Comfort Classic: Only Fools and Horses

COMFORT CLASSIC

Only Fools and Horses

If you can judge a sitcom solely on the strength of its catchphrases, Only Fools and Horses is a gem. Three decades on from its hey day, Derek “Del Boy” Trotter’s sayings – “lovely jubbly”, “you plonker” and “cushty” – are part of our everyday language. We even remem ber his terrible Franglais – “mange tout, mange tout, as the French say” – by which Del meant “no problem”.

But Only Fools and Horses also had slapstick – the smashed chandelier and Del Boy falling through the bar – to rival Laurel and Hardy in its set-up and exe cution; idiocy – Del Boy and Rodney, dressed as Batman and Robin, thwarting muggers; and no little poignancy. BBC

Matthew Bell on why Del Boy and Rodney are a comedic match made in heaven

The late John Sullivan’s sitcom ran for seven series on BBC One from 1981 to 1991, continuing, on and off at Christmas, until 2003. It was absurdly popular – 24.3 million people watched a 1996 special, the biggest audience ever for a UK comedy.

At its heart were David Jason’s Peck ham market trader Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his hapless younger brother Rodney, more often than not the target of Del’s “plonker” jibes. “I’ve got this horrible feeling,” Rodney once said, “if there is such a thing as rein carnation, knowing my luck, I’ll come back as me.”

Sullivan, who grew up in a work ing-class south London family, was familiar with Del Boy’s world and the characters that populated it; most memorably, second-hand car dealer Boycie (played by John Challis) and daft-as-a-brush road sweeper Trigger (the late, great Roger Lloyd-Pack). These were comic characters that could have been penned by Charles Dickens, whom Sullivan revered.

But Only Fools and Horses was a sit com, not a novel, so the characters