Only Fools and Horses: Britain's Favourite Sitcom
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00:00:00All right, all right, my son
00:00:02Those two those two lovely jubbly you
00:00:07Rodney this time next year will be millionaires
00:00:10Cushing for 22 years and 64 episodes the trotters delighted fans across the UK
00:00:17Horses and horses has got into the psyche of the country and you can't avoid it. It was just so
00:00:22Side splittingly funny, they're brilliantly written and expertly delivered dialogue
00:00:28It was a boy. Do you reckon it look like body? It don't matter as long as it's healthy
00:00:34You're annoyed at John Solomon because how can you be that clever perfectly executed set pieces gold?
00:00:41stamps comedy gold
00:00:44For me the best visual gag in British comedy and it was both shocking and hilarious and
00:00:52Unforgettably funny and moments of genuine emotion
00:00:55And I've never felt so didn't paint like that in all my life
00:00:58You can really feel that emotion from both pouring through the screen
00:01:02How am I laughing one second crying another second and laughing again? It's like, whoa
00:01:08Brought audiences back in their droves week after week year after year. It's a total of hate relationship
00:01:14But they've been lost without each other
00:01:16Tonight we'll be celebrating one of the nation's favorite sitcoms
00:01:20It's more than just a sitcom isn't it?
00:01:23It's part of British culture with behind-the-scenes insight
00:01:26Once we started to rehearse it and you could see what David was going to do with it
00:01:30You realize that it was going to be very very very brilliant and a peek at rarely seen scripts and sketches
00:01:36The characters are so clearly drawn in the scripts that it wasn't difficult
00:01:41To see just why we love only fools and horses
00:01:44It just felt real and that's why we fell in love with those characters nice genius
00:01:51It is so so so funny. I thought I could do it. I couldn't do it. Lovely jubbly
00:02:08My earliest memory of
00:02:10Only fools and horses
00:02:12Span our ballet were recording in Germany and we used to get the tapes of only fools and horses
00:02:19Sent over special delivery so that we could check it out because it was the only thing on TV that made you laugh
00:02:25There were moments in that show that had the whole country laughing at exactly the same time and it was wonderful
00:02:32I know it sounds like cliche
00:02:34But for a lot of people it is the backdrop to their lives and it's so much more than just a TV program
00:02:40it is something I really identify with and
00:02:43Adore its original run reached a triumphant climax over the Christmas of 1996 with an episode jam-packed with brilliant gags
00:02:51That perfectly suited the characters. We'd grown to love. I'm really worried Rodney. Has he ever suffered with pleurisy?
00:02:58Only when he's tried to spell it
00:03:01It was the beauty of the writing and the absolute alchemy between writers and casting and the whole thing just melding together
00:03:09This is Derek
00:03:11Au revoir
00:03:15This was the most watched sitcom episode in UK history at
00:03:2024.3 million more people tuned into the trotters than that missed Southgate
00:03:25Euro96 penalty or Princess Di's infamous panorama interview 15 years after these original scripts were first broadcast
00:03:33It was obvious that we loved only fools more than ever and it all came from the mind of one man
00:03:40His eye in his ear for what was funny in real life
00:03:44And the way he transferred that onto the screen the way Sullivan did that was just it was masterful
00:03:49And I don't think he's ever been better
00:03:50I think David Jason once said you came in in the morning got your scripts and we all got down on our knees and said
00:03:56I appraise with John Sullivan. He was a wonderful wonderful writer. It's a
00:04:00Herculean effort, you know 64 episodes. He wrote all on his own. I reckon he's up there with Shakespeare
00:04:09John Sullivan was London born and bred growing up in a working-class family
00:04:13He left school with no qualifications, but what he lacked in grades he made up for with a passion for storytelling
00:04:20Speaking back in 2002 Sullivan here in his typical understated style explains how desperate he was to pursue this career path
00:04:28I'm so enjoyed the process of inventing characters and writing the dialogue them
00:04:34But it just became a kind of you have a basic a hobby
00:04:38it kept me off the streets and
00:04:42And I didn't spend too much money on beer
00:04:45because I was just writing every evening and
00:04:48I suppose that the dream was that yeah, I still hope I can
00:04:52Can get into this business?
00:04:55Determined to get a script under the noses of the BBC bigwigs
00:04:58He bagged a job as a scene shifter and using hustle that would soon become the trademark of his best-known character
00:05:04He managed to get some sketches into the hands of Ronnie Barker
00:05:08He liked what John wrote and he said write me more, please and put him on a contract writing little bits for the Ronnies and
00:05:16To a degree John was on his way
00:05:20In
00:05:211977 this jobbing TV writer got a big break when the BBC commissioned his comic tale of tooting revolutionary
00:05:28Citizen Smith, it was a hit and four years later. The beeb was ready to launch his next venture
00:05:33The only fools was, you know, kind of died in the war working class or petty bourgeois
00:05:39Perhaps I do know that he said
00:05:42Only fools in Peckham because he thought it was the how can I put it grimaced area in which you could live?
00:05:49With loads of middle-class comedies at the time
00:05:52But only fools and horses was like me watching people down my street when I was a kid
00:05:58It was a show that related to working-class people. This is someone who's absolutely
00:06:04Absorbed their upbringing and just kind of condensed it into a genius comedy
00:06:11With the series written it was time for the all-important casting first to sign up was 19 year old Nicholas Lindhurst
00:06:18Best known for playing the overtly posh Adam on butterflies
00:06:23Hey mom, does this eye shadow look okay?
00:06:26Eye shadow. Yeah, is it dark enough? Where is it underneath?
