Rock 'n' Chips - Only Fools and Horses Prequel

In the 1960s there was a chain of dancehalls all named the Locarno Ballroom. Must have been a few in London. Maybe John Sullivan was making a vague reference to that. Or maybe he thought it was a good contemporary name to use for a 60s nightclub.

To expect them to have 100% continuity with plots in other episodes is asking a lot.
 
Yeah, I think it all depenRAB on the casting. I wonder if any of the OFAH cast will appear in the new show, playing relatives, in the way Peter Sallis played Clegg's father.
 
Why did there have to be anything so great about her? She was an interesting and engaging character; that's enough, surely?

If there's a series, we could see more of Del, but we saw enough of him in this, I think. This was always meant to be more Joan's story.
 
This is awful. Only Fool and Horses fans want comedy - this isnt even funny. Who's really that bothered about what happened before OFAH ... maybe the writer is just a one trick pony and can't come up with any new ideas.

If people wanted this kind of thing there are better settings for it than the OFAH "universe".
 
I absolutely loved this. As a big fan of Only Fools and Horses, I thought John Sullivan's treatment of this prequel was superb. He couldn't have done a better job than this.

Funnily enough I prefer the more serious, darker tone this prequel had than than the comedy from the original series. It gave Sullivan the ideal chance to delve deep into the lives of the Trotters. If this had been a comedy it wouldn't have been taken seriously and probably would have been a disaster.

I think there will eventually be a series for this definately. Sullivan will want to explain what happened to Freddy (The Frog) Robdel who as we already know from OFAH that he died blowing himself up when doing one of his jobs, so I think Sullivan will want to at least explain how he died and the effect it had on Joan Trotter. I can't see Sullivan leaving things the way they are, especially with the huge potential this excellent cast have.

They couldn't have got a better actor to play the young Del and Del's mates Boycie, Trigger, Denzil etc all have a definate likeness to their older characters. I thought Boycie in particular, had he grown a moustache would look the spitting image of the older Boycie.

Roll on the series then for this. I think this has big potential and is worlRAB apart from the failed Green Green Grass series :)
 
For some reason I have this image of David Jason playing his mum:confused:, but of course David is too old and that would just make a mockery of the programme and anyway Del looked like his dad as we saw when Reg appeared in the 1983 Christmas special.

The report on the film says that the plot features Freddie Robdal who as we saw in the last OFAH episode was the spitting image of Rodney so I suspect Nicholas Lyndhurst will take that part. Other reports previously have said he was interested in the project.

I also suspect they've opted for a one-off film rather than a series to test the water and if it gets a good reaction they'll probably commission a series.
 
That's a good point about Freddie looking like Rodney. I'd forgotten about that. :D

Yeah, I expect we'll get a series if the 90-minute episode is a success.
 
It was worRAB that were acceptable at the time. Del used two worRAB to describe certain people but they were never used in a racist sense and that time people did pop down to the **** shop or to the word that is apparently not longer acceptable to describe a chinese take away.
 
I totally got that it wasn't a slap you in the face laugh out loud comedy. That was apparant as soon as we watched 5 mins, and heard no canned laughter.

But. I want to know why John Sullivan took this prequel in a different direction in comdey and the feel to the original ? Surely he must of known he risked loosing some of his dedicated fans to the original show.

Maybe he thought he would attract fans who were not maybe fans of the original only fools and horses ?

Either way, not complaining as I loved the show tonight.
 
Very good. Kept the story very true and accurate to the original series.

Glad it took a different direction with the comdey by making it subtle.

Only complaints were.

Del : I couldnt not see 1 bit of resemblance in looks, personality or voice. The witty charm was kind of there though.

The same goes for the rest of the gang except for maybe Trigger and Denzel. I thought Slater and Boyce were miles off.

And lastly. I know they had to show the back story to how little Rodders was concived, but did they really have to put the whole focus on Freddy and the affair with Joan ?

I would of like to have seen more of the gang and show us what naughty tricks they got up to in the 60's.

Overall I was very much impressed, and this show deserves at least 1 full series so we can let the show take us to the 1970s where Only Fools And Horses takes over.
 
Does anyone remember an episode of OFAH (one of the 50 min ones) where Del and Rodney bump into one of Dels "old flames" in the pub and Rodney enRAB up being spotted trying to pour her into a taxi? Trudy i think her name was?

Anyway thats what i expect the mother would have looked like!!
 
That's my point- they weren't acceptable to the viewing public even in 1980. I remember being shocked. WorRAB like P**i have never been acceptable in my lifetime and I'm almost 40. Johnnie Speight wanted to make Alf Garnett out to be be a racist bigot. I don't think that was John Sullivan's intention to make Del and Rodney like that at all. I've always found John Sullivan a generation or two out of touch.
 
I'm sure it was mentioned in the OFAH episode of Grandad's funeral, that someone said (I think it was Del) that Uncle Albert was last seen at Joan Trotter's funeral many years ago. If this is so, then there is a chance a young Uncle Albert could appear if a series is made in the future :)
 
I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. In an early episode of OFAH Reg turned up saying he had an illness which could be inherited, I am sure that Del and rodney had a blood test which confermed that reg was Rodneys dad.
 
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