Original subtitles

Stick a bunny in me pocket.

I'll fetch the suitcase from the van.

Cause if you are the best ones but you don't ask questions, then brother,

I'm your man.

Cause where it all comes from is a mystery.

It's like the changing of the seasons and the tides of the sea.

But here's the one that's driving me berserk.

Why do...

Yeah, I was watching, eh?

Only Fools and Horses is one of Britain's most loved shows on TV.

Lovely jubbly.

64 episodes were made between 1981 and 2003 and it's

still watched and laughed at by millions of us every week.

Fools and Horses!

With every line written by just one man.

The success of Fools and Horses can be summed

up with two words and it's John Sullivan.

The story of Derek Trotter's life is the story of John Sullivan's creative genius.

I don't think anybody really touches John for being able to make you laugh.

And being able to make you cry.

It's time next year.

Happy millionaires.

Celebrating the wonderful comedy world of John Sullivan, we'll be getting the inside

story on the Trotters from the horses' mouth.

I was nearly fired because of that scene.

Oi!

I said to John, you can't use this.

Come on, get him off!

We've also recreated some of the sets, reunited cast members

and have talked to some of the show's most famous fans.

One of the incredible things about Fools and

Horses is that you can grow up watching it.

I can't remember a time before I watched Only Fools and Horses.

It's really, really, really the best.

Over the next hour, we are going behind the scenes

as we look at how the shows were put together.

As well as showing you some Only Fools and Horses material

which has never before been seen on British television.

So sit back and enjoy the definitive story of Only Fools and Horses, the show which

has given us some of the most memorable moments in British comedy.

Of course, that's just comedy.

I mean, it doesn't really happen in real life.

It's not supposed to happen in real life.

Granddad?

Still hasn't got it right.

Away you go, then.

Away I go, what?

Well, you know, you know, start the whole typing.

Yeah, be creative.

Be... I can't just be creative at the drop of an hat, can I?

There are certain things a writer needs before he can actually start writing...

like a story.

What a very pleasant evening.

We as actors, I know David and I discussed this once, couldn't wait for the Fools and

Horses script to flop through the letterbox.

When we were in the office waiting for the next script, you'd have to stop people

else reading it because you needed to read it first.

And then there were people going... Yes, that's right.

Just go and have a laugh.

John Sullivan wrote 64 episodes in total, which were

anything from 30 minutes to full feature length epics.

We're going to Holland, runners.

We're going to Holland.

From John Sullivan's imagination to our TV screens took an army of BBC production

staff and a whole host of actors who had little

time to turn each script into a comedy classic.

When we were doing the read-through, for me, that was like watching Fools and

Horses for the first time, and we'd all sit around and we'd read the script,

and the first reading, it would go to maybe

45 minutes because we were laughing so much.

Now, this is a Jaws-type story.

Jaws?

Jaws has been done, though.

No, no, no, it's been done, but this is different.

It's called There Is A Rhino Loose In The City.

There Is A R... Loose In The... As In Rhinoceros.

That's right.

There Is A Rhino Loose In The City.

What's it about, Bill?

John Sullivan, his beamy face at read-throughs, you know, if you looked up

at him when there was a particularly huge laugh line, and he'd just be so chuffed

but trying not to show it, you know, because that was his pay-off, was knowing

that if we round a table found it very, very funny, then it was very likely that

the 24 million people watching it were going to find it funny too.

I used to watch John a lot, and he would just keep his head down, he'd just nod

quietly to himself, and I'd think, you clever bugger, you've

just crafted this incredible gag or joke or situation.

The table is in bits, we're falling about, can't breathe in fast enough, and you were

just there going... Yeah, see, that's all right, that's all right.

Nobody knows he's escaped.

What about the 8 million people living in London?

Don't none of them spot it.

Yeah, but the ones who spot it, they're the ones who gets trampled to death.

What about all the others?

The people in offices, the people in cabs, the people sitting on tops of buses?