00:06:31To go on top nice to make me look older
00:06:35Great that'll do
00:06:37Was butterflies the first thing you did? No, not really
00:06:40It was it was the first one that actually became a series and we did four series of that and before that it was mostly
00:06:46Sunday slot dramas and things like that Prince in the Pauper Heidi and all that stuff
00:06:50I remember Nicholas Lindhurst playing the Prince of the ball but playing both roles and he was very posh
00:06:56And a really good actor and I was really shocked to see him like played Rodney when he was initially suggested for Rodney
00:07:03There were concerns over how he may fare on a Peckham estate
00:07:07But these fears were unfounded as he made the part his own. It is not a traffic warden's uniform
00:07:13You've got me done up as a bloody traffic
00:07:17It's not a traffic warden's uniform now just trust me will ya put your cap on
00:07:26I look like a traffic warden. I look like a traffic warden. I ain't been well
00:07:31He just plays that
00:07:33Uncomfortableness and that way of looking too big in your clothes. He just makes it look
00:07:40Normal, which it's not it's acting
00:07:43Delboy however proved trickier to cast producer Ray Buck spoke to a guy called and right now who
00:07:50Unfortunately for him he was busy doing another series for ITV and couldn't do it
00:07:54They approached Jim Broadbent who of course came into any fools later as Roy Slater
00:08:00Jim was busy in a West End show and couldn't do it
00:08:04They looked at other people Billy Murray who went on to be in the bill and extenders and they also looked at
00:08:11Robin Nedwell another actor who was quite popular at the time
00:08:16David Jason wasn't on the radar. Really. He was known for playing old men in shows like porridge
00:08:23he played quite a wimpy character Granville in open all hours, but they got David in to read put him with Nick Linterst and
00:08:32Magic happened
00:08:34It was Harry Belafonte all along any reservations
00:08:37The top brass had were quashed with David Jason's first scene in just a couple of lines. We knew exactly who Delboy was
00:08:45Civil play what an enigma I'll get better looking every day. I can't wait for tomorrow. Oh
00:08:53Do you know I think I'm suffering from something incurable
00:08:58Still never mind
00:09:01When the show launched in 1981
00:09:04Audiences hovered around the 8 million mark figures that would signify a hit today
00:09:08But back then with only three channels to choose from they were considered average at best
00:09:13When it first came out it was something that people happened upon I think John Sullivan felt out
00:09:18I think he was slightly concerned that wasn't going to get a second series
00:09:22but I know that what made it was there was a strike at the BBC and
00:09:27All the programs were stopped being made
00:09:29So they put out a repeat of the first series very soon after it went out
00:09:34From that moment the ratings skyrocketed and never dipped below 10 million
00:09:39It was just madness pubs were closing and loads of pubs started to put televisions in their places because on Sunday
00:09:45Nobody was there because they were all watching fools and horses coming up
00:09:47We'll reveal the secrets behind some classic only fools moments leave now started laughing to think about the chandelier again
00:09:59One of the reasons we love only fools and horses so much is the sheer number of laugh-out-loud scenes and iconic moments
00:10:07I've seen so many of the episodes. I know exactly what's coming as soon as it happens. I burst out laughing
00:10:14Now that's magic the classic moments. They were set up so perfectly
00:10:18I mean even now I started laughing to think about the chandelier again. It's such a genius piece of writing
00:10:23It was a story that John had sort of known something rather similar. It happened to one of his relations
00:10:29But right from the beginning we went God, how are we gonna do this?
00:10:33And we ended up at a school down in Dorset
00:10:36I think while we're filming and we found a house that had two chandeliers for me the best
00:10:42Visual gag in rich comedy the set up for it all is glorious
00:10:47Granddad does he's very good line on the way upstairs to loosen the bolt
00:10:54No, I had one before we come out
00:10:58Yeah, and oh, it's almost like it was in the room
00:11:03Anyway up he goes to to undo the bolt upstairs you think they've got it
00:11:08I
00:11:30See there's the build-up it's just brilliant absolutely brilliant, you know, something's got to go wrong because it's Del Boy
00:11:36You know, so you kind of initially wonder is it gonna be they're gonna fall off the ladder
00:11:41Is it gonna be the fact that you know?
00:11:43They're not gonna be able to just have this sack under the chandelier and it not gonna fall through their hands
00:11:48It was amazing on the set because it was quite tense because we only had this one
00:11:53The pressure was on for everyone and in this 2002 interview Nicholas Lindhurst brilliantly evokes the full horror of what was at stake
00:12:01As he calmly outlines the knock-on effect of one tiny titter Ray
00:12:06He was only a little guy but fierce with it
00:12:09Came up to me and said this chandelier that we're about to drop
00:12:13cost six thousand pounds
00:12:16And if you laugh when it's dropped
00:12:19We've lost the end scene if we've lost the end scene
00:12:23We've lost the episode if we've lost the episode
00:12:26We've lost the series because the BBC will only transmit six. So if you laugh when that drops I
00:12:34Will fire you
00:12:35What happened was we've all built up and of course similarly and I think what you do you your reaction is to go
00:12:41Oh my god, this thing is going to go straight through this cloth and it's just going to crash down
00:12:48Brace yourself
00:12:50She's
00:13:00It was both shocking and
00:13:02Hilarious and unforgettably funny what a piece of genius that that writing is how amazing
00:13:08That sequence is the way if you look at the way it's constructed beat by beat
00:13:11It just flows it feels so normal and realistic and then this happens
00:13:16And of course it happens because it's Delboy and because it's Rodney and because it's only Fawcett horses, but it was surprising and genuine
00:13:27Then to be topped off with the slow-motion moving of both heads at the same time
00:13:33To see the other chandelier that's drop
00:13:36You just laugh without stopping because there's something to look at at every single moment
00:13:42As
00:13:44The show's popularity grew so did the secrecy surrounding it often because the producers didn't want the press spoiling storylines for fans
00:13:52But that wasn't always the reason that whole
00:13:55Episode was kept quite hush-hush
00:13:57Because I think they were very frightened of being censored and then being told they couldn't do it the episode with the sex dolls
00:14:05It is one of my favorite all-time episodes because I remember watching this
00:14:09I was quite a young kid when I first saw it and it was just the naughtiest thing that I'd ever seen
00:14:14I think they've done a kind of PG doll a
00:14:18Parental guidance doll that doesn't sound right does it parental guidance doll?
00:14:22Of course most blow-up dolls have an open mouth
00:14:26But we couldn't show that so somebody altered the faces to make them more suitable for television
00:14:33Because we knew we wouldn't be able to broadcast it. Otherwise and we wanted to do the gag
00:14:38Which involved the dolls and it involved them being inflated
00:14:44Is that funny noise?
00:14:46That was important for part of the whole story
00:14:49I
00:15:04Don't know they must have rehearsed this a million times
00:15:07I mean, you've got this lovely farcical moment Albert can't get out the door Dells holding the door and it's just the funniest thing
00:15:14And in another brilliant piece of topical writing Dell then says
00:15:18I mean if that bloke from the council turns up talk to us about buying this flat
00:15:22I mean Gould knows what he'll say if he sees Pepsi and Shirley here
00:15:26My house phone did not stop ringing
00:15:29I have never had so many people telling me you're on only fools and horses
00:15:35I mean those calls were more than having a hit record. It was
00:15:39Hysterical and in a funny way, I felt really proud that I was on many fools and horses
00:15:43Even if it was a blow-up doll proud. I was jealous
00:15:49John Sullivan's brilliant ideas just kept coming and it was a pleasure for the production team to bring them to life
00:15:56Most of the time to be brilliant. I was at Batman and Robin with a bloody nightmare. People were absolutely desperate
00:16:02to find out what happened on Christmas specials on fools horses a lot of the problems that they had when filming was
00:16:09The tabloids giving the storylines away. So I started doing every possible way of
00:16:15Finding any location possible in Bristol because there was agro in London because you know
00:16:19You get to people who wanted to just ruin the filming
00:16:22There were all sorts of things that were going on and in the middle
00:16:25You get people in the middle of taking out a boy and all that but rumor had it
00:16:29We were filming a big sequence for the Christmas special
00:16:31We got a huge amount of security in and we went down to an area st
00:16:35Paul's and short cobbled streets, you know dark and and we lit it and we basically
00:16:42Covered it all up with massive drapes going round about 400 meter area and
00:16:48the actual Batman and Robin sequence that they're running
00:16:52Was actually the simplest thing I've ever shot
00:16:55We put them in there when he bago and then I just get them out
00:16:58Okay, get them out run action run towards camera cut get them back in
00:17:11I
00:17:20Is the most spot-on perfect image as the counsellor is being mugged out of the shadows
00:17:27Try smoke rising come that pair of plonkers completely out of breath. I think it was about
00:17:341880 when when fog like that actually existed in London. So where that came from?
