John Sullivan of was known for his expertise in weaving his scripts with a dash of real-life tales. He cleverly wove his own experiences into various episodes of the legendary sitcom, which has become one of Britain's most beloved sitcoms. Yet not even Sullivan could have predicted that one of his scripted episodes would be yanked from repeats due to an ending scene becoming sensitive material.
Back when it first aired, the scene wasn't seen as troubling; however, post-9/11 events made its imagery too unsettling for repeated showing. In the 1990 episode 'The Sky's the Limit', Boycie is left scratching his head over his vanished satellite dish, while Delboy suddenly has one to boast about, reports MyLondon. At the same time, Rodney dashes to Gatwick Airport to fetch Cassandra but gets news that her plane has been diverted to Manchester.
Viewers are teased with hints of a link between these odd occurrences.
Everything comes together in an iconic bright spark moment with David Jason, our very own Del Boy, on the blower with Bronco, poking: "Where did you get it from?" The revelation stuns Del Boy, leading him to exclaim in utter disbelief: "Oh hells bloody bells!".
The family is glued to the TV as the news anchor declares: "The radar transmitter dish, similar to the one shown here, was stolen from the end of Gatwick Airport's main runway during the early hours of yesterday morning. The theft brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill, has caused chaos throughout Europe, and left thousands of returning holidaymakers stranded."
In an edge-of-your-seat climax, an aeroplane disturbingly flies by the Trotters' tower block, harking back to Boycie's earlier jest that the miscreants on Del Boy's estate would "have the wheels off a jumbo if it flew low enough."
Notably, this gripping finale was the reason the episode was stopped from airing in the aftermath of 9/11.
The madcap storyline is credited to John Sullivan's disastrous foray to Portugal, where he turned up at the airport only to find his flight booking amiss. John Challis, known affectionately for his portrayal of Boycie, the South London second-hand car dealer, counts this particular tale amongst his most treasured episodes.
