I love Only Fools and Horses, and in my opinion the series should have ended in 1996, the three episodes after the auction in 2001, '02 ,'03 were poor and not that funny. Damian's character for a start was just plain annoying and it just lost its edge. Bringing it back would be a mistake, as for those last 3 episodes, it reminds me of the last three Crry On films that were made; England, Emmanuelle and Columbus. Awful.
A remake with Keith Chegwin as Del boy would be crucial! Also Tony Blackburn would make a mean Boysy!
Del Boy says quite often...'Gorden Bennett', is this cockney slang and if so what does it rhyme with?
Do you have a vested interest?
GORDON BENNETT-A slang term which means 'Oh God.' Gordon Bennett was a real person, an America newspaper baron whose antics were so extravagant and shocking they would lead people to exclaim 'Gordon Bennett
I'm am kinda on the fence about the final (current final, should I say) trilogy. I think that the first episode tended to be a little gimmicky and instead of building new gags etc seemed to rely a little on jokes of the past, you have to ask yourself, if someone that hadn't seen it before, suddenly turned it onto this comeback episode, would they actually get it? I mean, there's constant jokes about Albert etc etc, but little fresh material. That said it was still very funny.
Strangers on the Shore was classic IMO, everything about it was great, it could have been another Christmas special from the early 90s and it didn't rely too much on past jokes and gags, and not only used Del's ruthless nature but also brought in some more current plotlines such as illegal immigrants. Loved this one.
Sleepless in Peckham to me was almost one big flop, apart from the end which was pretty well acted and written to be honest, the scene at the hospital and the graveyard were really good. Not sure about the bit where they just drove off in the van, seemed a little low key to be honest, but hey you don't always need fireworks. Other than that, the plot kinda retreaded stuff that had been hinted at before, the actual conversations were far too long and very little seemed to happen apart from Marlene getting a boob job. I mean, Del and Rodney had so many unfunny and unneccessary scenes. I am of the opinion this could have been a fifty minute episode.
It depends on how they do bring this back and where they, or John would want to take the plot. It's kinda at a dead-end unless you really shook things up a bit.
So is this serious?
A 2010 remake?
It seems like it's just rumour to be honest, there's an Only Fools comeback rumour every couple of years. It'd actually be better if they either made a series 8, of half hour shows, made sure the quality was f**king pristine and took it from there. I mean, Sullivan tends to get a bit long-winded and off-track in some of the specials, I found Rodney Come Home and Fatal Extraction a bit uneccessarily painful and it mostly revolved around family issues instead of the classic wheeling and dealing.
The 2001 special featured one scene being accompanied by Livin' La Vida Loca and made me cringe considerably.
Do we have an actual source for this or is it word of mouth?
The should've quit after series 5 or 6 at the latest. The grandad era was quality, but it went out far too long and the last decent episodes were the very early 90s. The subsequent ones were all shite and the prequel just an embarrassing idea really.
Quote: Robert D @ July 31 2010, 7:09 PM BSTDo we have an actual source for this or is it word of mouth?
There is no story. It's a 2 year old thread.
Quote: Aaron @ July 31 2010, 7:52 PM BSTThere is no story. It's a 2 year old thread.
Ah right, thanks. I didn't notice that. 
I'm really enjoying the daytime repeats at the moment. It's been long enough for me to remember the basic set up but to forget all the brilliant writing and subtle well crafted gags and situations that John Sullivan came up with. Great stuff. And some of the best endings of any sitcom ever.
Quote: Agnes Guano @ August 2 2011, 9:09 AM BSTI'm really enjoying the daytime repeats at the moment. It's been long enough for me to remember the basic set up but to forget all the brilliant writing and subtle well crafted gags and situations that John Sullivan came up with. Great stuff. And some of the best endings of any sitcom ever.
Same here and whilst BBC one show them in order around mid-afternoon, Gold show a few episodes from either end of the spectrum on weekends so there's a great variety and you can compare the episodes. I think that the first three series are probably the best with four and five coming after. I think the longer fifty minute episodes can drag a little in places, they did say Sullivan had a tendancy to write massive scripts and have to cut pages and pages out. Don't call me sexist but I also preferred it without the ladies in it, as there were a few tired, cliched exchanges between spouses. I'm actually one of the few that rather liked the last three episodes, maybe because they seemed a little fresher and cleaner. I think that Strangers on the Shore is the best though, as it's such a cleverly constructed plot, so many classic moments and it feels like it could have been a feature length special from the 1980s like To Hull & Back.
However I didn't like Sleepless in Peckham that much, aside from a fantastic ending, if a little understated, the episode itself was quite boring and drawn out with little by way of a plot and not enough physical gags. I was hoping they would consider doing one last one because Sleepless in Peckham was rather lukewarm, but now that Sullivan has gone, well...
