Only Fools And Horses

Encyclopedia : O : ON : ONL : Only Fools And Horses

---

Only Fools and Horses is a hugely popular British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan, and made and broadcast by the BBC. Seven series were broadcast between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003. The show was selected as 'Britain's Best Sitcom' in a 2004 BBC poll.[link]

The programme title is based on an old saying: "Only fools and horses work (for a living)", a reference to the protagonist's tax- and work-evading lifestyle. John Sullivan originally wanted to call the show 'Readies', but later changed his mind as he thought a longer title grabbed people's attention. The theme song is written and sung by Sullivan. In the first series a different theme was used: this was changed to help viewers understand the meaning of the programme's title.

John Sullivan had previously used 'Only Fools and Horses' as the title for an episode of his previous hit, Citizen Smith.

Situation

Derek "Del Boy" Trotter (played by David Jason) and his younger brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) share a flat with their elderly Grandad (Lennard Pearce) several floors up Nelson Mandela House in a high-rise estate in Peckham, South London (although the actual high-rise shown in the show was in Acton, West London). Del Boy runs Trotter's Independent Traders (sometimes also called Trotters International Traders Plc)  — he's a fast-talking Cockney market trader, a wheeler-dealer, a wide boy, always looking to try to make a quick buck, cash in hand, no questions asked.

At the start of the first series Rodney joins Del in the business. Their mother died when Rodney was young, and their father disappeared long ago. Del's been Rodney's surrogate father for most of his life.

Del will do any deal to make money: "This time next year we'll be millionaires", he says. But most of the deals are too dodgy to succeed. Their flat is often piled high with dodgy gear they can't sell, from briefcases with the combination locked inside them to sun tan lotion in the middle of winter.

The brothers' friends include a nouveau riche used car dealer, Boycie, and his wife Marlene; a slow-on-the-uptake road sweeper, Trigger, who always calls Rodney "Dave"; lorry driver Denzil; Mike, the barman at their local pub the Nag's Head; and Del-wannabe Mickey Pearce.

The show's one constant is the bond between the brothers. Unafraid of mixing comedy with tragedy, over the years we see their successes and failures, their loves and their losses. Grandad dies, and they're joined by their Uncle Albert; Del and Rodney both find long term love; Del and his "significant other" Raquel have a child, Damien; Rodney and his wife Cassandra split up and get back together; Uncle Albert dies; Cassandra miscarries, but finally she and Rodney have a child too. The Trotters strike it rich but lose it all again.

It was revealed in the 'final' Christmas special that Rodney’s father was in fact Freddie Robdal, or "Freddie the frog", a man with whom Del Boy's mother had an affair. This was suggested in an episode years before, when Rodney hears of a tall man who was an artist (similar characteristics to Rodney himself), and a man who had a son by a woman on the estate who for some unknown reason left everything he owned to Del and Rodney’s mum. Rodney immediately begins to suspect that this man is his biological father, but doesn’t say a word to Del. At the end of the episode when Rodney and Uncle Albert are alone together, Rodney out of the blue asks "do I looks like him…?" and Albert replies "A little". It is finally confirmed in the final Christmas episode when Rodney finds a photo of Freddie Robdal. The two men bear a striking resemblance and at this point the viewers know who Rodney's biological father was. It turns out that Del had known this since the beginning, although neither Del nor Rodney are aware that the other one knows and swear never to tell each other, each for fear that it would break the other's heart.

About the programme

Only Fools and Horses was relatively unpopular when it began, but the BBC persevered, audiences grew steadily and episodes like A Touch of Glass (in which Del, Rodney and Grandad try and spectacularly fail to clean a chandelier) contained scenes that became instant classics.

Series four in 1985 saw the death of Grandad. This was hastily written into the series after the death of the actor Lennard Pearce some way into filming. The programme showed Grandad's funeral – uncommon territory for a sitcom – and quickly introduced a replacement character, Del and Rodney's Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield).

