It was written by John Sullivan.
Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United
Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003.
Episodes are regularly repeated on UKTV comedy channel Gold and
occasionally repeated on BBC One.
Set
in Peckham in south London, it stars David Jason as
ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, Nicholas
Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney, and Lennard Pearce as
their elderly Grandad. After Pearce's death in 1984, his character was
replaced by Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield). Backed by a strong supporting cast, the series
follows the Trotters' highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to
get rich.
The three wheeled yellow car
that provided transport for the run of the comedy became synonymous. I had the pleasure of being able to use the
actual vehicle from the show for a crime prevention campaign in 2000. I can even remember saying ‘mange tout’ in
the radio interview with BBC Radio Northampton, God help me!
It would be wrong for me not to
include two magical clips from the show.
First the falling through the bar clip and second the chandelier clip. Two from many dozens of laugh till you cry
clips. I have all the episodes.
After a relatively slow start,
the show went on to achieve consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode
"Time On Our Hands" holds the record for the highest UK audience
for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers (over a third of the
population). Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received
numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television
Awards and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning
individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason. It was voted Britain's
Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.
The
series had an impact on British culture, contributing several words and phrases
to the English language including the aforementioned mange tout!
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