It's a rhino, Del.

He only comes out at night.

What is it, a vampire rhino?

But once the script is written, any untold number

of problems can throw production into chaos.

We were in the production office one day, and we got a phone call from Patrick

Murray, who plays Mickey Pierce, and we were about to start rehearsals for

an episode, and then found out that he'd broken his arm.

Mickey Pierce couldn't be on our screens

bandaged up without it being part of the story.

And with rehearsals beginning the following day, the obvious

decision would be to cut the character from the script.

What John Sullivan did, he said, tell him to come in, I'm going to rewrite it.

And what he did, he wrote my injury into the episode.

Danny Driscoll said this was a friendly warning.

I'm sorry, Del, we had to tell him you're tagging the phones.

They've got it in their heads that you're trying to con them.

They're looking for you, Del.

So it all made sense, so I could do the episode.

And I turned up at eight o'clock in the morning, I had the rehearsal rooms,

and there was no-one there.

And then suddenly the doors first opened and all the cast came in wearing false

arms and broken legs from the props department, you know.

You all right, Pat?

How's it going?

I went, oh.

Even with the funniest scripts, you still need

comedy performers to get the laughs out of the lines.

I'm getting married.

And among such a gifted and experienced cast were a couple of leads who happened

to be two of the finest comedy actors of their generation.

Macbeth said to Hamlet in Midsummer Night's Dream,

we've been done up like a couple of kibbles.

We were very lucky to hit it off from day one with professional mutual respect and,

of course, a friendship as well and brothers-in-arms.

A very important element was the relationship which Nick and I had.

He was so easy to get along with.

In other words, we were really good partners.

During rehearsals, I always watched because I was

fascinated by the way the two of them worked together.

And the timing often surprised me.

All right?

It was always...just right.

But the comedy chemistry wasn't always there.

In our exhaustive trawl of the archives, we

have found their first ever on-screen meeting.

Four years before any fools, a curiously Dell like David is being interviewed on a

kids' TV show by a familiar-looking 16-year-old Jonathan Ross wannabe.

I was going to say, did you enjoy... Did you enjoy doing... It's forgotten.

It's forgotten.

No, I didn't enjoy it.

Oh, I see.

Well, that is a very good point.

Thankfully for us, Sir David Jason and Nicholas

Lindhurst became masters of their craft.

Chicks.

That scene where I was taking all the... Well, disrobing, it's about the timing.

And it's all down to David for the next reaction.

Cos the audience doesn't know, and he looks like, you know, everybody's

image of a pop star, it's got to be a series of reveals.

Yeah, well, my name is Derek Trotter of the Derek

Trotter International Stars Agency, Peckham.

You can call me Dell.

..that make it go...

Now, I've already got a confirmed booking at the

starlight rooms with an option on a long-term...

I don't get many bookings.

Suddenly, there is no pop star there at all.

And then the final thing is that the character,

Tony Angelina, takes out basically his codpiece.

LAUGHTER It was that moment, really, which took the most choreographing,

and I remember David Jason basically saying, you know, oh, no, no, no, no.

You know, Rogers, you've got to turn away at that point, so when I turn around with

the sausage, you know, you haven't seen what's gone before.

LAUGHTER

It was like learning with real prose.

You thought, I've arrived.

Wait a second, I'll just turn this down.

Rehearsals would take place over two days before the final recording, and in our

search to show you some unseen gems, we have

uncovered some very rare tapes of the team at work.

Is your name Trotter?

Yes, yes, that's my name, isn't it?

Is that your yellow van out there?

The one with Trotter written on the side?

Yes, that's mine.

The one with Trotter written on the side?

Yes, that's mine.

They worked to, oh, to perfectionism in the rehearsals on everything they did,

particularly for the comedy timing.

We're in the process of questioning owners of all such vehicles.

Ah, well, in that case, officers look no further.

They would work, work, work till it was 100% right.

It was me, it's a fair cop, I done it.