00:17:41where
00:17:43Where that piece super rolled in from but it does add huge gravitas to the scene, but it's great
00:17:49We was all done in kind of a half an hour and the press sitting there going. What are we doing?
00:18:04Did this on the spot just so it goes come on down we've got to go does this proper old superhero Kapow
00:18:10Adds to it and it's just the timing of it
00:18:13I see you remember you just all fell about and I think we all had to do it again to be fair because
00:18:17There's so much laughter
00:18:19But you can't celebrate classic only full scenes without a trip to this yuppie wine bar
00:18:24There's so many favorite moments, but you can't top the bar for we had no idea
00:18:30It was gonna be like the most famous comedy moment ever
00:18:33You know, it's just one of those wonderful things that happens and you happen to be standing there
00:18:38It's just wonderful
00:18:39Once we started to rehearse it and you could see what David was going to do with it
00:18:44You realize that that it was going to be very very very brilliant
00:18:47And the most important thing my job was was to make sure I didn't flag it in any way
00:18:52So we just established this barman going backwards and forwards subliminally in the background so that nobody really thought anything of him
00:19:01Hey, Trig, Trig up! Trig, over here!
00:19:03You don't see it coming. There's no close-up on the bar flat.
00:19:07Alright, alright
00:19:14He's giving the owes
00:19:16To the lady in the corner over there. So that totally that's you think that's the focus of it
00:19:20And this in the background is totally inconsequential. It's not flagged up not referred to not mentioned
00:19:27You don't even see
00:19:28You don't really see it because your focus is on what he's talking to Trig about
00:19:32David Jason
00:19:34Keeps the old eyes focused. It's that I suppose that nails it as well. There is no hint at all
00:19:40That he's not gonna hit that bar
00:19:44We're on a winner here Trig. All right, play it nice and cool son. Nice and cool. You know what I mean?
00:19:58Oh
00:20:13Drink up Trig. Drink up, we're leaving
00:20:18Are you gonna try for them birds? No, no, you're cramping my style mate
00:20:23His reaction and Trig's reaction was just sort of dead panness of it. It was just wonderful
00:20:29It was just a stunt for but the way David handled it
00:20:33Along with the direction just made it
00:20:36Absolutely classic. I'd rehearsed quite a lot of shots because I knew it was gonna get a big laugh
00:20:41So I had various shots of Roger just from one side going. Where is he? Where's he gone?
00:20:45Where is he now?
00:20:46But I didn't have enough the laugh just went on and on and on and on and then I suppose really you've kind of realized
00:20:51That was going to become an iconic moment gold
00:20:54stamps
00:20:55comedy gold
00:20:57Next we'll reveal how Dell's classic image was created. I took Dave Jason out shopping. It's lovely wardrobe
00:21:05Sort of tough end of Oxford Street. I mean that is very market trade of that
00:21:09It's quite a common look that it's well observed and find out how they managed to make us cry as hard as we laughed
00:21:15It's kind of heartbreaking. The writing is Sullivan is best and that's saying something
00:21:21I
00:21:27There's so much that we love about only fools and horses
00:21:30But the beating heart of the show is undoubtedly the relationship between the Trotter brothers without the relationship between
00:21:38You know Rodney and Dell boy, there would be no only fools and horses. They complemented each other beautifully
00:21:45Hello Tallyo sir, but did you Ken John peel?
00:21:47Mmm, come on boy. Just take a look at him. Well, he spent three hours in a stately home. He thinks he's the early sandwich
00:21:57Shotgun and a retriever and go marching across the grouse moors all done up like a plowman's lunch. Can you I
00:22:03Don't think of bill and Rodney as characters on a sitcom
00:22:07I actually think of them as real people and that is an amazing testament to the acting skills of both of them
00:22:15Dell boy for all these bluff and bluster, you know, he looks after his granddad and he brings up his orphans kid, brother
00:22:22There's a real warmth and heart to it that I think people
00:22:25Clocked quite early on without having it rammed down your throat and the fact that they were getting to grips with some real hardships
00:22:32But not in a mawkish way. Nothing ever upsets Dell boy
00:22:37I've always played the tough guy. I didn't want to but I had to
00:22:42And I played it for so long now
00:22:45I don't know how to be anything else. I
00:22:50Don't even know how to
00:22:54How it don't matter
00:22:57Bloody families are finished with them
00:23:00What do they do to you? I?
