DB7

Trotters to return in Only Fools and Horses prequel

3 July, 2009 | By Robin Parker

Del Boy’s coming back to BBC1 – but as a teenager.

Only Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan has penned a 90-minute comedy drama focussing on Derek Trotter’s early years.

Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Chips will be set in Peckham in 1960, where Joan Trotter is unhappily married to workshy Reg Trotter and looking after her son. But the reappearance of art connoisseur Freddie Rodbal after ten years in prison, is set to shake up her world. Casting has yet to be revealed but Nicholas Lyndhurst, who famously played Rodney in Only Fools and Horses, is rumoured to be playing Rodbal.

Del Boy’s cohorts Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Jumbo Mills will also appear in their teenage incarnations.

“It will be set in the real Sixties, before The Beatles and Mary Quant made London the coolest place on the planet,” said Sullivan.

“The drama will feature South London at its least glamorous, where money was scarce, the staple diet was rock salmon and chips, and the flicks offer the only hint of glamour. And it will give us a bit of an insight into why Del and Rodney turned out they way they did.”

Sullivan’s indie Shazam Productions is producing the comedy drama with BBC Comedy. It will be produced by Gareth Gwenlan and executive produced by Mark Freeland.

“Nearly 30 years since Only Fools And Horses hit our screens, now we’ll have the chance to see the vivid, bittersweet drama that underpinned the iconic series,” said Freeland.

Filming starts in London next month for transmission next year.

Only Fools and Horses began on BBC1 in 1981 and ended with a Christmas special in 2003.

davidb

wasnt there once a prequel to last of the summer wine ? instead of old blokes rolling down hill on out of control bath tubs it was young blokes rolling down hill on out of control bath tubs .
i dont think it worked and it only lasted one series

dubster75

yeah there was a series called first of the summer wine which wasn't too bad. but i think that this only fools could be a cracker if made right, have to say i'm quite looking forward to this.

James Fox

Doesn't sound like a very good idea to me either.

CaptainWaggett

It lasted two series - it was set in the summer of 1939 so it was designed with a finite number of episodes. I think it was regarded as reasonably successful at the time.

Corinne

The prequel was called First of the Summer Wine & I actually preferred it.

davidb

this only fools prequel cant be any worse than green fields i suppose ,thats the series they put on if theyve exhausted the supply of my family

EllyMack

I found First of the Summer Wine mildly amusing but nothing special, except for the fact that many of the street scenes were filmed in the Tramway Museum at Crich.

I'm quite looking forward to seeing Del Boy's early years. This could work for the simple reason that everyone loves the Trotters et al very much. They were the little guys trying to be big guys, the underdogs trying to be the top dogs. So many people identified with them, cheered them on when they got one up on the system and the big guns. The poignant stuff - Rodney & Cassandra's miscarriage, and Granddad's death, for instance, only worked because we knew and loved the characters so much. They were like our closest friends, such was Sullivan's skill as a writer.

I don't think the final episodes, post-millionairedom, worked as well, because now the little guy was the big guy. It was enough to see him get there and wish him on his happy way. The last ones were a bit of an anticlimax, I thought. So I look forward to seeing the poverty years - you bet your sweet bippy the little guy's gonna get one over the authorities by the end of the programme.

EllyMack

D'you mean Green, Green Grass? I find that OK, but only if you detach from the Del Boy links and take it as a sitcom in its own right.

johng

I would have thought that the retirement years would have formed the basis for a better episode. Practically all the actors are still available and it would have enabled us to include the ladies who were just as much a part of the show. The only missing character is Uncle and he would probably have passed on by that time anyway.

I think in the proposed episode we will be trying to compare the youngsters with the ones we know and loved and that just wont work Just my opinion.

dubster75

this project of only fools could work but i think they will have to film it in the same style as the very first episode of only fools, what i mean is if this was produced in a high quality "shiny and polished" film format and not have an aged feel to it the programme may not come across as it should. not only is the writing is important but it needs to have the right feel and presance on the screen.

SirOllyBolly

I agree.

Boycie was always one of my favourite characters in OFAH - and with a personality unique enough and memorable enough not to need Del Boy to necessarily make him funny.

SirOllyBolly

"What fresh lunacy is this?"

Marky B

Considering it came from the pen of John Sullivan,I was very disappointed in it.
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

winsfordtown

The problem is that there is no new David Jason 'type' actor coming through who is equally at home in drama and comedy but also carry a show on his own. I would also hate see a cast doing nothing more that poor imitations of familiar characters. So no pressure at all.

cully

What I remember laughing at was Del Boy explaining to Rodney in the final moments of the last programme about his cunning plan to make their millions make even more money via investing in complex financial derivatives. You just KNEW that this pair of wallies, who never made any money selling plain vanilla hookey gear, were going to lose every penny in double quick time!!