It's a fair cop, I've done it.

LAUGHTER

You disappoint me, Uncle!

Mr Trotter?

Yes?

Either you're not taking this very seriously or you don't

understand the full implications of your last statement.

Yes, well, look, I am a bit pushed for time,

sweetheart, so, you know, can we get on with it?

What do you mean?

Well, you know, come on, hurry up.

Come on, get him off!

Hey!

Come on, get him off!

Come on!

LAUGHTER

LAUGHTER I would have thought you would have come up

with something a bit more original to that, Uncle!

It's got nothing to do with me, son!

It wasn't anything to do with you!

What?

Oh, my God!

Nick him!

Coming up in the show, we see when things

behind the scenes don't go according to plan.

So our old skipper, Captain Conway, he used to...

And how the Only Fools and Horses team hoodwinked

an audience on another classic BBC show.

What do they think they're doing?

They're on top of the box!

Everyone thought we were a real band.

Welcome back to the story of Only Fools and Horses, as we take a look behind the

scenes and find out from the cast and crew what it was

really like to make one of Britain's most loved comedy shows.

Studio audience stuff, I'm sure the rest of the guys have told you, is the worst of

both worlds, really, because you've got the technical precision of camera,

you've got the technical precision of lights, shadows, booms,

all that sort of stuff, but you've also got the audience.

And you could hear them outside your dressing room door,

and that's when the adrenaline really, really started.

OK, here we go.

When the theme tune comes on to the programme, all I remember and all it

brings back in me is standing in the wings at White City in one of those huge

studios, feeling very much like a first night

in the theatre, and thinking, oh, my God.

And you knew you could stop.

You knew if things went wrong, you could do it again.

You knew David particularly was a master at, you know, making the audience,

if a mistake happened, join in, which, of course, they just loved even more.

Now, old skipper, Captain Kenworthy, he sort of allayed those fears beyond

creating a counter-worry, like the day he

announced there was a cholera epidemic on the ship.

Oh, did he?

Given that pressure, it's not easy for anyone.

When we first started to do the show, bless

him, old Buster found that pressure was huge.

So our old skipper, Captain Kenworthy, he used to...

On one particular show, he got himself in such a state that

I could see that he was beginning to lose it completely.

So I stopped the recording and I took Buster behind the set and I said,

don't worry about it, forget it.

If you go wrong, I said, the way to get back on song, I said, is to send yourself up.

They will find that funny and they will be on your side.

I think that a lot of what I'd said had got through to him, because from that

moment on, Buster really started to take off and he managed

brilliantly and became the old git that we loved dearly.

Like one day he announced there was the cholera epidemic on the fish.

Just throwing that in.

Very good ad lib there, Buster, I like that.

Under the bright intensity of the studio lights, the team had years of laughter

with the studio audience, watching their every

missed cue, stumbled line and dropped prop.

I don't quite understand what you mean, Mr Trotter.

No, well, I didn't expect you to understand straightaway, Reverend.

I mean, it's a... I mean, it's a ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

But going on location meant freedom from those constraints and on one particular

occasion, all the male members of the cast went filming on a jolly boys outing.

The jolly boys outing was like five, six weeks filming on location and it was,

we just had so much fun.

They had this wonderful fairground there called Dreamland and all these wonderful

sort of retro rides, you know, a scenic railway and all the

helter-skelters and the roundabouts and so on.

And the brief was, we had to go on all these rides while they filmed us.

Should I spill the beans on Paul Barber?

Yeah.

Paul, who played Denzel, didn't really want to go on any of the rides.

I thought it might be quite fun.

And as it started to get higher and swing more and more and

more, I can see him gripping his thighs harder and harder.

And when it went over, there is no soundtrack, thank heavens, but the lip

readers amongst us might be able to see that

Paul wasn't super happy with what was going on.

I know what he was saying because he was screaming it in my

ear, but I'll leave it to the rest of you to decipher yourself.

