Now I absolutely love the official Christmas trilogy (new one doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned) but does the scene with Del's emotional breakdown in the ward with Rodders and Cass ever feel awkward?
Granted it's a hilarious moment albeit in difficult circumstances but I imagine there must have been some sort of controversy when that episode first screened in 1996?
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I always thought of it like a "Strained Relations" moment, which was also a sad episode with many heartwrenching moments. However, there is the one scene where Rodney accidentally buries the vicar's hat with Grandad, thinking it was actually Grandad's and the vicar subsequently is confused about where it's gone. That scene was to inject a bit of humour into an otherwise heavy episode, and I feel the same could be said for Del crying after telling Rodney he had to be strong
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It's been brought up by the actors that this was their favourite part of working on the show, that even when the episodes were heavy and hard to handle, there'd still be some funny lines to ease the tension and keep everyone on their toes.
shareThis was easily my least favourite scene. The scene after mickey and dezil delivers the table, it cuts back for more heaviness. I love some of the emotional scenes and they're mostly executed to perfection but this just seemed like it was for the sake of maintaining facing difficult subjects. Im sure many people looked around the living room with a look of disapproval after the 'we lost our baby!' line. In the past they'd be counteracted by something hilarious. Grandads hat in the grave springs to mind. But the 'You git!, you git!, you gi''. was poorly acted in my opinion and resolved a scene that wasn't so much awkward in topic, more so in script.
shareI actually really liked that moment.
Del had made a big show of telling Rodney he has to be strong, and then as soon as he sees Cassandra he's bawling his eyes out. In a way it's quite a basic joke, and one you should perhaps have seen coming. But you didn't, and it was funny. I once heard John Sullivan's writing described as; "He could mix the inevitable with the completely unpredictable." That's what we saw in this joke. You weren't expecting the punchline, but when it came it seemed like it was the completely obvious joke.
I think it's the quality of that writing that made him get away with a joke in such a tragic situation. With a lesser writer, it would've seen bad taste.
Not awkward, it just didn't ring true. Del lost his mum at 16, his dad walked out on him soon after, so had to develop a tough skin early on, not only for himself but he had to be strong to basically bring Rodney up as well and look after Granddad, while being streetwise.
He wouldn't cry like that because Cassandra had a miscarriage. But it's ultimately a sitcom and it was funny.