Del Boy puts in a painting, painted by Rodney when he was a teenager, that he put into a Cornlakes competition, with it coming up trumps. Winning the brothers a holiday for three to Spain, they bring Cassandra, along with them, with Rodney hoping to consummate his relationship with his new girlfriend,. He predictably however finds his hopes to be dashed. Arriving in Spain, and to his despair, he learns the competition was for under-fifteen year old's. Meaning that the younger sibling has to pretend to be a fourteen-year-old and that Del Boy and Cassandra are his father and stepmother.
The fourth episode of Series 6, And the Unlucky Winner is...showcases Only Fools and Horses at its absurdist best. After all, who could mistake Rodney at the age of twenty-six as being a fourteen-year-old teenager? It's daft, yes but that of course is all part of the fun with poor Rodney at his most perturbed and infuriated that he has once again been on the receiving end of one of his older brother's ridiculous schemes. However, what makes it all the more hilarious and poignant is that Rodney wanted to use the holiday as a means to take his relationship with Cassandra to the next level, seeing as their feelings for one another have continued to deepen. It marks the superb tragi-comic nature of John Sullivan at his very best, that Rodney finds himself having to take part in a club called "The Groovy Gang." One set-up by the holiday company so that the youthful kids can take part in some activities, so the parents can spend some time together. Essentially putting a spanner in the works, for Rodney and Cassandra to spend some romantic alone time together. Not helped by the fact that a thirteen-year-old girl has developed a crush on Rodney, who he can't seem to shake off.
David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst are of course both on top form, with Lyndhurst portraying his enragement at the sticky situation his older brother has put him in. Gwyneth Strong gives solid support as Cassandra, and it's all rounded off by a fitting punchline where the brothers think they have won 1000,0000 pesetas in the Spanish Lottery. This is only for their hopes to be obliterated thanks to Del-Boy's machinations in true tragic-comic form. Making The Unlucky Winner Is...a classic episode that continues the upward quality of the sixth series and one that should not be missed.
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