Alongside the familiar cast members...

..there were dozens of one-off characters

coming in and out of the show's 22-year history.

Among them, many actors familiar to us for their long and illustrious careers...

..and some who would even go on to win Oscars.

Surprise, surprise!

Later!

But given the enduring love the British public have for the series, even if you've

only been in one scene... Thank you, waiter.

..you are part of a very special group.

Oi!

Why's he getting seen before me?

You know, you can play such a small role, as I

did, and yet still be sort of recognised for it.

Would you please keep your voice down?

No!

It's a free country and I can shout as much as I bloody well like!

To be fair, I was quite loud and I did make a sort of a statement.

Do you hear that?

You're all sodding useless!

Excuse me, sir.

What?

I was in one episode...

..and yet people come up with their grandchildren and,

you know, the grandad will say, do you know who that is?

Do you know who that is?

And the little four-year-old will be going, Tony Angelino!

And they'll be going, why?

And you think, I can't believe this.

Ow!

Come on, Rodney, give us some cymbals!

Cymbals?

Even though that episode was over 30 years ago, people come up and say, Metal Miggie!

Do the song!

Do the song!

One, two... I did the one, two, three, fours.

One, two, three... I told you once, Rodney, I'm not going to tell you again, son!

I did the one, two, three, fours!

I still get quite a lot of that.

One, two, three, four!

Landing a role on Fools and Horses is good enough on its own, but in his episode,

Daniel Peacock also got to perform on another classic BBC show.

As a teenager, Top of the Pops was it.

That was the show to be on, that was the show everyone talked about.

This is boys will be boys from a bunch of wallets.

So to have the opportunity to actually be on Top of the Pops was kind of wonderful

and they didn't suddenly stop the show and say, ladies and gentlemen, we're now going

to do a little bit for Fools and Horses, they just continued as if we were a real

band and everyone thought we were a real band and quite liked the song,

actually, it's a good song.

It's a bunch of wallets!

What do they think they're doing?

They're on Top of the Pops!

David Thewlis, you know, he's a big actor now, was

the guitarist of the band and was the funny one.

When we came off of having done Top of the Pops, we were

walking down the steps and the Spandau Ballet are coming up.

And they said, you're charted?

David Thewlis shouts, yeah, we're number six.

And they shout at us, oi, we're number six.

So Spandau Ballet then starts shouting at their management, accusing their

management of lying to them because everyone thinks we're a real band.

Now we're skulking away down the corridor here.

Spandau Ballet are left having this argument

about, are they number six that week or not?

Or is it a bunch of wallets?

Coming up, we look into the future of the Trotters.

Uncle Rodney!

We were in make-up for a long time to make us look old.

Don't need that now.

And we can reveal what really went into Del's exotic cocktails.

Somewhere in this glass is the Del Boy dream.

Welcome back to the story of Only Fools and Horses.

As we go behind the scenes with the cast and crew to give you access all areas to

find out the secrets of Britain's most loved comedy show.

The team was always striving for authenticity.

And when Del and Rachael were having a baby, John

Sullivan wanted it to seem as real as possible.

Underneath the floor we were filming in was the actual birth unit.

So they asked mums who'd just had a baby if any of them would volunteer.

And, of course, I think they got a lot of people saying yes.

We just walked through the ward, looked at the babies and chose a very lovely baby.

So some nice parents who came in and that was the baby in that episode.

And I think it really did make a difference when that, you know,

well-known scene now where David takes the baby to the window and talks to mum.

Oh, you are such a lucky little boy.

You really are.

You've got a mummy and daddy who think you're

the most precious thing in the whole wide world.

You know, having this tiny little thing in his arms was really very moving.

Just being in the room was moving, let alone the way it was filmed.

You're giving me sweetheart.

Always on the lookout for a running gag, when John Sullivan introduced Damien

Trotter to the world, he made sure that even a newborn would be in on the comedy.

Let me introduce you to Damien.

