Dates (Only Fools and Horses) Dates (Only Fools and Horses) "Dates" is the seventh Christmas special episode of the BBC sitcom, "Only Fools and Horses", first broadcast on 25 December 1988. In the episode, Del Boy joins a dating agency and meets Raquel. Rodney also goes on a date, with Nag's Head barmaid Nerys. The Trotters have been earning a lot of money recently, and Uncle Albert's birthday is approaching, which Del Boy and Rodney pretend to have forgotten. Meanwhile, after seeing a girl Trigger has met through a local dating agency, Del also decides to sign up. Styling himself "Derek Duvall", managing director of
Only Fools and Horses and become friends with when they were working on "Citizen Smith", a draft script was shown to the Corporation's Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies. Davies commissioned Sullivan to write a full series. Sullivan believed the key factor in its being accepted was the success of ITV's new drama, "Minder", a series with a similar premise and also set in modern-day London. Sullivan had initially given the show the working title "Readies". For the actual title he intended to use, as a reference to the protagonist's tax and work-evading lifestyle, "Only Fools and Horses". That name was based on a