00:23:02Hold your back
00:23:04Drag you down
00:23:08And then they break your bloody heart
00:23:16You
00:23:18Get to see his feelings and what's going on behind the Dell boy mask, but he's just putting on this show for everyone
00:23:25That's what makes you love the characters
00:23:28As is so often the case with great comic characters Dell boy was based on personal experience
00:23:34I know a large chunk of money falls and horses were based on John Sullivan's own experiences
00:23:41He was a market trader when you've actually been to a market and there's someone pitching the gear, you know
00:23:46They are fascinating people to begin with, you know at work to see how they deal with life on life's terms as well
00:23:53That's a brilliant bit of insight from Sullivan
00:23:55Here's one of many examples of writing and performance combining to make market trading Dell so authentic
00:24:04Authentic French nylon tights. All right as worn by Sasha Distel's mom
00:24:112010 year and their sheer nylon. Not only are they run proof, but they're fun proof as well
00:24:16When he's on the screen
00:24:17You don't take your eyes off of him because he's making you feel the character you kind of become him and you might take a
00:24:23Bit of that mannerism the next day out with you like all cush do Dell boy wasn't made up out of thin air
00:24:28It was taken from characters that he'd met over the past. There was a guy
00:24:33who I
00:24:35Used to work for when I was an electrician. I was a subcontractor
00:24:37I can never forget him because he used to do that all the time
00:24:40And he had that he had the gold bracelets the rings and everything and he used to do that
00:24:46All right. All right, my son and he did leave a tremendous impression
00:24:50But when this character came up, I just kept thinking about it
00:24:53But it wasn't just the performance and the dialogue that made these characters feel authentic
00:24:57They had to look the part too. These are the original costume design sketches rarely seen on TV
00:25:03Now I did sketches for the main characters with a sort of key kind of look
00:25:11I think that Rodney and the grandfather are probably were fairly close to those sketches
00:25:17It was Dell who was really I think
00:25:20Developed into something slightly different. He's quite paunchy
00:25:24He's got quite a beard belly on him and Dave Jason's not like that at all
00:25:28So I think it was a bit off on his one then once I sort of got going on it
00:25:34I took Dave Jason out shopping this lovely wardrobe up the sort of tough end of Oxford Street
00:25:42Fun time very amenable tried on all sorts of stuff
00:25:51Terrible suits and the sheepskin used to like sort of, you know jigging about and it did look great in that thing
00:25:58I mean that is very market trade of that. It's quite a common look though
00:26:02It's well observed some of the shots the early shots of the market was in Chapel Street market in Islington
00:26:09That was the market that I grew up in and I know for a fact that that is where the dresser
00:26:14Went down to buy fake gold wristbands and watches that he wore on the show
00:26:19The research was amazing. They had it
00:26:22Appearance
00:26:30Appearance was a major theme throughout with Dell's obsession with image perfectly holding a mirror up to 80s yuppie culture
00:26:38Are you saying I've got to get an image? No, what I'm saying is you got get rid of one
00:26:42See you take a look at me. See I wear a trendy trench coat Gordon gecko braces
00:26:47You wear a lumberjacks coat and Gordon Bennett boots
00:26:51My image says I'm going right to the top flat-out your image says I'm going back to bed because I'm shagged out
00:26:57They'll encapsulate that but he never he never gets there this time next year will be millionaires
00:27:03Of course it caught the mood and it summed up Dell completely tough at a top point though
00:27:09We're gonna get to the top one day. Don't worry this time next year. We will be millionaires
00:27:15It worked really well and it was it was poking fun in a way at the achievers
00:27:20And it's showing off of the yuppiness of it all which was all really rather silly now in retrospect
00:27:25That is a bit of me
00:27:28David took it beautifully and played with it beautifully
00:27:35Dell boy is aspiring to be better than what he is, you know
00:27:40And he's looking at these kind of high-end people particularly kind of the yuppie scene
00:27:44But then he just kind of kills himself when he has all these misuses of French phrases
00:27:49Well, good. Bye. No, no, not. Goodbye Margaret. No, just bonjour
00:27:57Or if war when he says hello and bonjour when he says goodbye
00:28:00One of my favorite things with that yuppie type of thing was when Dell boy was drinking cocktails all the time
00:28:06Dell's cocktails are legendary. Come on Michael. Give us a drink. Will you log a top for Rodney and I'll have
00:28:13Bailey's and chariade
00:28:16What it does is signify that that aspirational thing and he's getting it wrong, you know, nobody who lives the high life
00:28:23You know really drinks cocktails like Dell. It's just him trying to work his way up the ladder
00:28:28Look, I drink these, you know, he wants to seem worldly wise and
00:28:33Sophisticated, of course, he's none of those things. I
00:28:36Constantly use the word Dell boy. I will say so-and-so is a bit of a Dell boy
00:28:42Everybody understands what you mean by that
00:28:44It's somebody's a bit of a ducker and diver, you know
00:28:48It can't be totally trusted but quite likable and I kind of grew up in a bit of a Dell boy house
00:28:54We'd have random things and you say to me dad. Where's that from?
00:28:57Oh, you know, I've just bought a few and you look around there's that 50 of them in the back garden
00:29:01So that was still good. I don't know just one Dell boy
00:29:05I've come across loads and I've actually invested in a few as well
00:29:09I'm not sure they were my best successes in fairness and now and again you come across somebody and you think he deserves a
00:29:17Chance that guy is an absolute trier. I just with some guidance. Who knows it could be a millionaire
00:29:26Rodney on the other hand
00:29:27I think would have been happy just to have a bit of a steady job and a settled home life
00:29:32Well, I like about Rodney's there's a kind of secret intelligence to him, you know
00:29:36He's kind of quite bright underneath all that. We never gets the air time to to articulate himself
00:29:43This is a constant source of conflict conveyed brilliantly here by both actors. I am 24 years old
00:29:49I have two GCEs 13 years of schooling and three terms at an adult education center behind me, right?
00:29:57And we've all that what have I become I'm a lookout
00:30:03No Rodney you're wrong you're not just a lookout you're a bad look out
00:30:10All right, so I'm not very good at it
00:30:13Perhaps that's because my arts not really in it. I'm not asking you to put your art in it. Just your eyes will do
00:30:18There is something so brilliant about
00:30:20Rodders who's actually in many ways far more sensible in some ways far more far more adept as a human being
00:30:27He is the reasonable sensible viewers. Okay, don't do this. Don't don't do this
00:30:32You know, this is gonna fail, you know, but yet again, he's sort of he's tricked into going along with Del's
00:30:39brain plans usually
00:30:43Streams jam-packed with salmon. We just put our hooks in and with them out. No, it is illegal. It is immoral. It is unethical
00:30:50alright
00:30:51Me and granddad will go on our own and split the profits between us
00:30:58Now I didn't say I wouldn't come did I
00:31:02But despite the constant and hilarious bickering you give my arse an headache Rodney and Del regularly
00:31:10humiliating his brother
00:31:12I
00:31:17I'm supposed to be going out in this tonight
00:31:20You've ruined it. Haven't you?
00:31:23Paul Rodney's so tall and he's always got his shoulders stooped and his face looks long and it and you can really feel
00:31:30Rodney's disappointment all the time and unfairness of what Adele boys asked him to do. Thanks to you
00:31:36I am now a 26 year old man. You just come second in a skateboard
00:31:42You're in the lead when I saw you
00:31:46Fell off there was clearly a huge amount of love between them
00:31:52Well, they're dynamics fantastic
00:31:55because
00:31:56It's a total of hate relationship
00:31:59But they'd be lost without each other
00:32:01They don't have any parents and really have that love connection more than most brothers and they kind of only had
00:32:09Have each other to rely on really
00:32:11Got it all now. Yeah
00:32:13And this is no more evidence than at Rodney's wedding where Del in the role of brother father best man and business partner
00:32:21Says goodbye to the life they had together
00:32:24For we had a few good years. I
00:32:27Yeah, that's a good time right laughs and a couple of tears still that's what's all about me I
00:32:37Just wish that I
00:32:40Just wish granddad and mom can't I shut up my guy?