Yes, Rodney Trotter hoisted by his own petard, just by saying

the devil child is going to arrive and lo and behold he did.

We receive this child in the congregation of Christ's

block and assign him with a sign of the cross.

MUSIC PLAYS What is wrong with you?

I can't imagine this flat without Damien, can you?

No.

Little devil.

Rodney.

No!

Cassandra, I locked the bedroom door.

He rather grudgingly loved Damien, but I think he would have done anything

for him if he stopped scaring him fartless all the time, yeah.

And it was Rodney's fear of the devil child which led to one

of the most unusual scenes in Only Fools and Horses history.

The dream sequence at the top of Heroes and Villains is Rodney's dream,

his nightmare about Damien as he grows older and

Trotter's independent trading takes over the world.

LAUGHTER And we filmed at Battersea Power Station, which was fascinating in itself.

We decided to make it really good and we actually even shot it on 35mm.

We wanted to make it all look really filmy.

And at the time, Battersea Power Station was a shell, but it looked amazing.

Our jet copter's arrived, Raquel.

I'll summon the maid.

We were in make-up for a long time to make us look old.

Don't need that now.

LAUGHTER There you are, Rudy.

Where have you been?

Damien flew for you.

How has it gone?

State transportation workers have gone on strike.

On strike?

I thought Damien had made strikes illegal.

Yes.

The police were shooting them as I left.

LAUGHTER I thought it was very brave, but then John was a very brave writer and

why not set a part of a sitcom in the future?

That was brilliant.

That was brilliant.

And when we read it, you thought, oh, my God, how will this work?

What will people think of this?

But again, how clever to set things in the future where Damien's like the devil...

..and is running the world.

What's going on here?

I ordered a messenger over an hour ago.

He's here, Damien.

Damien's here.

Uncle Rodney.

LAUGHTER We all had such fun doing that.

I think we would have liked to do a whole episode like that.

You know, more of it.

Oh, I loved it, and being the maid was great.

Sandra, what are you doing here?

Damien took over my bank and fired me.

It was a really, really interesting sequence.

I mean, for everybody, you know, design, make-up, costume, artists,

the whole lot, just because, yes, it was completely

different to anything that we would normally do.

This isn't fair.

Rodney.

He's not right.

He shouldn't be doing this.

Rodney.

Yeah, I mean, what a clever idea, because I think when an audience would

watch that, they would have thought, well, this isn't the normal Only Fools And Orses.

What on earth?

And then it sprung into just being a dream.

Rodney.

Rodney.

Rodney.

Rodney.

Rodney.

Rodney.

Rodney, wake up, you dipstick.

As well as coming up with fresh and unusual ideas for storylines, John

Sullivan also enjoyed long-running gags that returned each series, girls'

catchphrases... Lovely jump.

...his malapropisms... It was like St. Paul's journey on the road for Tabasquez.

...his gift for languages...

Pardecalet, as they say in France.

...and, of course, his sophisticated taste for the finer things in life.

You don't like those sorts of surroundings, do you?

I mean, champagne, caviar, country clubs.

Oh, no, I hate it, Alan.

I hate it.

It's all put on.

I mean, those people just do things for effect.

Those drinks were always spectacular.

What you want is, uh, you want a shot of tequila and

a shot of coconut rum and one of crème de menthe.

A large drambouille with lime.

Just a smidgen of Campari.

Topped up with soda, lots of ice.

The merest suggestion of Angostura's bitters.

A slice of lemon and a little cherry on the top.

Two halves of lager lumps.

He thought everything was...

gave him the height of sophistication and put him like that many cuts above the

average person because his drinks always had an umbrella on it, you know.

Lager top for Rodney and I'll have a Baileys and cherryade.

Somewhere in this glass is the Del Boy dream.

You know, that there, that right there is like, I don't drink pints.

I don't drink out of a bowl.

I drink these cocktails, mate.

That's what a lager drink boy see.

It just sums it up.

