Viva Peckham! Viva Hookie Street! (Only Fools and Horses)

Member Name: Morgenhund

Product:	Only Fools and Horses
Date:	22/08/01 (280 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: guaranteed laughs, classic entertainment, now on DVD apparently

Disadvantages: none

Del and Rodney Trotter might well have been classed as potential "captains of industry" with their unfortunate wheeler dealing, in the vain hope that they might leave their flat in Mandella Towers, when by that time the following year they'd become "miwwionaires". From being the put-upon shop boy, Granville, David Jason was this time the one calling the shots, unless of course, Boycey "Maaarlenee!" had anything to do with it. Boycey was renowned for having the shortest arms and deepest pockets in Peckham, whihc was what of course had allowed him to be successful.

Rodney was the brains of Trotter's Independent Trading and to all intents and purposes also exploited inspite of his "Diploma in Computing". Whilst Rodney was deprived his own life, this changed when he met Cassandra and turned into a yuppie, after having been offered a job in Cassandra's father's printing company.

Del was brash and abrasive, but at the end of the day had his heart in the right place, although his business acumen was limited at best. He used to always end up on the losing end of the deal, and went through all sorts of scrapes in the process. Rodney, ever the put upon, bore it all, and used to often have to take responsibility to avoid incurring Del's wrath. A bit of a "plonker" really.

The other major characters were Grandad, played by Lennard Pearce, and following his death, a similar character - Uncle Albert, the terror of the highseas in World War Two - was introduced. Buster Merryfield who played Uncle Albert sadly died a couple of years ago, which put any talk of a revival ion the series on hold. He was really a stooge and there to help put a spanner in the works at inopportune moments. Del was a self-confessed ladies man, and eventually found happiness in the form of Raquel, played by Tessa Peake-Jones. Rodney eventually swapped his combat jacket for a suit, after starting work for Cassa
ndra's father's printers, and there was a quite extended storyline about the ons and offs between them.

Other supporting characters were either put-upon (like Denzil, or Mike at the Nag's Head) or plain stupid (Trigger). Trigger, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack was the archetypal simpleton, and indeed this is only one of several simpleton style roles that Roger Lloyd-Pack has played (most recently in the Vicar of Dibley). I was saddened to read that the actor who played Mike died this month.

The plots were always revolving around Del's latest get rich quick scheme, and its failure to come off, and how he would end up where he had started at best, although possibly with some more stock to shift. There are some great episodes featuring a consignment of blow up dolls, Peckham Spring water, and a little diamond smuggling operation. Towards the end of the series, things did go a bit upmarket, but this was probably to extend the appeal of the show.

Whilst the programme has been shown over and over, and seems to regularly get an airing on BBC1 when the schedules are a bit thin, it is still well worth the watch, with the hopelessness of Trotter's Independent Trading and its legendary Reliant Robin now having driven into British TV Legend.

The comedy is quintessentially British and never ceases to amuse, although I think they were right to stop making the show, although now there are plans for a revival. I only hope that it will be as good as the original ones, even though five years have passed since the last series was made.

Summary: