A Rocky Start is an episode of the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 sitcom, The Green Green Grass

The Green Green Grass

The Green Green Grass is a British sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a spin-off of the long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness and Jack Doolan...

. It was first screened on 16 September 2005, as the second episode of series one.

Synopsis

Having now met the farm manager, Elgin Sparrowhawk, Boycie is now convinced that he is of Gentlemen Farmer material. However, he finds himself reluctant to meet the other staff which he also didn’t know existed. Worst of all, he needs to buy some animals but getting some of those won’t be a problem... will it?

After Elgin’s fantastic idea of getting the bull owner drunk and getting a lower price of around nine thousand pounds, Boycie stills ends up paying more. He ends up paying around eighteen thousand pounds as he got more drunk. He then attempts to return home but Marlene has locked up and Elgin has taken his car keys so it looks like he’s going to have a night out in the wild.

The next morning, the bull arrives and Boycie finds himself face to face with it and the staff find out that Rocky isn’t attracted to the

Episode cast

Actor	Role
John Challis John Challis John Challis is an English actor.-Career:He is probably best known for his role as Terrance Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in the long running comedy show Only Fools and Horses, and its 2005 spin-off, The Green Green Grass....	Boycie Boycie Terrance Aubrey Boyce best known as Boycie is a fictional character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses played by John Challis. His story is continued in the spin off series The Green Green Grass, which began filming in June 2005, in which Boycie and family have fled from a gang of...
Sue Holderness Sue Holderness Sue Holderness is an English actress. Since 1985 she has played the role of Marlene Boyce in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses and its spin-off The Green Green Grass .-Career:...	Marlene
Jack Doolan Jack Doolan (actor) Jack Doolan is an English actor. He is best known for portraying Tyler Boyce in the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass alongside John Challis and Sue Holderness...	Tyler
David Ross David Ross (actor) David Ross is an English actor who has worked in theatre, cinema, and television.His best-known roles include playing the first appearance of Kryten and the voice of the Talkie Toaster on the science fiction comedy series Red Dwarf, Elgin on the BBC sitcom The Green Green Grass, and as Mr...	Elgin
Ivan Kaye Ivan Kaye Ivan Kaye is a British actor. He previously played Dr. Johnathon Leroy in a recurrent role in EastEnders, and he played Bryan in The Green Green Grass...	Bryan
Ella Kenion Ella Kenion Ella Kenion is an English comedy actress, known for her versatility in shows such as The Catherine Tate Show, Five's sketch show, Swinging and most recently in BBC4's Fear of Fanny. She's probably best known for her portrayal of Mrs Cakeworthy in The Green Green Grass. She played the role of Julie...	Mrs Cakeworthy
Peter Heppelthwaite	Jed

Writing

This episode was written by John Sullivan, writer of Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

. The whole of the first series was written entirely by John Sullivan.

Broadcast

During its original airing, the episode had a viewing audience of 6.34 million, in the 8:30pm timeslot it was shown. This is the same audiences that sitcoms such as My Family attract.

This episode has since been re-run on BBC1, BBC HD and GOLD. The show received one of the highest ratings of the week making it into the top thirty.

DVD release

The UK DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 release was released on 23 October 2006. The release includes the 2005 Christmas Special, a short special entitled 'Grass Roots' and a short documentary on 'Rocky'.

Continuity

• A reference to Uncle Albert is made.
• Brief references are made by both Boycie and Marlene regarding their lives in Peckham.

Conception

This episode was designed to introduce the characters of Bryan, Jed and Mrs Cakeworthy – staff that Boycie didn’t know existed. The episode works as a set-up that shows the viewers the Boyce’s new lives and how their sudden move to Winterdown Farm has affected them. The episode was also needed to introduce Boycie’s first animal – Rocky the Bull.

Locations

The Green Green Grass is filmed at two main locations. Teddington Studios is used to film interior scenes whilst John Challis’s actual manor house. The surrounding area is also used for filming whilst a local farmer provides the livestock.

Casting

This episode sees the first appearance of Bryan as played by Ivan Kaye

Ivan Kaye

Ivan Kaye is a British actor. He previously played Dr. Johnathon Leroy in a recurrent role in EastEnders, and he played Bryan in The Green Green Grass...

. The episode all sees the first appearance of Jed as played by Peter Heppelthwaite and Mrs Cakeworthy as played by Ella Kenion

Ella Kenion

Ella Kenion is an English comedy actress, known for her versatility in shows such as The Catherine Tate Show, Five's sketch show, Swinging and most recently in BBC4's Fear of Fanny. She's probably best known for her portrayal of Mrs Cakeworthy in The Green Green Grass. She played the role of Julie...

. This episode is the only episode in the first series to only feature the main cast. No guest stars or regulars appear in this episode.