had not yet spoken to the Trotter brothers.
Don Ochetti is being watched constantly by police surveilance. If this is so and they assume Del is Don (like they do on the jet ski and at the restaurant), how come they never followed him and Rodney when they both made a run for it at the end, when they discovered Rico and his men were the Mafia?
When Del bravely falls into the swamp in the Everglades, a twig gets caught in his hat. It stays with him until he and Rodney sit down for the alligator scene. At that point, the twig suddenly vanishes.
Just after Del face gets soaked and dirty from falling into the Everglades, he moans to Rodney about who put the swamp thing there. Yet Del's face is now all cleaned up.