The Comedy Genius Of John Sullivan

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.

To commemorate the life of a man who died last month aged 64, but before that wrote successful sitcoms, including two of Britain's best - Only Fools and Horses and Citizen Smith - here's a televised tribute. As RT went to press, the documentary's makers were still stitching it together, so we can only speculate as to its contents. Presumably, David Jason, Robert Lindsay and Nicholas Lyndhurst were top of the production team's to-call list. And I'll eat the umbrella off a pina colada if there aren't clips from his creations and some archive interview footage of the writer himself.

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.