Although the programme ran from 1981 to 2003, there were only seven series. The final series in 1991 ended with the birth of Del and Raquel's son, Damien (whom Rodney is shown (albeit comically) to believe is the spawn of the devil, and the theme tune to The Omen plays at later moments when Damien performs an act, such as playing war with his toys). Ten special episodes were shown between 1991 and 2003, around Christmas time. The three specials shown at Christmas 1996 culminated in Del and Rodney and their families achieving their ambition to become millionaires (having found and auctioned a John Harrison longitude watch); it currently holds the record for the highest-rated episode of a sitcom on British television, with 24.3 million viewers. A further, short ten-minute insert was shown in 1997 as part of the Comic Relief telethon. Set just before their windfall, Del and Rodney (primarily, although Uncle Albert, Racquel and Damien also feature) discuss world hunger and poverty, whilst making clever references to each other's television characters (David Jason as Inspector Frost in the detective series A Touch of Frost; Nicholas Lyndhurst as time-travelling Gary Sparrow in another sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart). The sketch ends with the brothers making a direct appeal from the flat for the Comic Relief charity.

The Christmas 1996 trilogy was intended to end the series, but three further episodes shown at Christmas 2001, 2002 and 2003 carried on the story. Actor Buster Merryfield had died in 1999, and so Uncle Albert died too. Kenneth MacDonald, who played Mike the landlord of the Nag's Head pub, had also died in 2001, and Sullivan wrote around this by keeping his character in prison for fraud. The Trotters had lost their millions in the stock market crash, but Rodney and Cassandra finally had a baby. These three episodes were neither as successful nor as acclaimed as the earlier trilogy, and no further episodes are expected. A spin-off show, The Green Green Grass, centred on the characters of Boycie and Marlene and their plans to move out of Peckham and into the countryside, began filming in June 2005. Sullivan has reportedly also been developing a second spin-off, Once Upon A Time In Peckham, which would show Del and Rodney as youngsters in the 1960s.

One of the major examples of discontinuity in the show is the corridor outside the Trotter's flat. Every time it is shown, its appearance is dramatically different. Also, the interior furnishing of the flat is always different, with new tables and chairs. This was intentional to convey the fact that the Trotters were wheeler dealers and would sell virtually anything if a decent offer was made.

Theme music

The theme music has been the source of many misconceptions down the years. First of all, the famous theme songs (different ones at the beginning and end of the show) are not the original themes. For the first series, theme music composed by Ronnie Hazlehurst was used, however for the second series John Sullivan persuaded the BBC to use two of his own compositions instead. The first series was subsequently re-edited to use the new theme songs, though the very first episode, Big Brother, is still regularly (but not always) repeated with the original Ronnie Hazlehurst music intact, as is the 1981 Christmas special. The DVD release on Series 1, however, replaces the theme music on all 7 episodes.

The theme songs are performed by Sullivan himself, and not — as many people think — by Nicholas Lyndhurst, though the voice Lyndhurst uses in the series is quite similar and the confusion is understandable.

The exact lyrics often cause confusion as well. The lines that cause most head-scratching are the first line of the opening theme and the closing refrain of the end theme, which are respectively, "Stick a pony in me pocket" ("pony" being common London slang for 25 pounds cash) and "c'est magnifique, Hooky Street".

The line "Why do only fools and horses work?", which explains the somewhat oblique title of the show itself, refers to a genuine though somewhat obscure saying which seems (prior to its exposure through the TV show) to have confined its currency to South London. This line provided an answer to the many questions regarding the show's title which were received by the BBC during the transmission of the first series.

BBC Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles once sampled the theme and laid Without Me by Eminem neatly over the top.

Regular cast

• Derek "Del Boy" Trotter — David Jason

Born after the war, Del became his family's main moneymaker before he left school. His gift of the gab made him a natural salesman, no matter what the quality, safety, legality or suitability of the goods in his possession. Devoted to the memory of his mother and hateful of the way his father left after her death, Del puts family high on his agenda, refusing to put Rodney into care as a child and looking after Grandad in his frailty until his death. That said, Del was never afraid to stitch up Rodney to save his own skin or pride. Popular with the ladies, Del was engaged numerous times during the 60s and 70s but never got close to marriage, only finally settling down after re-meeting Raquel and having a son with her. Del misuses French phrases as part of his wish to appear cultured but is ultimately found wanting in aesthetic situations. Del's luck changed in 1996 when an antique watch hidden in his garage made him and his family overnight millionaires. He lived the high life for 5 years before losing it all in 2001 due to a stock market crash.