In that nag's head, the pub that we all know, he was like, no, no, no,

this is what I'm going to drink because one

day I'll be in Miami on a beach drinking this.

It was just brilliant.

See you in a minute.

There was a few of us made the drinks.

They weren't so disgusting that he couldn't drink them.

But there was quite a mix in there and you don't

have quite the juices that you have nowadays.

So it was like blackcurrant and orange juice

mixed up together, which wasn't very tasty.

You know, bonnet to douche.

Mm-hm.

Mm.

Lovely jubbly.

But of all the recurring props, long-running gags and characters' catchphrases.

..

Do you mean the war?

Do you want a war?

We pursue the dream of that.

..there's one more than any other which says only fools and horses.

The van.

The... Well, I mean, it's a joke in itself, isn't it?

The van.

We sell this and get something more useful.

Oh, what?

Like a bus pass?

The old boy was in love with this thing and you'd have thought, because of his

need to be a success and a yuppie and a, you know, that he wouldn't have been seen

dead in that machine, but for some reason, he

didn't see that the Trotter's van was an old banger.

Do you reckon that you could get one of your mechanics to have a look at my van?

I know just the bloke.

He had a family bereavement recently.

He could do with a good lard.

I know because I used to have an old car that when the engines get very warm,

they pull oil up from the sump and the oil burns

and you get grey smoke coming out the back.

So we got a plastic bottle with a pipe and I said, I'll sit in the passenger seat and

I'll press it and force oil into the carburetor.

You've got to be a bit careful how much oil you put in

because if you put too much in, it will jam up the cylinder.

So I got this rear-view mirror and I'm watching the smoke

coming out the back and thinking, ooh, that's a bit much.

I've got to be careful.

No, could do it a bit more.

There was often big stunts in Fours and Horses.

One of the biggest, probably, was the three-wheeler car chase.

This is my jungle and I'm at the top of the tree.

It ended up with Rodney driving the three-wheeler

and being chased by these yobs in an American car.

We had lots of three-wheelers, actually, in the show.

There were many for different purposes.

They were all made to look the same and that particular one

that did the jump had to be specially reinforced underneath.

Why are we going so fast?

I love speed.

You said we were going to cruise.

Yeah, but I like to cruise quickly.

We don't tend to fly through the air on a humpback bridge, as you'll know.

We even had to put ramps round on one side of it.

And a stuntman managed to get it in the air as it leapt over the bridge.

It was amazing.

Join us in the final part of the show where we

find out the story behind the title and theme song.

Before I went into the studio, I took about nine pints to try and calm my nerves.

And we reviewed some behind-the-scenes footage

which has never been broadcast ever before.

I think it's working now, Del.

All right, come on then.

Come and get in the shop, then.

That's it.

Turn it.

Welcome back as we look behind the scenes of Only Fools and Horses and find out how

it became the classic show we all know and love.

Oh, there you go, Chief.

After so many outstanding episodes, we now take for granted all the show's

larger-than-life characters and perfect plotlines.

When I was die-ass, it's like that.

But in the beginning, even the name couldn't be agreed upon.

The title of Only Fools and Horses had quite a difficult birth.

Originally, John had written it as Reddies.

That was just really a working title.

He'd wanted to call it Only Fools and Horses.

And that was from the old adage of Only Fools and Horses worked.

So I used that and nobody knew what it was.

And the BBC, they tried everything to change it.

And I went in one day, and I think it was the first time I met Gareth Gwenlyn.

And we just had a bit of lunch and a drink.

I said, they want me to come up with this other title and I just can't.

And he said, he gave me the best advice ever.

He said, go in there and just say to them, I

can't think of anything, I'll leave it with you.

He said, because they won't be able to.

And I did.

And I thought, God, I've really taken a gamble here because they might come back

and say, we're going to call this thing really stupid.

And about half hour later, they phoned up and said,

yeah, all right, we go with Only Fools and Horses.

And so he was absolutely right.

