How Only Fools and Horses won the hearts of a nation. Superfan on love of Only Fools. Only Fools and Horses first hit our screens back in 1981 but initially had disappointing audience figures. The show only took off after a summer repeat of the opening series which fared much better in the ratings. I started watching Only Fools and Horses pretty much from the start in the 1980s, but I didn't warm to it straight away either. Although the programme is extremely funny it was just another show on the telly. I think any new series takes a while to draw you in and for me Only Fools was no exception. I would, however, in time come to love the show and still do to this day. I have been asked on numerous occasions why I like it so much and I can never really find one easy explanation or answer. I don't think there is one, I think it's just the right mixture of 'something for everyone' and I am sure most of us at some time or another has experienced a Fools moment and perhaps know a Del Boy, Rodney, Trigger, Boycie or Denzil.
The show is nothing less than iconic and long may it live. John Sullivan. John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE (23 December 1946 – 23 April 2011) was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends. To remember Sullivan's work, the BBC broadcast the episode of Only Fools and Horses in which the Trotters drop a chandelier while cleaning it for an upper-class family. They also showed "Top 40 Only Fools and Horses Moments", where it is shown the best moment in Only Fools and Horses. The episode, "A Touch of Glass" was voted number 2, losing to when Del Boy (David Jason) falls through an open bar in "Yuppy Love".
John Sullivan was from a poor working-class background,[3] and grew up in Balham, South London.[4] His Irish father, John, Sr., was a plumber and his mother, Hilda, occasionally worked as a charwoman.[5] It was in Balham where he observed the sort of market trader that would later appear in Only Fools and Horses. John Sullivan on Del Boy's iconic fall through the bar. 'Boycie' and 'Trigger' pay tribute to Sullivan.
John Sullivan: Only Fools and Horses writer dies. John Sullivan's 'work will live on' Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan dies. John Sullivan, the creator of BBC1 sitcoms Only Fools and Horses, Rock & Chips, Citizen Smith and Roger Roger. Photograph: /Rex Features Scriptwriter John Sullivan has died at the age of 64, the BBC has announced. Most famous for creating the sitcoms Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Roger Roger, the writer died after a short illness. Sullivan was born in 1946 in Balham, south London, and was married to his wife Sharron. He died at a private hospital in Surrey after a battle with viral pneumonia; he had been in intensive care for six weeks. Gareth Gwenlan, a close friend and producer of Only Fools and Horses, said: "Sharron is obviously devastated and she has her family around her.
" Sullivan got his first job at BBC Television Centre as a scene hand at the age of 16, shortly after he left school. Always fascinated by literature and the English language, the would-be writer tried to work on as many comedy programmes as he could, in order to gain experience in the genre. John Sullivan, Only Fools and Horses creator, dies. Tributes paid to John Sullivan, the scriptwriter famous for creating Only Fools and Horses, who has been described as "the Dickens of his generation".
Sullivan, 64, who was awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to drama, died after a short illness, the BBC announced. In addition to creating one of Britain's most popular television series, he also wrote Citizen Smith, Roger Roger, Dear John and Just Good Friends. The third and final episode of his latest work, Rock & Chips, a comedy drama prequel to Only Fools and Horses, will be shown on BBC1 on Thursday. Sir David Jason, who played Del Boy in the hit comedy, said he was "devastated" at the loss of his friend. He added: "We have lost our country's greatest comedy writer but he leaves us a great legacy, the gift of laughter.
My thoughts at this time are with his lovely family. " Nicholas Lyndhurst, who played Del's brother Rodney, said he was deeply saddened and described his friend as "without doubt" Britain's finest TV writer. John Sullivan phrases: 10 of the best. 23 April 2011Last updated at 19:57 By Peter Jackson BBC News Sullivan had a keen eye for visual humour, playing on the differing heights of his two central characters Only Fools and Horses scriptwriter John Sullivan, who has died aged 64, had a deep-rooted love of the English language, which he expertly transferred to the mouths of his many memorable TV characters.
Their catchphrases and words have had a lasting impact on British culture, with several entering the language. Here's a quick guide to 10 amongst his best-known. Del Boy's much-used - and copied - expression of delight was borrowed from an advertising slogan for an orange juice drink in the 1960s called Jubbly. Sullivan partly based Rodney on his own experiences, and says they were both dreamers Del's way of calling his brother an idiot - one of several putdowns - had an endearing quality and was no less frequently used, owing to Rodney's naivety (albeit charming) and general gormlessness and lack of common sense.