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Only Fools and Horses


JHDuke

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Hey y'all

Here in the UK there is a great sitcom called 'Only Fools and Horses', it ran from 1983 to 1996 and there were sporadic Christmas specials to 2003, this is one of the two shows I've stood by all my life (the second being the Dukes), it never aired in the USA as far as I know, ABC tried a reboot for the US in 2012 but it got canned before production began, anyway I'll give you a basic summary, the show follows the life of market trader Del Boy (Del is slang in Britain for Derek) his younger brother Rodney and their Grandfather (although from Series 3 onwards their Uncle) who live in an apartment in Peckham, South London who often sell: stolen, faulty or just generally uninteresting goods, trying not to get caught by the law, who are as about as successful as Rosco, and in the run of the show they smash chandeliers worth over a million pounds, find doubles... which are mafia bosses and lean on flip top bars only to realize they are open (I'd recommend the falling through the bar scene, it's hilarious),

If anyone wants to watch this show a couple of seasons are on Netflix or you can just enter 'Only Fools and Horses' into YouTube you will get a plethora of great clips.

10:4

Joe :)

Edited by JHDuke
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When the American remake was announced, I remember someone commenting "No way, Pedro" in reference to one of Del Boy's memorable lines. BTW. The show actually started in 1981, so it's nearly as old as Dukes.

I have the DVD boxset, and watched it through again earlier this year. Some of the references have obviously dated, but the humor is timeless. Unlike with US shows, each one of the 64 episodes was written by just one man - John Sullivan. He also wrote and sang the songs used for the opening and closing credits. One of the last Christmas specials from 1996 still holds the UK record for viewing figures for a sitcom with 24.3 million viewers.

Now, there's even a stage musical based on the show. My brother saw it last month.

Here's the famous bar scene that Joe mentioned.
 

 

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3 hours ago, Andrew D Charger Chaser said:

Yes, great stuff, I've got several seasons of Only Fools on DVD, as a longtime Britcom fan (I own about two dozen series). The chandelier is an awesome episode!  Also Friday the 14th....one more favorite episode of mine is "Tea for Three."  I almost choked laughing!

Yes, 'Tea for Three' is another good example, and 'Friday the 14th'.

Here is also the chandelier scene:

 

Edited by JHDuke
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:previous:

A classic. The story was based on a real-life event that happened to the writer's father. I seem to remember a documentary where he said that his father didn't originally want the story to be used, but had to admit that the final version was funny. Despite being a prop, the chandelier was very expensive, and they only had one, so the director told the stars that if either of them laughed, they'd be sacked!

While we're talking favorite episodes, can I add season 6's "Chain Gang" to the list? In this episode it's not about an iconic scene, but rather a carefully crafted plot with a twist in the tail.

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On 7/30/2019 at 4:01 AM, Andrew D Charger Chaser said:

Yes, great stuff, I've got several seasons of Only Fools on DVD, as a longtime Britcom fan (I own about two dozen series).

We get a load of American sitcoms over here, but it seems that US TV companies like to remake British shows (with very mixed results) as their viewers apparently won't get the references. It's good to hear that you're watching the originals. What other Britcoms are in your collection?

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