I'd shot six episodes before I plucked up courage to say, so what's it actually

mean, Only Fools and Horses, dot, dot, dot?

Because at the time, they hadn't recorded the new theme tune.

It was just Ronnie Hazelhurst sort of generic bit of sitcom music.

When we did the first series, on the opening script, I wrote the title music

should be Chaz & Dave, Honky Tonk, that kind of style.

And Ronnie Hazelhurst is a very nice man and great composer, but it wasn't right.

But prior to that, I'd done a cassette of the version now with me singing.

And I gave it to Ray and said, well, how about this one?

And he said, yeah, let's do that.

And he said, well, as you've written down Chaz & Dave, let's go to them.

So we went, asked them, and they said, yeah, they'd do it.

And then we had it all booked in the studio.

And about four weeks before we went in, they had a

number one hit with a song called Ain't No Pleasing You.

And we couldn't get them.

So Ray said, well, you did that.

You better come in and sing it.

I'll fetch the suitcase from the van The first time you

find out there's John Sullivan doing that, you go, is it?

And you're thrilled.

Before I went into the studio, I had to have

about nine pints to try and calm my nerves.

And nine pints usually I'm on the floor, but I was stone cold sober because of the

nervousness of actually going into that studio.

It is the most iconic of sitcom theme tunes.

There's an authenticity about the words.

There's fun in trying to sing along with it.

And it is one of the few sitcoms that has a different beginning to an end theme tune.

We've got some off-price, crack, dice, moles and moles of carpet tops,

TVs, deep-frees, Chaz and Dave, LPs, pool games, wash names, and had a

bush, some Trevor Francis track suits from a mush in Shepherd's bush, bush, bush.

Trevor Francis track suits from a mush in Shepherd's bush.

Beautiful there.

Shakespeare couldn't have written better than that, could he?

The great song written by John Sullivan about Hooky Street actually epitomises and

describes exactly the world at large at that moment in time.

Hooky Street.

Hooky Street.

Only three.

Hooky Street is John Sullivan's musical homage to the backstreet deals where shady

characters can get their hands on anything you want.

Shit.

What did you do, muck Mr. T?

The British public, as well as fans across the

world, found the Trotters' dodgy dealings hilarious.

But there were certain people in authority who didn't see the funny side.

Chris Woodhead, who was then the government chief inspector of schools,

he criticised the programme, saying that the Trotters were poor role models.

And I think John Sullivan was quite offended by this, as one might expect.

Occasionally, like, you'd get somebody in the Houses of Parliament, and they would

be saying, oh, you're no better than Del Boy, you're a sort of Del Boy.

Well, that paints the image that they were villains.

That is not the case.

John Sullivan sort of hit back in an article in a

newspaper, saying the Trotters might not be perfect.

Del's business deals are clearly not squeaky clean.

But compared to perhaps some activities by politicians

and by some captains of industry, Del was not a bad man.

Del had raised his brother, looked after his elderly grandfather and then uncle.

You know, the show was rooted in family values.

LAUGHTER She is Del Boy.

Go out and buy yourself a crate of Oderitas.

They are very good.

Oh, they are, they are.

Bloody murder to swallow, though.

But I think because it was so clearly a comedy world it was inheriting,

I don't think they ever felt like, well, you know what, we're encouraging this.

I'm amazed, though.

Nowadays, they probably have a warning at the front, saying the BBC does not endorse

the kind of behaviour carried out by Del Boy and his gang of waffians.

Far from the social pariahs some politicians accuse them of being,

the Trotters were in fact upright citizens, as we were able to reveal with

these rare and previously unseen Fools & Horses sketches.

I think it's working now, Del.

Oh, right, come on, then.

Come and get in the shop, then.

That's it.

Right.

Attention.

Good evening, chaps.

This is Derek Trotter talking to you from a

secret location somewhere in southern England.

It's high...

You dipstick, Rodney.

