Only Fools And Horses: A 'Triffic' Hit In Serbia

Unlikely as it may seem, Del Boy and the rest of the Trotters have achieved cult status in Serbia.

Prince Lazar. Miloš Obilic. Prince Mihailo Obrenovic III. To this list of Serbian national heroes must be added another, more unlikely name: Derek Trotter.

The BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which returned to our screens in the shape of a one-off prequel, Rock and Chips, has been sold to countries around the world. But it is in Serbia where Del Boy has achieved genuine cult status.

Full story at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/25/only-fools-and-horses-serbia

The Green Green Grass - What's It All About?

Boycie (played by John Challis) is forced to flee Peckham after providing crucial evidence against the infamous Driscoll Brothers regarding illegal immigrants. He is the lead witness (aka ‘supergrass’) in the case and finds himself in trouble when every single other witness changes their statement and the Driscoll Brothers walk free. In an attempt to live to an old age, Boycie and his wife, Marlene (Sue Holderness) and son Tyler (Jack Doolan) move overnight to the secluded town of Oakham in Shropshire. Upon arrival at Winterdown Farm, Boycie begins to realise that death was perhaps the easier option. The situation focuses primarily on their futile attempts to run the farm efficiently through utilising the current staff consisting of Elgin (David Ross), Bryan (Ivan Kaye), Jed (Peter Heppelthwaite) and Imelda (Ella Kenion) – the farm’s loyal, if a little eccentric staff. As the series progressed, Boycie and Marlene began to settle into their surroundings however, situations arose occasionally – usually involving their Welsh neighbour, Llewellyn. Tyler was soon sent to school to finish his GCSEs, something he really didn’t want to do but again problems arose as Tyler fell in love with his English teacher.

The snob in Boycie is often his downfall, as he found out when he attended the Agricultural Ball in 2005 where his photo was taken and published in a magazine that stated where he would be that Christmas however, luck ensured that Boycie remained at home when he was snowed in and missed his plane thus not getting scammed by the con-men and not getting killed by the Driscoll Brothers who’d travelled to his desired destination to meet him.

As the series progressed further, Boycie started to use artificial fertiliser on his organic farm, applied to be mayor, fired a member of his staff only to rehire her and, to Marlene’s disgust, became infatuated with Tyler’s french exchange. He also ended up starkers in front of Tyler’s girlfriend through no fault of his own and took part in a pub quiz in which ten thousand pounds of his money was up for grabs.

In 2006, a whole year after they did a runner, Boycie allowed Marlene to invite her sister Pertunia up to stay, however she was followed by the Driscoll Brothers without anyone knowing. They attacked the farm’s staff and tied them up in the barn – including Boycie’s dog, Earl. When Boycie realised something was wrong he went to investigate the barn only to come face to face with two sawn-off shot guns.

Following the terrifying events of the Driscoll Brother’s visit, life on Winterdown Farm is calm. Marlene, Tyler and Boycie have settled down and are beginning to enjoy village life. However, they cannot return to Peckham due to a deal between the Driscoll Brothers and Boycie – he would allow them to bury something on his land and he must protect it. The events of 2006 still had repercussions in 2007 even though Farm Idol was accepting auditions and Earl was missing in the woods. Also, Boycie began to worry about his health after finding out about a genetic similarity between him and past generations. A death was about to hit the farm hard though, as Paxo the turkey passed over to the other side.

The departure of Lisa Diveney as Beth was soon filled with the arrival of Samantha Sutherland who played Sara – Tyler’s new girlfriend. Boycie fell in fear of the Driscoll Brothers once more when they turned up at The Grange and machine gunned his front door down when he refused to answer it. Also, paranormal experts investigate the house, Boycie decides to take some old junk down to the Antiques Roadshow and Boycie and Marlene decide to renew their vows for their fortieth wedding anniversary.

The main cast consisted of Marlene (Sue Holderness), Boycie (John Challis) and Tyler (Jack Doolan) with dog Earl.

The humour comes from several sources. The interaction between characters is essential and much is made of the character’s individual traits, such as Boycie’s rampant snobbery, Elgin’s facade of stupidity, Bryan and Jed’s general daftness, Imelda’s non-cleaning habits and Llewellyn’s constant underhand moves. There are also several running gags, including Boycie’s attempts to be a gentleman farmer and his want for respect which he never gets, Boycie’s fear of the Driscoll Brothers and Marlene’s supposed long-time affair with Del Boy and the fact that Tyler is hinted to be Del’s son.

Source: Wikipedia

The Groovy Gang

Del enters Rodney in a kids painting competition and wins a family holiday. Unfortunately for Rodney he has to pretend to be 14. This clip shows Rodney becoming a life long member of The Groovy Gang!

Only Fools and Horses 1984 - 'Licensed To Drill'

Licensed to Drill was an educational episode of the of the sit-com, Only Fools and Horses. Even though it was shown in various school throughout the UK in 1984, it was never broadcast commercially and has only recently been rediscovered. The episode was written by Brian Hague, and not John Sullivan, though Sullivan did sing the theme song, "Licensed to Drill". This short episode was the last appearance of Grandad.

John Sullivan

John Sullivan OBE (born 23 December 1946), is the writer of several British sitcoms including the immensely popular Only Fools and Horses as well as Citizen Smith, Dear John, Just Good Friends, Roger Roger, and The Green Green Grass. In addition, he also wrote the comedy drama series Micawber for ITV and still co-writes many comedies including Heartburn Hotel. Sullivan composed the theme tune of Only Fools and Horses, Just Good Friends, Dear John and The Green Green Grass. He has also written Rock & Chips, a comedy drama prequel to Only Fools and Horses.

John Sullivan grew up in Balham, South London, failed his eleven-plus and left school at 15 with no qualifications. From a working-class background, Sullivan's Irish father was a plumber and his mother occasionally worked as a charlady. It was in Balham where he observed the sort of market trader that would later appear in Only Fools and Horses. Sullivan's first paid employment was as a messenger boy for Reuters.

Sullivan got a lot of his material for Only Fools and Horses scripts from his real-life experiences i.e. the chandelier falling, his father's poker sessions, his niece working in the police force, and his grandfather falling down holes to claim money.

On 2 September 2008 John Sullivan was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Goldsmiths, University of London.  He now lives in the city of Brighton and Hove.