• Rodney Trotter — Nicholas Lyndhurst

Born in the early 1960s after being accidentally conceived, Rodney Charlton Trotter never got to know his parents. His mother died and his father absconded before he had barely started school, so he was brought up by his teenage brother Derek and his declining Grandad. Rodney was a bright but easily-influenced child, attaining GCE passes in mathematics and art before going to art college in Basingstoke, where he was thrown out after three weeks for smoking marijuana, which also earned him a criminal conviction, a fine and a suspended prison sentence. Rodney subsequently became Del's apprentice, suitcase-carrier and general whipping boy, and became the opposite to his brother cerebrally - blessed with knowledge but lacking entirely in street-wisdom or common sense, hence Del's frequent labelling of him as a "plonker". Rodney tried numerous times to take more control of the business, pursue new interests or go out on his own, but it was only after meeting Cassandra at his evening school that Del finally decided not to interfere. Rodney duly married Cassandra but continued to stay to an extent under Del's influence. In the final episode of the show, Sleepless in Peckham, it was finally revealed to Rodney that his biological father was in fact local crook "Freddie the Frog", and not Reg Trotter, following much speculation in preceding episodes. In the same episode he and Cassandra became the parents of a baby girl, named Joan after his mother.

• Grandad — Lennard Pearce

Born at the turn of the 20th century, Edward "Grandad" Trotter, grandfather on Del's father's side (Del and Rodney's absent father Reginald was his son) served in the Army during the Second World War and worked in a number of semi-skilled jobs. He was widowed early and spent much of his final years almost completely housebound, although Del made him responsible for the housekeeping and the cooking while he and Rodney went out to work. Grandad never removed his hat, watched at least two television sets at once and rarely failed to burn the meals he prepared. He died in 1984 (just as filming for Series 4 was getting underway) and was buried in the episode "Strained Relations".

• Uncle Albert — Buster Merryfield

Born approximately five years after his elder brother Edward, Albert Gladstone Trotter was a seaman as man and boy, initially in the Royal Navy, then the Merchant. He married Ada but the marriage didn't work out for reasons unknown, and Albert was a pensioner alone, moving to the homes of distant relation after distant relation, until attending Grandad's funeral and moving in with his great-nephews Del and Rodney afterwards. He took over the Grandad roles of housekeeping and cooking, doing a considerably better job of it, and was also in the Nag's Head with frequency, drinking rum and playing the piano. Albert never stopped talking about his war days to anyone in earshot, often issuing tedious anecdotes which allowed Del or Rodney to mock him. Albert's death - 15 years after moving in with his great-nephews - was mourned on as grand a scale as Grandad's. This was written into the next episode made after the death of actor Buster Merryfield in 1999. In his will he left Del and Rodney £145,000 each, which got them out of debt with the Inland Revenue.

• Raquel — Tessa Peake-Jones

A trained actress and singer whose career never took off, Rachel "Raquel" Turner married and then separated from policeman Roy Slater before joining up with a dating agency, where she was introduced to Del. They hit it off but split after a row over Raquel's part-time job as a stripper. They re-met accidentally in Margate, where Del was stranded after missing his transport back from a day trip, and Raquel was working in a club as one half of a conjurer's act. This time they got back together and Raquel moved in, taking much of the housekeeping duty off Albert while also trying occasionally to relaunch her theatrical career. She and Del survived a crisis after Del found out the identity of her ex-husband - Slater was his old nemesis - and had an unplanned but very welcome son, Damien, although they never got round to marrying. Raquel was responsible for re-furnishing and re-decorating the flat to the extent that it looked like a family home for the first time.