In the first, Del, Rodney and Albert send a message

to the British troops fighting in the Gulf War.

Written by John Sullivan, this sketch has never been broadcast before.

So unless you were at the recording or served in Iraq, this will be a first.

Right, now listen, lads, I'm sending you this

three-wheel van packed to the gunnels with goodies.

Ooh, that's a nice gesture, Del.

Yeah, well, I'm a nice sort of person, aren't I?

And I'm selling them to you at knock-down prices.

Now, what I'm saying, you are actually selling stuff to our troops in the Gulf.

At knock-down prices, Rodney.

So there you go.

You're going to get a bargain of a lifetime.

I'm doing my bit for King & Country.

Everyone's a winner.

As they say in Saint Tropez.

No, seriously, though, boys, we just wanted to say from us, the trotters,

and all the people back here in the UK, we're very proud of what you've done.

Yeah.

I know you've worked hard, and we can't wait for you to

come back here safe and sound so you can buy us all a pint.

Well, I suppose it's character-led again, isn't it?

We know who they are, we know what they're talking about, and John, as usual,

has slipped a few gag lines in which are funny.

The second sketch is a rare treat we have unearthed from comic relief, as the

trotters do their bit for aid to Africa, which

hasn't been shown on British TV in 20 years.

Did you win a war?

Oh, boy, I saw real hardship.

Refugees, entire families had lost their homes and

didn't know where their baby's next meal was coming from.

Same thing's happening today.

You think you're all up, Rodney?

Well, think about Africa.

What are you talking about?

I mean, if he can't afford to go to Greece, he certainly can't afford to go to Africa.

I think he means, you know, all the starving people in Africa.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, that's right, we never really think about that, do we?

Well, you know, we think we're hard-up, but we got a

roof over our head, didn't we, and we eat every day.

That's what I've always said, Rodney.

One man's floor is another man's ceiling.

We couldn't help them people back in 1941 cos we didn't have anything ourselves.

The times have changed.

I'd love to be able to just open a door and walk back into 1941.

How can anyone just walk back to 1941?

Yeah, all right.

Good night, sweetheart.

Yeah.

Stupid Albert.

I mean, I'm not a detective inspector, but even I can work that one out.

The nice, lovely little scene.

I did notice that they made a sort of equip to

Good Night, Sweetheart, which I thought was clever.

I mean, I was surprised by that.

It's kind of one of those rules.

You go, well, you know, don't do that.

Why would you do that?

You're kind of breaking the fantasy here and what this is supposed to be,

but I think if there's ever a time you can do

that, it's for something like Common Relief.

This isn't really only fools and aussies.

We are working for Common Relief and what we would like to

say at this Pacific moment in time is give us some dosh.

He means send it to Common Relief, not literally to us.

Leave this to me, will you, Rodney?

I think you'd watch that and you'd send in your money, wouldn't you?

Because there's two national icons telling you about

how other people's lives aren't quite as good as yours.

So, yeah, I think it's a real tribute to John and David and Nick.

And it's also another example of taking a really, really

tricky subject and making it funny and also working.

When we were so lucky, we felt that we'd got a part in a lovely show.

I think I'm in love.

My wife always says to me, you'll never quite understand

the phenomenon of this show because you're there.

You're that close to it.

You don't see the big picture, and I guess not.

I don't think I've worked in anything which has been so genuinely friendly.

We just all get on.

Such a fantastic time doing it.

My name is Ivor Hardy.

To work with John Sullivan and the team was a really exciting time in my life.

Everybody smile!

Smile, trigger!

I am smiling!

We wanted it to succeed and everybody who was involved

in it worked their rocks off to make that happen.

And in the course of that, because we all believed in it and because we all loved

it, I hope history will prove that I think we did it pretty well.

Push, dear.

Push, push, push.

No income tax, no V8 No money back, no guarantee Black or white, rich or poor

With come prices and a stroke God bless Pookie Street

Viva Pookie Street Long live Pookie Street Same magnifique