00:32:49I think it's Sullivan is best and I saying something
00:32:51It's kind of heartbreaking when what has finally gets married and it's just so beautifully written and it could quite easily have been
00:32:58Heavy-handed because obviously you're dealing with Del boy being happy for him
00:33:03But at the same time he's he's suffering a loss because he's losing
00:33:08This in a way he's losing his partner the moment when he leaves and obviously he's pleased for him and you get that feeling
00:33:14But then when Del boy reaches and he takes the little figurine of the groom off the cake, which obviously represents Rodney to him
00:33:29He's just such a beautifully elegant really simple but really sort of almost heartbreaking moment of television
00:33:38I
00:33:41Sullivan had a way of bringing
00:33:44characters to life in a real
00:33:463d way, you know
00:33:48He would give them the tools to not only bring the humor but to be very human and real with it and to bring the pathos
00:33:56And the empathy this is perhaps most strongly felt during a heartbreaking scene in the show's original finale
00:34:02That sees Del and Rodney trapped in a lift soon after Cassandra suffers a miscarriage
00:34:08My god, that scene makes me cry every single time. It's so real. It's so raw. It's just perfect
00:34:16Cass was so happy down
00:34:20We were looking forward and all we could see in front of us was this big wide highway and we were just cruising down it and
00:34:28All of a sudden it came to a shuddering home
00:34:32Just like this poxy lift
00:34:35We had a joint decision that we would not do it in front of an audience
00:34:39I'd put them up against the wall in a lift. So there was nothing clever to shoot
00:34:43It was shot far more like a drama what John did was
00:34:48even when he got quite
00:34:51Sentimental or there was a you know a difficult
00:34:56Moment that they had to deal with it never got overly sad for long
00:34:59He would quickly pull the rug from under that and hit you with a joke so that it didn't like dissolve into
00:35:06mawkishness and self-pity
00:35:15It's the only way I could get you talking can't run away in a broken
00:35:30Kid
00:35:33Come here boy
00:35:35Come on the twist in it. The very end is absolute moment of
00:35:41Just this love that you feel that is there for the two brothers to be able to have
00:35:49That kind of moment in a sitcom where you just go how am I laughing one second crying another second and laughing again?
00:35:57And it's like whoa, I don't think John would ever
00:36:02say that the drama would ever want to take over the comedy and I do remember on a couple of occasions when we were in
00:36:09The gallery and it was very quiet and be able to see me
00:36:12We're doing very moving scene and he would go god
00:36:14Nobody seems to be laughing or anything and I said, you know, John, you know, the people are completely right
00:36:19They're almost crying out there, you know
00:36:22He was nervous
00:36:25Next we'll reveal what some of Dell's favorite phrases really mean
00:36:30And work out what's going on inside the mind of this nags head regular
00:36:34I think they do think you know, I am a few sandwiches short of a picnic
00:36:44We Brits love a catchphrase our classic comedies are full of them none more
00:36:49So than only fools a show chock full of iconic Dell isms
00:36:55Who stay custy what's up long car
00:36:59So I just remember every time you get anything wrong. It's that. Oh you
00:37:02Plunker. Oh you dipstick and it's so affectionate and it's so loving. We've never called each other plunker. Yeah, so mine's cush D
00:37:10because
00:37:14Your dad used
00:37:15You know, they weren't made up out of thin air those catchphrases
00:37:19They were real catchphrases that were taken from real working-class people
00:37:23I haven't actually finished off meetings and I've said this time next week. We'll be millionaires
00:37:30people just look at you and say
00:37:33Hmm, I hope we are because we know you are really it's so beautifully written and the fact that there are catchphrases that came
00:37:40From it, but they never felt heavy-handed because they never felt like they were put in there to be catchphrases
00:37:45You always thought well they were used in a way which felt real you in a hurry
00:37:48I got all the time in the world only make me in the back of the car park in an hour's time
00:37:54Yeah, cush D
00:37:57Won't be long
00:38:02Lovely jubbly the ear that Sullivan had for dialogue was so finely tuned
00:38:07I think that he was capable of of seeing something or hearing something in real life and
00:38:14Knowing how funny and memorable it would be in the context of his comedy creation part of our language and it's become
00:38:22inseparable from how we speak lovely jubbly
00:38:26Kushti
00:38:27Mons to Mons to you know, we do without thinking now. I always remember Harry, you know
00:38:34Stressing the importance of catchphrases when we would write together
00:38:37I mean, I'm averse to a catchphrase either
00:38:40What is great about a catchphrase is that the next day
00:38:45People kids at school
00:38:47Can do an impersonation of that character very quickly and very easily
00:38:51You don't have to be a brilliant mimic to say lovely jubbly, you know or Kushti
00:38:55I do remember I was at a family wedding and Davy Jason was there
00:38:59I could see a few times people coming up to him asking him to say lovely jubbly
00:39:03I did feel something because that's the curse of having a catchphrase is people want you to use it wherever you go
00:39:07Dow got his catchphrases from everywhere
00:39:10he might see it on the back of a box on the label of a shirt that said fabric boutique and
00:39:14Then of course there was one of the favorites lovely jubbly. That was Dow's
00:39:20misquoting of a
00:39:221950s 60s ice lolly brand where the catchphrase was lovely jubbly and of course Dow used it as lovely jubbly and you know
00:39:30You hear people saying it all the time now, don't you?
00:39:32But it wasn't just Delboy another classic catchphrase came from one of the ensemble cast
00:39:46They react when they meet you like out in the street supermarkets garage whatever like he just did
00:39:55When trigger uttered these immortal words to Rodney in episode 1 a legendary catchphrase was born
00:40:01Oh, there he is. Oh trigger. Yeah. No, my brother. Don't you? I of course I do. How you going, Dave?
00:40:06Sorry, I'm like Delboy. I had to pop around me sisters to arrange an alibi for next Thursday
00:40:11He's got he's got his own logic somehow trigger there. Well, of course you see that he thinks that you run these Dave
00:40:17So that's right, and nobody can persuade him. Otherwise, yeah, and so why would he call the child Rodney? That's right
00:40:23He can't quite work out. I think he thinks Rodney's a nickname
00:40:27There's no way to remember John Sullivan kind of explaining the character that everyone's kind of on this train track here
00:40:33But triggers kind of just over here and he's just kind of going along on his own kind of train track and in his own
00:40:39Kind of world and no one quite understands it. He was one of those people that he played
00:40:44stupid in the cleverest way
00:40:46And that's actually a really hard thing to do
00:40:49Because you don't know what you kind of play a little bit of an idiot and you have to have a bit of bumbling about
00:40:55you, but he was so
00:40:56Still and measured in his delivery. All right, Dave
00:41:03All right
00:41:04Have they thought of a name for the baby yet?
