E27. Britain's Best Sitcom - Only Fools and Horses
Feb 28, 2004
"'Only Fools' proved that you can set a show in a scruffy, violent working class Peckham Council Estate without getting all Ken Loach about it. It made cockneys out of everyone born within earshot of BBC1. And put Peckham on the map".
"'Only Fools' gave the world Derek Edward Trotter, the fast-talking, quick thinking whirlwind at the centre of the show who stirs up clouds of cash, sambuca, dodgy Russian video cameras and affection wherever he turns. A fool worthy of Dickens or Shakespeare".
"And it gave us Rodney Charlton Trotter, the ultimate sidekick, straight man and annoying kid brother. The voice of reason, yin to Del's yang. Two GCE's and not an ounce of sense".
"The show is chock full of family values, practical morality and workaday virtues. Family and friends, loyalty and decency, curry and chips. It handles the heavy stuff - thwarted dreams, miscarriage and even death. But can still turn this unpromising material into comedy gold sometimes in a single sentence".
"The show and the characters have grown with the audience in real time. Del's got older, milder, then richer. Rodders has grown some sense and jowls. And it's all 'real', not padding"!
"It has the single best sight gag on telly - Del falling through the bar, and the second best - the chandelier falling down".
"'Only Fools' even had the perfect ending. The boys started off on their usual journey but this time came away with their dream of becoming rich realised, but only once Sullivan had realised all the dreams they didn't know they had by having them grow up, become kind to each other and everyone else and turn into fully rounded human beings".
"It's cheap as chips, but worth its weight in gold"!