• Cassandra — Gwyneth Strong

An intelligent, slightly spoilt daughter of a wealthy, self-made businessman, Cassandra was a bank worker who was taking evening classes when she met Rodney, with whom she started a relationship after they danced together at a nightclub. Their love blossomed to the extent that even Del approved, and the two soon married. Cassandra's ambitious nature and Rodney's own difficulty in untying the apron strings of his family meant the marriage initially struggled to work, with the two separating after a year, although ultimately they reconciled their differences and grew stronger, especially after Cassandra miscarried their first child. She later gave birth to Joan Trotter.

• Trigger — Roger Lloyd Pack

The chief supporting character throughout the show's run, Trigger was a local road sweeper, small time thief and rogue and 'village idiot' who had no enemies and was highly valued by Del as a friend. Trigger - apparently so called because he looks like a horse - was the son of a local woman and an unknown military father, but had numerous extended family members. He went to school with Del and has always swept the roads of Peckham by day before propping up the Nag's Head bar at night. Early in the run we saw Trigger also as a mild crook and trader but eventually he stopped getting involved in buying and selling and just became a valued hanger-on. Despite being extremely dim, Trigger's generosity and good nature is respected by all in the area. He consistently called Rodney "Dave" under the genuine belief that that is his name, even though he hears everyone else using the correct name time and again. John Sullivan later revealed that Trigger's real name is Colin Ball.

• Boycie — John Challis

Boycie went to school with Del and Trigger and emerged as the most financially successful but least popular of the trio. A frightful snob with a machine gun laugh and membership of the local Masonic lodge, Boycie was a ruthless businessman - mainly in used cars and movie retailing - who still socialised with his Peckham compatriots partially out of a sense of duty, although under it all he remains fond of Del and Trigger. He married Marlene in the mid 1960s but it took more than 20 years for them to conceive a child after Boycie was discovered to have a low sperm count. Their son Tyler was subsequently born and recently the family moved to the countryside for spin-off sitcom "Green, Green Grass" to escape local gangsters, The Driscoll Brothers, whom Boycie had grassed up to the police. (In the episode 'Sickness and Wealth', Boycie admits that 'Aubrey' is his first name.)

• Marlene — Sue Holderness

Mrs Boyce had a prior reputation as a well loved 'entertainer' of men, including Del and Trigger, before she married Boycie in the 1960s. However, there was a consistent undercurrent of an affair between Del and Marlene throughout the programme. It was revealed in the episode 'Fatal Extraction' that they had actually had a short romance in the 60's before she was with Boycie. Del met her when she was working as a cashier in a betting shop on Ladbroke Grove. Marlene did not work but instead kept the Boyce home in the Kings Avenue, for a long time having her beloved Great Dane, Duke, as her only company until a long fertilisation course produced son Tyler.

• Denzil — Paul Barber

An unemployed put-upon husband when first seen, Denzil was another schoolfriend of Del's although he arrived in the area from Liverpool well into his teens. A trusted and liked friend of all, Denzil was nevertheless regularly on the receiving end of Del's scams. He was married to Corinne (Eva Mottley) who was only sighted once before leaving him. He ultimately forged a reasonable living as a courier and long distance lorry driver.

• Mickey Pearce — Patrick Murray

A young, confident but largely unimaginative spiv figure and friend of Rodney's, often on the receiving end of Del's jibes whenever he issues one of his regular boasts or exaggerations. In the early days he often targeted the same girls and high-reaching ambitions as Rodney, later just becoming a cash-in-hand delivery man for Boycie, amongst other things. One of the regular jokes about Mickey was that at the beginning of the series, he sported the pork-pie hat and suit of the Two-Tone/Ska scene (which was very popular at the time), but continued to wear these clothes for the rest of the series, well into the 2000's.

• Mike — Kenneth MacDonald

The landlord of the Nag's Head (although not from the very beginning; his predecessor was never seen, with just a succession of barmaids providing service), Mike Fisher became a respected landlord and friend of the regulars, often targeted by Del as a potential customer for any dubious gear he was selling. Mike's private affairs rarely were discussed, although he was divorced before taking over the pub. The death of actor Kenneth MacDonald in 2001 prompted a plotline of Mike's imprisonment for fraud in subsequent episodes, with the local cafe owner Sid taking over as licensee of the pub.