00:41:07Yeah, well if it's a girl Phil wants to call it Sigourney after the actress Sigourney Weaver
00:41:13And what if it's a boy? Well, if it's a boy, he wants to call it Rodney
00:41:18Yeah
00:41:19Who after?
00:41:26After me
00:41:31Your instinct when you play a fool is to just kind of play it up and you know deliver it with that kind of energy
00:41:38And manic whatever but the more you hold it back and make it real to the character
00:41:43The more successful it is. What name have they decided on?
00:41:48If it's a girl, they're calling us Sigourney after an actress and if it's a boy
00:41:53They're naming him Rodney after Dave
00:41:59I can't imagine what it must have been like to have filmed a scene with Roger Lloyd-Pack when he was
00:42:05bold trigger and this outtake perfectly shows how hard it must be to stay professional when Roger Lloyd-Pack is
00:42:13Preparing to deliver just two very simple words
00:42:19Problems Dave
00:42:23We'd be reading the scripts and
00:42:26we would be going there and the Roger would come into a scene and
00:42:30There'd be line after line after line and then you could hear David going. Here we go
00:42:36Because he's seen a Roger line coming up and of course
00:42:42Line Roger everybody laughed but the interesting thing was David would never ever
00:42:48Interfere he would always be sure that trigger got the best love he could give it
00:42:54He was I think deep down quite jealous of it. Trigger was one of many great supporting characters in the show
00:43:00We all knew characters a bit like all of them
00:43:02Not just the old boy in waters, but also all the cast of characters around them anyone growing up in London
00:43:07We all know them characters, you know that the wheeler dealers, you know
00:43:11I grew up in a pub myself my parents Republicans and we all know a bit of a trigger
00:43:15You know, we all know a bit of a kind of snobby boy. See, you know, we all know a bit of a dental
00:43:20You know these kind of characters, but the ever-present supporting character came from the elderly third trotter. I loved Leonard Pierce
00:43:27I thought he was extraordinary. There was something inherently sort of
00:43:32Sympathetic about his performance and he's quite gullible and Dale could have a laugh with him
00:43:37Like he does in the scene of the ashes, you know, that's a cracker that is
00:43:42Tell me where your money's hidden
00:43:45I
00:43:48Ain't got no money
00:43:50Don't give me that you're lying. I'll get
00:43:54I know you're right for a few Bob. I don't want to know where it is hidden
00:43:59They see me suitcase under me bed. No, I don't look
00:44:06You've been under my bed
00:44:09Then I could sit there and do nothing do absolutely nothing and still get a laugh amazing
00:44:14There'll be a scene between David and Nick and there were two pages of battling talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk-talk
00:44:20And then would come Leonard with one line and the whole audience would go woof with laughter and you could see
00:44:28Nick
00:44:30We've just become a fast feed and this old man sits in this thing and gets all the laughs
00:44:36I mean they did it with affection. Of course. What's your partner doing? Now? Is he buying secondhand peddlers?
00:44:42No, no, no, nothing like that. No, we're um
00:44:45We're going into the self-catering holiday trade. Come on 200 nikka. Yeah, but we're starting in a small way
00:44:52Well, you've got a windy ass
00:44:59When the ass line from granddad in the early X goes down today that laugh was was brilliant
00:45:04I remember them all saying it got such a big laugh in the studio
00:45:06None of them were quite expecting it and thought we'd get a mild titter, but it gets this explosion
00:45:11The way he does it Leonard Pierce. He's actually slightly out of character
00:45:14He's quite in your face with it
00:45:16And it was I think it was almost that that shock that he sort of says it in this race of almost aggressive way
00:45:25Granddad was brilliantly brought to life by Leonard Pierce
00:45:28But when he died in 1984 just as filming was beginning on a new series
00:45:32John Sullivan and the team were left with an unenviable decision. Should they carry on without him?
00:45:38Fortunately, they navigated this tricky path beautifully only to a writer of John Sullivan's
00:45:43caliber could write and would be brave enough to write an episode of a sitcom in which one of the much-loved
00:45:49Characters had died and we were seeing the funeral played out in real life
00:45:54The cast and crew had only been to Lennon's real funeral recently and then they were back filming one down the road
00:46:01But John wrote it so carefully and of course
00:46:04It's sad poignant moving and then he quite brilliantly has the gag of
00:46:10The hat that's gone into the grave
00:46:14It was a lovely service Vika. Thank you very much
00:46:21As anyone seen my hat
00:46:28It was a tricky time, I mean obviously we were all sad but Nick
00:46:32Genuinely
00:46:34really really upset and
00:46:36Didn't come out of it for quite some time. I think he loved Leonard as a grandfather
00:46:43I think he thought he was the grandfather that Nick never had
00:46:52But the void left by granddad was ably filled by the not very able seaman uncle Albert
00:46:58Played by a bank manager who only gave professional acting a shot aged 57
00:47:02Well, I should have gone to 60 in the bank you see and when it got to 57
00:47:07there was this early retirement going about and
00:47:11I thought well money isn't everything
00:47:15Buster's photograph his resume just flitted across Ray Butts desk
00:47:20Looking like an old sailor and again the quality of John Sullivan
00:47:24Remembered way back in the it never rains episode when
00:47:28Granddaddy's actually in the Spanish prison. He came out with a line saying us Charles never made great sailors
00:47:34So straight away he had that line and an actor who looked like a sailor and uncle Albert was born
00:47:41One of my absolute favorite moments with uncle Albert is the sequence, you know
00:47:47Where he's told how to react by by Del Boy, you know
00:47:51So that Rodney gets a telling-off for dating this other woman, you know, well, he should be with Cassandra
00:47:58He's coming now don't forget you've got to look horrified right as though you've seen a U-boat off the starboard bow
00:48:12Uncle Albert's delivery is superb and you can't help but just go no not now don't react now
00:48:19Percolators bubbling fancy coffee Rodney. No, no, thanks for coming
00:48:27The frustration not only is you as a viewer but watching then Del Boy's
00:48:32Frustration on top of everything else. It is one of the most genius scenes I've seen going on your own
00:48:38No, I'm with someone
00:48:40You
00:48:42Can see in that scene and the seriousness from Nick Linder's
00:48:46I don't smell within then you've just got on either side of the room. You've got Nicklin's over there bus motor there and
00:48:52It's just one is dead pan and one is just complete comic genius. Are you taking Cassandra? No, no Cassandra
00:49:00It's a girl
00:49:02Go
00:49:05You
00:49:10Can see in that scene David Jason and Tessa Beach I'm trying not to laugh and who can blame him
00:49:15Yeah, I would have hated hated to have been in that scene because there is no way I would have got through that
00:49:18One the greatest things that's come out of all this is that when I walk along the street I?
