11 Best One-Off Only Fools And Horses Characters

In this classic episode, the Trotters are wrongfully suspected of shoplifting and detained in the manager’s office of a local supermarket. While waiting for a resolution, the office is raided by an armed robber. The crook has timed the job wrong, and they all have to spend the night in the office until the shop’s safe is reactivated.

Throughout the night, the robber remains threatening but reveals his inadequacy for criminal activity. By the morning, the crook has revealed himself to be Lennox Gilbey, a local man who hasn’t had a job in months. Being a man about town, Del realises he knows Lennox as well as his devout mother. It is revealed that the robbery was staged by the manager and the head of security, with them only needing the Trotters for alibis.

By the episode’s climax, Del has quelled the operation, sympathising with Lennox. He argues with the manager and head of security for taking advantage of the would-be ‘Shadow’ and states that he won’t take the matter to the police. This act of kindness exposes more of the positive side of Del’s character, revealing that he does have a conscience.

Vas Blackwood plays the naive wannabe crook and does so with superb comedic timing and farcical acting. Lennox remains a popular one-off character and his disastrous attempt at altering the poem from the 1982 film, ‘The Scarlett Pimpernell.’