A Timeless Classic (Only Fools and Horses)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Only Fools and Horses
Date:	29/12/00 (64 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Totally hilarious

Disadvantages: None I can think of

~ ~ I was “surfing” through the dooyoo listings on T.V. comedy shows, to see which one I fancied writing an opinion about, and noticed a strange aberration. (Or maybe it isn’t so strange)
The shows with the most opinions written about them, and the opinions with the most “reads” from other members, mostly seemed to be in the “Golden Oldies” category. These would include “Fawlty Towers”, “Dad’s Army”, and off course the show about everyone’s favourite “wide boy” Del Trotter, “Only Fools and Horses”.
Is this a telling commentary on the standard of comedy, which is being shown on the “tube” today?

~ ~ This absolutely priceless comedy from the pen of John Sullivan relates the day to day lives of a family of “dodgy dealers” from Peckham in north London.
The Trotter family live in a tower block called “Nelson Mandella House”, and consists of the two brothers “Del Boy” (David Jason) and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), who share the apartment with “Granddad” (Leonard Pearce), and in later episodes with “Uncle Albert” (Buster Merrifield).

~ ~ The storylines consist of the various attempts by the Trotters to achieve independent wealth, or as Del Boy likes to put it, “become milly-on-aires”.
Del Boy is the ideas man, while the hapless Rodney seems to turn everything he touches into dust. This was the foundation of one of the timeless catch-phrases which resulted from this show, “You plonker, Rodney”, which has now entered British culture, and is still used today by thousands of people to describe when someone has made an absolute mess of something.

~ ~ The humour in this show is obvious without ever becoming boring, and it also managed to indulge in some very fine emotional scenes, which were touching and funny at the same time.
The
characters were never allowed to stagnate, and were constantly evolving throughout the series, hence Del Boy’s marriage to Raquel, and Rodney’s marriage to Cassandra.
The show could have floundered a bit with the loss of Granddad (after the untimely and sad death of actor Leonard Pearce) but a very able replacement was quickly found in “Uncle Albert” (played by the now also deceased Buster Merrifield).
Uncle Albert was a fine addition to the cast, and regaled all and sundry about his somewhat mythical experiences in the Merchant navy during the war, to the amusement of all.

~ ~ Another strength of this show was the supporting cast, who all added in their own inimitable way to the popularity of the series.
There was everybody’s favourite binman, the incredibly stupid Trigger, with his absolute firm resolution to call Rodney “Dave”. Then you had “Mike the barman”, and “Boycie and Marleen” (would you buy a car from this man?)
Yet another star of the show was the Trotters now famous three-wheeler van, with the salutation emblazoned proudly on its side “New York, Paris, and Peckham”.

~ ~ This show will live on and on. From the opening catchy, theme music to the closing credits of the very last episode, I never failed to laugh or be intrigued by this classic British comedy series.

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