00:49:24suppose seven out of ten people recognize me
00:49:27But people break into a smile and that's wonderful. It's like magic
00:49:32Walk along and there is uncle Albert
00:49:36Up next who wants to be a millionaire the whole country was with them the trotters do of course
00:49:42I love the fact that his dream came true
00:49:50Throughout the 80s Christmas wasn't complete without a trip to Nelson Mandela house only falls Christmas Day Christmas specials
00:49:56It was the big moment
00:49:58It was hard work, but we laughed a lot we all turn up
00:50:04We sit there waiting to get the script and you can see them all going. Oh
00:50:07God, I hope it's gonna be good
00:50:08How are we ever gonna beat that last year and then we start reading it's sort of like ten minutes in we're all on the
00:50:13Floor. Ah, we're all right now. Thank you. Let's go and film it brilliant amazing. Mr. Sullivan
00:50:19So high with the expectations that when the show was coming to an end with a trilogy of episodes over Christmas
00:50:251996 almost half the population tuned in
00:50:29Desperate to know how the trotters would finally become millionaires
00:50:32Do you know how many people watch that show that evening to watch them become millionaires?
00:50:3724 million people up and down the country. It was absolutely huge
00:50:42I was just a kid, but I can remember the hype and the excitement
00:50:46Around the very last ever only fools and rumors going around
00:50:52They were millionaires and the rumor was that they were gonna win that lottery thing that had just started
00:51:00The lady said I cannot believe a person of Jonathan Sullivan's talent
00:51:04But fob us off with becoming a millionaire with why we winning the lottery and of course she was absolutely right
00:51:10He would never do that
00:51:11So we all research a very long time to find something
00:51:15that would be worth that amount of money at auction and I think we came up with that watch and
00:51:21A certain strata various violin could have possibly made that kind of money. So they went for the watch
00:51:27John Harrison was just about the finest watchmaker of his time of any time
00:51:32After discovering the watch in the trotters lockup Sullivan brilliantly ramps up the tension knowing full
00:51:38Well that viewers expect something to go wrong
00:51:41Have you any proof that this watch is your property a receipt something like that? Oh, well, no, you see don't keep receipts
00:51:49Just climb a place up
00:51:52Well, do you reckon that's worth something?
00:51:55Assuming it's not a copy. Yes, the thing about that is
00:51:59The first episode Rodney is sat on the sofa filling in a receipt the tax man gets older that it puts away for three years
00:52:07Don't worry if a tax man comes I'll eat it. It's the only way I'll keep a check on you bill
00:52:11I'm sure you're cheating me in some way. I just can't figure out how cut to 15 years later
00:52:16And that receipt is the thing so they've been millionaires the whole series
00:52:20Because that receipt that Rodney had has been in the garage the whole time
00:52:25I've got it
00:52:27Receipt from the landlord look for two paintings four jugs one rocking chair one silver fob watch engraved Harrison
00:52:36Good boy Rogers
00:52:37Well, I've always told you I've always said always keep the receipts
00:52:41You're annoyed at John Solomon because you're how can you be that clever it was magnificent
00:52:47I think I might have even cried I shed a tear
00:52:50It was it was that bit at the auction house where?
00:52:54Dell falls over first this lovely nod and homage towards that glorious scene when Dell boy
00:53:00Falls through the bar without moving a muscle they enter the auction room. They're expecting maybe
00:53:0530,000 pounds if they're lucky. I'd like to start the bidding at
00:53:09150,000
00:53:16And pow straight down goes Dell boy in a dead faint exactly the same again doesn't move a muscle
00:53:22Falls dead to the floor and then they go back in and it's in the millions three and three quarters not to be outdone
00:53:29Linter shows he's learned a thing or two from his on-screen big brother the bid stands at four
00:53:36million
00:53:38I
00:53:41Have Jason are clearly top four was I think what they've got is the old
00:53:46Step as a plank straight back, you know
00:53:49No fear when they were doing something which was physically quite demanding in comedy terms and pulling off so brilliantly
00:53:54I no longer felt like wow, that's amazing. It was just like of course, that's amazing. It's only fools and horses the whole country
00:54:03Was with them
00:54:04I don't know anybody who didn't wish Dell well at the time as still does I love the fact that his dream came true
00:54:13And that he wasn't destined or doomed to forever be a trier
00:54:18He got to be someone in his own eyes at least but John Sullivan wasn't done yet
00:54:24There was one more heartstring left to tug when the Trotters now living in luxury
00:54:29Happened to pop back to Nelson Mandela house one last time
00:54:33It was really emotional and it brought a tear to your eye
00:54:38Where it all started?
00:54:41They now had everything they'd ever dreamt of everything. They ever wanted. I always wanted to be a millionaire
00:54:51Always wanted a Rolls-Royce
00:54:53Big ass in the country and jet off to the Caribbean and all that
00:54:59But actually they missed their old life, but it's not like I thought it would be
00:55:06You know
00:55:08all the
00:55:10dreaming and the scheming and
00:55:13chasing and the trying
00:55:16That was the fun part, you know, it was like it was dangerous it was
00:55:23impossible
00:55:25It was like
00:55:27Columbo sailing away to find America
00:55:35You know, I'm just not knowing whether he was gonna fall off the edge of the world
00:55:42That's how I used to feel
00:55:44And actually the phone went off and it was Lenny and he's trying to give it Dell a deal and don't go excited
00:55:51He came alive
00:55:52Listen, he's got two hundred and fifty electronic carpet steamers, right?
00:55:58Listen, they retail at 115 quid. He's gonna let us have them for 25 nikka
00:56:04and then
00:56:07Rodney had to point out to him that actually
00:56:10They weren't in the business anymore
00:56:13Dell says to Lenny
00:56:15Hello Lenny
00:56:18Now we're not interested
00:56:20Trotters independent traders a cease-trading
00:56:26Bonjour
00:56:29It was such a moving moment it was over you knew at that stage
00:56:35They put his old life behind him
00:56:38But it was the spark it gave him that spark again that he seems to have lost now
00:56:44He was a millionaire and with that our three winners of this year's
00:56:48And with that our three heroes walked off into the sunset as Dell delivered the perfect spin on his legendary catchphrase
00:56:55Come on, Rodney. This is a big chance
00:56:58Hey, he who dares wins
00:57:01This time next year. We could be billionaires
00:57:07After the end of the show fans were clamoring for more the Trotters returned for three festive offerings between
00:57:142001 and 2003 and again for one last time when Dell and Rodney teamed up with a very special guest for sport relief
00:57:22in 2014
00:57:24We didn't think we could ever do anything because John had gone but you know
00:57:28His kids came up with a script, which was very good. Anyway, why are you wearing in glasses these? Yeah
00:57:35To be honest, I thought that you know, if I was to wear these no one would recognize me and I could be a little
00:57:41bit, you know incognitive
00:57:44Yeah, good thinking
00:57:48Amazed out, you know how they aged however that aside they were so on point with the performances
00:57:55But that's what actors do good ones in 2014. They were still delivering the goods. Here is the speciality
00:58:04Yes, each one of these has been personally signed by none other than Golden Balls himself
00:58:11No, this is true straight up because it just so happens that Beck's is a personal friend of mine
00:58:18Isn't he Rodney?