• Damien Trotter — Ben Smith

Damien Derek Trotter, Del and Raquel's son, grew up into a typically moody and brash teenager and was a constant threat to Rodney, who viewed him as a 'devil child', even suggesting the name of Damien as a joke over the Omen films, only for Del and Raquel to take his suggestion seriously. The Omen joke between Rodney and Damien is continuous throughout the episodes following his birth, and a famous scene in the episode involving Damien's birth shows Rodney asking, "There's no numbers on his head is there, Del?" by which Del replies, "Numbers? What do you think this is Rodney, a bloody raffle?".

• Sid — Roy Heather

Sid made sporadic appearances throughout the show's run, mainly as the proprietor of the run-down and unhygienic local cafe (which was shot in different locations, depending on the episode), for which he racked up a conviction for 'unintentional attempted poisoning' and subsequently three more for running an 'unhygienic eating house'. Sid was always seen with a cigarette dangling from his mouth and on one occasion Denzil found two hairs in his porridge. After Nag's Head landlord Mike was imprisoned for embezzlement in the episode If They Could See Us Now, Sid took over and remained in that role for the remainder of the series.

Guest cast

• DCI Roy Slater — (known at the Met as 'Bullshit of the Yard) — Jim Broadbent
• Reg Trotter — Peter Woodthorpe

Only appeared in one episode but mentioned in numerous others, Reg was the father of Del and (until the plot twist of the final episode) Rodney. He abandoned his sons and his father upon the death of his wife Joan in 1965 but returned 18 years later in the Christmas special episode Thicker than Water, in which Del's paternity was called into question. When it later emerged that he had edited Del's medical records to show a different blood group, he left again, never to return.

Renee Turpin — (also known as Trigger's Auntie Renee) —Joan Sims

Only appeared in the episode, 'The Frogs Legacy.' She informs Del of the gold legacy that Freddie the Frog left to his mother.

Richard Branson  — (as himself), Miami Twice (part one)

Barry Gibb  — (as himself), Miami Twice (part two)

Jonathan Ross  — (as himself), If they Could See Us Now

Danny and Tony Driscoll — Roy Marsden and Christopher Ryan

Better known as the Driscoll Brothers, they only appeared in one episode - Little Problems - but were mentioned in numerous others. The Driscoll brothers were the local gangsters with a fearsome reputation. They beat up Del Boy after he failed to repay money owed to them, and in the same episode left Mickey Pearce and Jevon with broken bones for a similar reason. In a similar joke to the different-looking Del and Rodney being brothers, the Driscoll brothers differ in height by as much as two feet.

Jumbo Mills — Nick Stringer

Appears in the episode 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' but mentioned in 'Jolly Boy's Outing' as Dels ex business partner who comes back from Australia, to tempt Del back into business with him. Nick Stringer also appears in an earlier episode 'Go West Young Man' playing an Aussie guy who buys a car from Del Boy, who he later crashes into the back of while Del is driving Boycie's E-type Jaguar.

Cultural impact

-->

Only Fools and Horses — and consequently John Sullivan — is credited with the popularisation in Britain of at least two words/phrases (both used by Del Boy regularly):

• Plonker — a fool, (polite). a prick, (vulgar). "Rodney, you plonker!"
• Lovely jubbly — excellent! "A grand? Lovely jubbly!"

The latter was originally an advertising slogan, "Lubbly Jubbly!" for an obscure 1960s frozen orange juice drink, called Jubbly, that was packaged in a pyramid shaped, waxed paper carton. John Sullivan remembered it and reckoned it was exactly the sort of thing Del Boy would say.

The Reliant van used by the Trotters is on display in the Star Cars exhibition at the National Motor Museum.

An unsuccessful adaptation of the show was made in Portugal, by the name of O Fura-Vidas.

Peckham Spring

The series contributed to the media frenzy surrounding The Independent's revelations that the new bottled water Dasani marketed by Coca-Cola was in fact 'purified' tap water from Sidcup. Mocking parallels were made with the OFAH episode concerning Del's attempts to sell tapwater as "Peckham Spring". Dasani was withdrawn from the UK market and the planned rollout over continental Europe cancelled. In the UK, it is sometimes joked that mineral water from low cost supermarkets such as Lidl and Netto might be "like Peckham spring."

