Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Pluskylang Great Film overall

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

RaspberryLucozade In 1979, the late John Sullivan penned an episode of 'Citizen Smith' entitled 'Only Fools & Horses'. Who then would have guessed that two years later, it would have been the title for his next show, which through time grew to be Britain's most popular sitcom of all time and rightly so too. It is an absolute treasure.It was not an instant hit though. The first series, which went out in 1981, attracted appalling viewing figures and when the second series the following year failed to do much better, the BBC considered axing it. Fortunately, repeats came to the show's rescue and when word got round about it, its ratings skyrocketed and viewers soon grew to love and care about the Trotter family. Del Boy Trotter and his brother Rodney are co-owners of Trotters Independent Traders ( use the abbreviated term and what does that give you? ), a company which enables them to do nothing more than sell knocked-off gear down the local market. Living with them in their council flat is their senile Grandad ( Lennard Pearce ) who does little except sit around the flat watching television. Each week, Del would embark on a way to make easy money ( ''This time next year, we'll be millionaires!'' he would say ) only for things to go pear shaped.It was a funny show but in a different way to Sullivan's earlier stuff. When it first appeared, it was your average sitcom but as time went on it transformed into a comedy/soap opera. When Lennard Pearce died in 1984, Grandad had to die too. A brave step but one that paved the way for the arrival of Uncle Albert ( played excellently by Buster Merryfield ), whose unwanted reminisces about his wartime days caused riots of laughter. However, for me, the show reached its best period when Rodney married the lovely Cassandra ( Gwyneth Strong ) while Del formed a relationship with Raquel ( Tessa Peake Jones ) and fathered a son, Damien.Both David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst had a fine chemistry together as the brothers who despite their constant arguing, stuck by each other through thick and thin. John Sullivan wrote every episode alone, meaning that there was very little dip in quality or continuity. Like 'Rab C. Nesbitt' author Ian Pattison, Sullivan had the ability not only to make people laugh but to make them cry as well, as the episode in which Cassandra suffered a miscarriage well and truly proved. Popular in their own right were the Trotter's friends who included put-upon Denzil ( Paul Barber ), dim-witted Trigger ( the late Roger Lloyd Pack ), wide-boy Mickey Pearce ( Patrick Murray ) and shady second-hand car dealer Boycie ( John Challis ) and his brassy wife Marlene ( gorgeous Sue Holderness ), the latter in particular were so popular they landed their own show - 'The Green Green Grass'.In 1996, the show looked to have ended when Del and Rodney finally became millionaires ( at least that's the way it should have been ) but in 2001, Sullivan unwisely decided to revive the show, which showed the Trotters being declared bankrupt. It just was not the same. The revival was further let down by the absence of Uncle Albert ( Buster Merryfield had passed away in 1999 ). In 2003, the curtain came down on the show for good when Cassandra gave birth to Joan Trotter ( named after Del and Rodney's mother ). In 2009, the full history behind the Trotter family was revealed in a three part prequel entitled 'Rock & Chips'.With repeats still gracing our screens thirty-odd years after its original broadcast, it seems that 'Only Fools' is in little danger of being forgotten. Best episode? Time On Our Hands - seeing the Trotters achieve their dream is an absolute delight.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU The first element I have to specify here is that it is a family series, i.e. a series the whole family can watch, and yet there are not many children in it, in fact there is only one, and he does not come straight away and he does not play the most important role anyway, even if he is called Damian, Damian Derrick Trotter, DDT for short, and the son of the devil as is well known. But this family series manages to have practically all along an older member of the family, a grand father at first and then a grand uncle till practically the end. These two older characters, played by two older actors is the truth in modern families: they finally depart when the second generation after them practically is beyond their mid-life crisis. It so happens that a generation is missing, the father and the mother, but that is necessary to have the type of relation we have between the two brothers, Derrick and Rodney Trotter.The second thing is that we have here a comedy and only a comedy. They make fun of absolutely everything and nothing is serious even when it is dramatic and causes a lot of crying. It is a comedy and the real world outside is the real world outside, that means from the first episode to the last Christmas special twenty-two years have elapsed and you can easily see it with simple objects like the first microwave oven, the first portable telephone of the 1980s and then the slow evolution of these portable telephones, the first computer is a computer without a GUI that works with command lines and code and the last one is a laptop, and a small one at that. The world is changing along with the series, or vice versa if you prefer, and the events in the world are also reflected in the series: the fall of the USSR for example. At the same time these historical elements, or political elements, are not overwhelmingly present. They are only some kind of time bookmarks in the story for us to know where and when we are. The second thing is that we are dealing with people who are at the bottom of society but who want to become millionaires one day. They are enterprising and they use all their mental and physical resources to achieve their objective. The means are simple: selling on the market, in the street. They are hawkers, street vendors. At the same time they deal behind the wings with everyone who wants a good deal on anything that is trendy at the time. They consider their business is their own responsibility and they will use all legal means and all illegal means to get their merchandise and then to sell it at a profit. They do not really make a fortune out of it but they are independent and they manage to live an eventful and comfortable, though not wealthy, life. Their main enemy is the police since they are always running from them and the theme of the police, what's more a rotten policeman, is vastly used. They live in a tower block in Peckham, hence in the county flats of the poor working people, a tower block called Nelson Mandela, quite a symbol in the period from 1981 to 2003. At the same time the opening credits are always the same, the closing credits too, and the songs of both, but also the background scene of the opening credits. The actors are aging, and some changing, but their presentation in the opening credits is always the same. And some elements never change, including of course the apartment and the three-wheel dirty yellow van.The third element is that they are real people from Peckham, London, and they speak the language of the neighborhood, that is cockney, and cockney they do speak with the accent, the lexicon and the syntax, from the opening song to the closing song. If they are called Trotter it is because "only fools and HORSES" and "Stick a PONY in me pocket / I'll fetch the suitcase from the van" and most of the social life takes place in the local pub which is called of course THE NAGS HEAD. And the series is consistent about it. The only exception is in fact Cassandra, Rodney's wife, because she is from the middle class. Her parents are the same of course. In the same way, but maybe less clear cut, Rachel, Derrick's wife, because she is from "outside" and not from the inner circle of the Peckham boys that all the men in this series are. In the last Christmas special they get an old picture of the "boys" at school when Derrick was in his middle teens, and Rodney is officially not on the picture since he is quite younger, but in fact he is because someone who was the proper age at the time the picture was taken looks just like him at the age of 17 or so, and that's the big secret about Rodney's father that has been lurking around all along and that explains why the real father in the family, Derrick and Rodney's mother's husband, left the family shortly after Rodney's birth. That biological father of Rodney is a character of some sort and you'll have to watch the series to find out. The last thing I will say is . . . For all those reasons and at least several thousand more that's the comedy you will be able to watch night after night and probably re-watch over and over again. You have forty- one and a half hours of pleasure made eternal on twenty-six discs: that may last a good fortnight for the whole family in the evening.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

