Hillarious (Only Fools and Horses)

Member Name: defiler

Product:	Only Fools and Horses
Date:	10/03/01 (436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great cast & scripts, very funny.

Disadvantages: Very few more episodes will ever be made

Only Fools and Horses has been one of my favourite programs on TV ever since I first sat down and watched an episode many years ago. It still remains one of my favourite and I was extremely happy to read that 3 more episodes will be very likely be made (although it just won't be the same without Buster Merryfield or Lennard Pearce).

Starting in 1981 with Big Brother and lasting until 1996 (with large breaks) with a 3 episode Christmas special this is a show that has undergone changes through the years but still remained constantly funny. This show basically describes the exploits of the Trotter family, living in Peckham, London.

Superbly written by John Sullivan I find myself constantly amazed that he can come up with such brilliant scrips time and time again.

This is one of the few shows I can watch again and again and still find funny, no matter how many times I see the chandelier drop, Del fall through the bar or Del dressed as batman I still have to laugh (these are just 3 clips chosen from thousands of funny moment during the shows).

The acting is superb, both among the main characters and more minor characters, as the series' progress you get used to certain characters and an episode just wouldn't be complete with Trigger or Boycie.

When I started watching this show Lennard Pearce had already died and therefore it was the character of Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield) that most stuck in my mind as being part of the family rather than Grandad. I now own just about every episode ever made and I still find that Uncle Albert is a better character than Grandad, although both can be extremely funny.

Del Boy, played by David Jason (who is great in other series' too such as A Touch Of Frost) is a great character, a character who really wants to be succesful but despite coming up with "great" ideas somehow seems to always fail. He does have good business sense however, ju
st not on the scale he seems to imagine. The 2 quotes that most stands to mind when I think of Del is:
"I saw the look on your face when he asked me what I though of Hamlet and I said I preferred Castellas." &
"This time next year, we'll be millionaires."

Rodney, played by Nicholas Lyndhurst (also great in Goodnight Sweetheart which sadly degraded in quality as it progressed) had about a bright a future to look forward to as a lightbulb in a blackout, then he became a partner in Trotters Independent Traders and his future became much brighter (well, about as bright as a burnt-out candle anyway). Smarter in some ways than Del, but lacking any of his business sense, the thing that most describes this occurs in the very first episode, Big Brother (said by Del).
"Today, I just about clinched a deal to buy these briefcases for one hundred and seventy five pounds when my "financial adviser" stuck his nose in and advised me to pay two hundred pounds. Right? And having paid the two hundred pounds my financial adviser then
advised me to chuck the bleeding lot in the river! Now with financial advisers like
that who needs a bleeding recession!"

Grandad, played by Lennard Pearce unfortunatly passed away in 1983 during the filming of the fourth series of the show, this meant that several episodes had to be refilmed and many fans were upset at losing a character that had been such a part of the shows first 3 series'. While the character was a vital part of the show I never felt he worked quite as well as Uncle Albert at his best, but with some great comedy moments. Related to Rodney's quote above, this sticks to mind:
"What kind of financial adviser goes out to buy an Emperor burger and comes back with a cheese burger?!"

Uncle Albert, played by Buster Merryfield he became a fital part of the show, taking over really from Grandad during the fourth series. Unfo
rtunatly he died in 1999 and will not be in the proposed future episodes, the episodes just won't be the same without him. The Jonah of the Navy, the quote that he will most be remembers for will always be:
"During The War..."

Trigger (played by Roger lloyd-pack) has always been one of my favourite characters on the show, completely stupid but usually acting with the right intentions he is a vital part of just about any episode. The following quotes is one of my favourites (first part by Del, second Trigger)
"Closed? I thought you said it was open 24 hours a day?"
"Yes, but not at night."

Other characters are also vital to the show such as Boycie (John Challis), Raquel (Tessa Peak-Jones), Cassandra (Gwyneth Strong) and Denzil (Paul Barber), however to mention every single person who together manage to make this show as wonderful as it is would simply take far too long.

Simply put, this is one of the best things ever to be shown on TV, if you've seen it you probably already know that (or hate it, in which case why have you read to the end of a review on a subject you hate?), if you haven't seen it watch it, watch it again and then find out that you need to buy all the videos :)

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