Episodes

Series One (30 minute episodes)
Title	First broadcast	Audience	Notes
Big Brother	1981-09-15	9.2m	Del employs Rodney
Go West Young Man	1981-09-15	6.1m	Del wrecks Boycie's car
Cash and Curry	1981-09-22	7.3m	The Indian statue episode
The Second Time Around	1981-09-29	7.8m	Del's murderous ex-fiancee
A Slow Bus To Chingford	1981-10-06	7m	The bus tour episode
The Russians Are Coming	1981-10-13	8.8m	The Trotters build a nuclear war shelter
1981 Christmas special (35 minutes)
Christmas Crackers	1981-12-28	7.5m
Series Two (30 minute episodes)
The Long Legs of the Law	1982-10-21	7.7m	Rodney dates a police officer
Ashes to Ashes	1982-10-18	9.8m	The Trotters dice with death
A Losing Streak	1982-11-04	7.5m	The Trotters have money trouble
No Greater Love	1982-11-11	8.6m	Rodney dates an older woman
The Yellow Peril	1982-11-18	8.2m	The luminous paint episode
It Never Rains	1982-11-25	9.5m	Grandad gets into trouble in Benidorm
A Touch of Glass	1982-12-02	10.2m	The Chandelier episode
1982 Christmas specials
Christmas Trees	1982-12-27	7.2m	8 minutes; Del can't shift his telescopic Christmas trees
Diamonds Are For Heather	1982-12-30	9.3m	30 minutes; Del falls for a girl named Heather
Series Three (30 minute episodes)
Homesick	1983-11-10	9.4m	Grandad becomes ill
Healthy Competition	1983-11-17	9.7m	Rodney leaves T.I.T and goes it alone
Friday the 14th	1983-11-24	9.7m	A fishing trip turns nasty for Del, Rodney and Grandad
Yesterday Never Comes	1983-12-01	10.6m	An upper-class antiques dealer takes a sudden interest in Del
May The Force Be With You	1983-12-08	10.7m	Slater nicks Del
Wanted	1983-12-15	11.2m	Rodney thinks he's a wanted criminal
Who's a Pretty Boy?	1983-12-22	11.9m	The canary episode
1983 Christmas special (30 minutes)
Thicker Than Water	1983-12-25	10.8m	Del and Rodney's Dad reappears
Series Four (30 minutes)
Happy Returns	1985-02-21	15.2m	Del thinks he has a daughter
Strained Relations	1985-02-28	14.9m	Grandad sadly dies; Uncle Albert appears
Hole in One	1985-03-07	13.4m	Albert gets the Trotters in trouble
It's Only Rock and Roll	1985-03-14	13.6m	Rodney's rock group
Sleeping Dogs Lie	1985-03-21	18.7m	The Trotters have dog trouble
Watching the Girls Go By	1985-03-28	14.4m	Rodney bets he can get a girl
As One Door Closes	1985-04-04	14.2m	The butterfly episode
1985 Christmas special (90 minutes)
To Hull and Back	1985-12-25	16.9m	Diamond smuggling from Holland
Series Five (30 minute episodes)
From Prussia With Love	1986-08-31	12.1m	The Trotters take in a pregnant German girl
The Miracle of Peckham	1986-09-07	14.2m	The weeping statue episode
The Longest Night	1986-09-14	16.7m	The supermarket hostages episode
Tea for Three	1986-09-21	16.5m	Paragliding Del
Video Nasty	1986-09-28	17.5m	Rodney is asked to make a film
Who Wants to be a Millionaire	1986-10-05	18.8m	Jumbo offers Del a new start down under
1986 Christmas special (75 minutes)
A Royal Flush	1986-12-25	18.8m	Rodney befriends an aristocrat's daughter
1987 Christmas special (60 minutes)
The Frog's Legacy	1987-12-25	14.5m	Del learns of a gold legacy left to him
1988 Christmas special (80 minutes)
Dates	1988-12-25	16.6m	Del meets Raquel
Series Six (50 minute episodes)
Yuppy Love	1989-01-08	13.9m	"Play it nice and cool son... know what I mean?" Del Boy falls through the bar!
Danger UXD	1989-01-15	16.1m	The Inflatable Dolls episode
Chain Gang	1989-01-22	16.3m	Del organises a big jewellery deal
The Unlucky Winner Is...	1989-01-29	17m	Rodney wins an art competition
Sickness And Wealth	1989-02-05	18.2m	Del's ill, Rodney's engaged to Cassandra
Little Problems	1989-02-12	18.9m	Rodney marries Cassandra
1989 Christmas special (85 minutes)
The Jolly Boys Outing	1989-12-25	20.1m	Del meets Raquel again
1990 Christmas special (75 minutes)
Rodney Come Home	1990-12-25	18m	Rodney and Cassandra split up
Series Seven (50 minute episodes)
The Sky's The Limit	1990-12-30	15m	Del nicks an air traffic control dish
The Chance Of A Lunchtime	1991-01-06	16.6m	Raquel's pregnant
Stage Fright	1991-01-13	16.6m	Del forms a singing duo
The Class of '62	1991-01-20	16.2m	Del attends a school reunion
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle	1991-01-27	17.2m	Albert is mugged
Three Men, A Woman And A Baby	1991-02-03	18.9m	"It's a baby, Rodney"
Christmas specials
Miami Twice (part one)	1991-12-24	17.7m	50 minutes; Del and Rodney's holiday in Miami
Miami Twice (part two)	1991-12-25	14.9m	95 minutes; the Miami Mafia episode
Mother Nature's Son	1992-12-25	20.1m	65 minutes; the Peckham Spring episode
Fatal Extraction	1993-12-25	19.6m	85 minutes; Del gets stalked by a jilted woman
Heroes and Villains	1996-12-25	21.3m	60 minutes; the Batman and Robin episode
Modern Men	1996-12-27	21.3m	60 minutes; Cassandra miscarries
Time On Our Hands	1996-12-29	24.3m	60 minutes; the Antique Watch episode
If They Could See Us Now	2001-12-25	20.3m	71 minutes; broke again
Strangers on the Shore	2002-12-25	16.3m	75 minutes; the Illegal Immigrant ("Gary") episode
Sleepless in Peckham	2003-12-25	15.5m	75 minutes; Cassandra gives birth, Rodney discovers the truth about his father
Other (27 minutes)
Licensed to Drill	1984	Never Broadcast [link] [link]	The lost episode; Del educates Rodney and Grandad in all things oil. Produced as an educational video for schools
Comic Relief 1997 Sketch	1997-03-14		10 minutes; special appeal