beresfordjd I remember watching about half of the first episode and absolutely hating it. I cannot remember how I got into it later but thank goodness I did. John Sullivan who conceived and wrote this, is nothing less than a genius sitcom writer. The characters are real, fully formed entities whom we care for and feel we know deeply. The sign of great writing is to be able to laugh and cry with and for them and there are lots of occasions when we do both. The episode including Rodney's wedding is a terrific example of this dual ability. David Jason had trundled along making a name for himself in British TV - never a star until he did OFAH and found his Delboy character. Likewise Nicholas Lyndhurst whose Rodney is a marvellous invention. They compliment each other perfectly. All the subsidiary characters add to the comedy and fit the situation beautifully. No-one is wasted and they all make the most of their characters. It bears repeated viewings and gets funnier the more I see it.

saleemkalhoro Only Fools and Horses is of best comedy sitcom ever aired.This shows has every thing from quality comedy to romance love, feeling of responsibly,family. this show is very addicting once you watch you are going to feel that you are part of show.This show has been ranked as British top No.1 sitcom ever aired.David Jason performs the role of Delboy perfectly.Rodney Granddad,Uncle Albert,Trigger all are awesome.Its been a long time since the watched the series but the Dialogue still rings in my ears.He Who Dares Wins still Inspire me.I salute John Sullivan for creating this master piece. I hope if they could continue this series with all original characters and we can have all the fun and entertainment