Only Fools And Horses: 10 Times Del Boy Was ALMOST A Millionaire
6. A Miracle In Peckham
The scheme:
Trotter's pre-blessed wine wasn't (perhaps unsurprisingly) Del's first skirmish with the church. In the series five episode 'The Miracle Of Peckham', Del becomes the finder of his very own miracle at the local Catholic church when a statue of the Virgin Mary starts weeping tears.
Needless to say, it starts to attract attention from international press and religious organisations. They then flock from across the world to see the miracle in action, with Del getting them all to sign disclaimers, prohibiting them all from seeing the statue without making a donation to local hospice St Mary's. While this one was technically for charitable causes, it would still have propelled Del straight into the limelight.
What went wrong:
It's soon established that the tears aren't the result of a miracle (surprise, surprise), but the result of a leak in the church's roof. When it rained, the water would fall through the ceiling onto the statue. Turns out Del had taken some panels off the roof deliberately to scam the press into raising money for the hospice.
It's pretty inventive when you think about it.