With the exception of the lost episode, the 1982 Christmas Trees short and the 1997 Comic Relief sketch, all of these episodes have been released on VHS and DVD. The 2005 DVD release of "A Royal Flush" has annoyed many fans due to the cutting of nearly 20 minutes of material and the adding of a laugh track to the episode, which was absent from the original version. The 1998 VHS & 2003 DVD release of "Miami Twice" did similar, by combining the two episodes into one and adding a laugh track to the second. The BBC have not explained why either of these were done, and it seems there are no plans to release either episode in their original forms. Roughly 6 minutes of footage was also cut from the 1994 VHS release of "The Jolly Boys' Outing".

The scripts, up to and including the 1997 Comic Relief sketch, have been published in three volumes as The Bible Of Peckham.

• In 2005 a follow-up to the series was produced and aired by the BBC. Called Green Green Grass, it followed the exploits of Boycie and his wife Marlene after they moved to a farm in Shropshire.

Trivia

• John Challis' favourite episode is The Sky's The Limit.
• Kenneth MacDonald stated Nicholas Lyndhurst as the co-star he most enjoyed working with on the show. His favourite episode is The Jolly Boys Outing

External links

• [OFAH Appreciation Society]
• [British Sitcom Guide]
• [Only Fools and Trotters]
• [The Nags Head]
• [Ethereal in Only Fools & Horses] - Analysis.

 

---

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

?