00:58:20I'm going to kill you
00:58:22They wanted to do something massive for that particular year
00:58:26And that's one thing that David Beckham will do without being asked twice
00:58:31He just said, you know, you're in charge whatever you want me to do. I do can I make that better because he's not an actor
00:58:37I
00:58:40You David Beckham I
00:58:43Am but don't tell anyone I don't want to draw any attention to myself. All right
00:59:01What's up
00:59:04Do
00:59:06You know what credit where credit is due to old Golden Balls
00:59:10He does do that fall very very well did it perfectly and did it so quickly
00:59:15I had to do it twice because I'm just making sure I got it
00:59:18But he was great and a very very charming man
00:59:21Coming up the trotters travel from Peckham to the glittering West End. It was such a privilege
00:59:26I said I felt every night I'm walking out to do granddad
00:59:34As
00:59:35We've already seen John Sullivan was a master joke writer heartstring puller and character creator
00:59:41John Sullivan was just the best
00:59:44Absolutely genius and that is a gift. I don't know how you write like that
00:59:49I don't know how you you keep that, you know formula going his brain must have been everywhere
00:59:56But he was also it seems a bit of a profit, too
01:00:00John really did have his finger on the pulse of what was going on in Britain and on occasions
01:00:06He was able to predict the future, you know with the gentrification of Beckham
01:00:10He really did bring a lot of realism into his situation comedy
01:00:15Peckham here is becoming a very trendy area and it's full of wine bars and bistros, you know property prices are booming
01:00:22So if we can flog this place to some, you know, chinless wonder for some vastly inordinate sum
01:00:28Well, that means that we can get a nice little drum out there in a suburb
01:00:31They'll council properties were built. So the poorer classes would have somewhere to leave if I start selling him to hooray Henry's
01:00:38Where they gonna go?
01:00:41Isha Orpington somewhere like that
01:00:43It just kind of says about the whole scene that was going on
01:00:46Popular kind of trendy wine bars and this whole thing looking 20 years later bang on the money
01:00:51I wish I'd have known that I'd have bought somewhere in Peckham
01:00:58Peckham like much of London seems a world away now from the communities. John Sullivan was writing about
01:01:03This was something that his son Jim and co-writer Paul Whitehouse
01:01:07Explored further in the most recent incarnation of the Trotter world
01:01:10The way of all the companies gone is actually granddad's lament for what's gone already, you know
01:01:15It's 1989 we set the musical in and things were beginning to change
01:01:20It was an idea of just sort of an old guy at that point thinking Oh London's changed for me
01:01:25My London has gone the old company hangouts a changing fast
01:01:34It was a really really heartwarming show I left the theater, you know feeling great John Sullivan
01:01:42Had decided he wanted to write a musical about honey falls
01:01:46I think probably enough time and elapsed since the end of the TV series for him to want to do something different
01:01:52But when John Sullivan passed away in 2011
01:01:55The project was shelved for a few years until his son Jim decided to take over where his father left off
01:02:01I was very wary about taking it on because of the
01:02:06reputation of the show and the love and
01:02:08Adoration they asked and you've done one of you don't want to get on the wrong side of that
01:02:15Of course the legitimacy came from the fact that it was John's idea and John's project
01:02:21And he'd written one song with Chaz Hodges, which is in is the last song in the musical
01:02:38Musical it was the most dangerous thing for anybody to try
01:02:42But I've got to tell you it was absolutely fantastic
01:02:46It was such a privilege, that's how I felt every night. It's a joy really
01:02:52It's clear that the popularity of only fools shows no sign of waning anytime soon and some fans would go to
01:02:59Extraordinary lengths to show their appreciation for the show
01:03:02Even when you're the miserable we said that is only fools and horses is always a show what's gonna cheer you up
01:03:08So for them reasons, I knew if I had that tattoo on my back
01:03:11I knew that I'd never regret it and I knew that you know, every time I look at it make me smile
01:03:16We took 60 hours. Some parts of it was very painful
01:03:20Granddad hurt quite a bit. Yeah, I was kind of gritting my teeth
01:03:23You know, it wasn't as bad as Del Boy. The Del Boy the bit middle of my back when I had him done
01:03:29I mean awful. Why have I got myself into and I was like he who dares wins
01:03:35I'll go through it lovely chubbly now. I've got it all done. All right pain
01:03:39It was all worth it because now I've come up the girls bandy, you know as Del Boy would say
01:03:45But if the ink is not your thing, there are other ways to express your love
01:03:49I decided to build only fools and horses themed narrowboat to give people a laugh and a smile
01:03:55Well, the boat was called trotters independent and after four pints of Guinness in a pub, it seemed like a good idea at the time
01:04:03But most of us are just content with watching and rewatching a solid gold comedy classic
01:04:09I think you'd probably have to put only fools and horses as sort of the ultimate
01:04:14sitcom because of the affection with which it's held the life that Sullivan and the actors breathed into these characters was so
01:04:22Rich and so vibrant and funny everything gels
01:04:26So well, you knew any given week that you are gonna spend time with essentially a comedy family who you adored
01:04:32You've got all these different cast members that you can call on to make it such a brilliant spectacle
01:04:39So I think that's the true beauty and that's why it's endured so long
01:04:43Only fools and horses
01:04:45Was a timepiece and it should be wrapped up in that time capsule and buried forever because it was so good
01:04:52I think it's a real family show
01:04:55And I think it's just got passed down through the generations and long may that continue
01:04:59I know when I have kids it will be the first thing that they'll be seen people will be laughing at John Sullivan's jokes
01:05:05And he's writing way after all of us a long gone
01:05:09We just were so happy to be together working with these amazing scripts and we sat around and we laughed and we joked
01:05:16It was work and it was very hard work
01:05:18But it wasn't really in the end and you look back now and go how lucky we all were
01:05:27If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised in tonight's program
01:05:32Please go to channel 5.com slash helplines for information and support
01:05:37We're going behind the scenes of another classic comedy discover dad's army secret lives and scandal brand-new at 930 next Saturday
01:05:45Next tonight at Britain's greatest 80 songs