John Sullivan (I)

John Sullivan leaves nearly £8.5m in his will

Only Fools And Horses creator John Sullivan left a cushty £8.5million, his will revealed yesterday.

Nicholas Lyndhurst interview

"John Sullivan, who wrote Only Fools And Horses, died in April and we were working together on Rock & Chips, the prequel. I know John had so many more ideas for episodes - he loved writing it, and it was a privilege to be in it, but sadly we can't do it any more."

John Sullivan - Some perspective

John Sullivan is a titanic figure in comedy writing - and his death is tragic. There is no 'but' to this. No caveats or clever angles. The man was a superb writer. This is a man who wrote four extremely memorable and diverse sitcoms.

John Sullivan tribute documentary grabs 3.5m

BBC One's John Sullivan tribute pulled in nearly 3.5m viewers on Friday night, early viewing figures indicate.

On 23 April, following a short illness, comedy writer John Sullivan died, aged 64. As this tribute will presumably explore (there was minimal information available as we went to press) he left behind an extraordinary body of work, including Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends. Most famously of all, he created Only Fools and Horses, a show that paradoxically it's rather too easy to take for granted because of its success. Better to remember that sitcoms don't become as much a part of the national consciousness as the adventures of Del and Rodney without tapping into some deeper truth.

John Sullivan: A master of comedy

John Sullivan's lovable characters were both funny and rooted in reality. The world was his lobster.

The Comedy Genius of John Sullivan

At 1.15 yesterday I was in the company of many distinguished Actors including Sir David Jason and Nick Lyndhurst, writers, musicians, directors, TV executives, and scores of behind the camera programme making talent.

We lost one of our finest comedy writers last month when John Sullivan died aged 64 after a battle with viral pneumonia. He's best known, of course, for Only Fools and Horses: the most-loved sitcom of the Eighties, regularly voted Britain's all-time favourite and which pulled in a record 24 million viewers at its peak. Yet Sullivan was by no means a one-hit wonder. He also created "urban guerrilla" Citizen Smith, the melancholic Dear John and the romcom Just Good Friends - not to mention Only Fools... spin-offs Green Green Grass and Rock & Chips.

The son of a south London plumber and char lady, Sullivan broke into TV by working in the BBC props department, while penning sketches in his spare time. He adhered to the maxim of "write what you know", basing his characters and dialogue on market traders and people he met while working as a second-hand car dealer in the Seventies. His skill was in turning everyday life into laughter and making us care deeply about his creations. His heartfelt, natural writing meant we'd chuckle at Del Boy Trotter's hare-brained schemes or bar pratfall in one scene, then be dabbing away tears the next. This tribute celebrates Sullivan's life and career, featuring timelessly funny clips, plus the fond memories of friends and colleagues. All agree that Sullivan will live on through his work. Lovely, if you will, jubbly.

I must confess that I hadn't seen the previous two editions of this Only Fools and Horses prequel. It's a shame because I rather enjoyed this (most probably) final outing.

In this episode, the young Del Boy (James Buckley) decides to find his fortune by going into movies, proposing his cinematic masterpiece Dracula on the Moon. Meanwhile, gangster and father of Rodney, Freddie "The Frog" Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is trying to avoid being arrested after a robbery he carried at during The Jolly Boys Outing.

The thing you have to remember when watching Rock & Chips is not to treat it as a sitcom but as a comedy drama. There are no real belly laughs, but a few chuckles along the way. At times it is rather tender. It is also ruder. I cannot recall an episode of Only Fools which included the phrase: "F*** off".

The series is basically the backdrop to everything we have already seen in the original classic series, with many references to the Only Fools, such as Del's fondness for the song "Old Shep".

Sadly, this looks to be the final edition of the series following the death of writer John Sullivan, to whom the episode was dedicated to. Of course they could always get another writer to continue it, but there seems little point. As it is a prequel, we already know what happens. We know that Robdal is blown up during a botched raid, that Joan (Kellie Bright) dies young, that Reg (Shaun Dingwall) leaves the family when Rodney's aged two, and that it is not the last time Del has an idea for a movie - but like Dracula on the Moon, There's a Rhino Loose in the City also never took off.

It is a pleasing hour of well written material, and John Sullivan will be sadly missed.

It may not be ­remembered as the late great John Sullivan's finest work, but Rock & Chips still wipes the floor with most of the dross drama we have to put up with. Packed with great one-liners, BBC1's Only Fools and Horses prequel is what feelgood telly is all about.