In September 1981, BBC One screened the pilot episode of a British sitcom set in a high-rise block of council flats in Peckham, south London - 9 million people tuned in. 15 years, seven series and over 60 episodes later, 24.3 million people watched the final instalment of Only Fools and Horses - over a third of the British population, and the largest audience for a sitcom ever recorded. In the 30 years since viewers first visited Nelson Mandela House, Only Fools and Horses has won countless awards and is still Britain's most-watched and best-loved sitcom. Del Boy's overwhelming popularity has even inspired the Oxford English Dictionary to include a selection of his most famous words and phrases - lovely jubbly and twonk are now found within its pages. In this fascinating, entertaining and meticulously researched book, acclaimed biographer Graham McCann goes behind the scenes to tell the inside story of Britain's most enduring comedy. With major contributions from the people who wrote, produced and starred in the programme and material drawn from the BBC archives, it's time to take one last trip down Hooky Street . . .
Graham McCann is the most trusted and admired entertainment writer working in the UK today. He is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of books on Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers, Frankie Howerd, Cary Grant, Spike Milligan, Terry-Thomas, Woody Allen, John Le Mesurier, Morecambe and Wise, and Marilyn Monroe. Graham is a lecturer in Social and Political Theory at Kings College, Cambridge. He also writes regularly on politics and culture for a wide range of publications.
Title: Only Fools and Horses: The Story of Britain's Favourite Comedy
Author:
ISBN: 9780857860545
Binding:
Publisher: Canongate Books
Publication Date: 2011-11-03
Number of Pages: 352
Weight: 0.6125 kg
Praise for Graham McCann: 'What is not to love about this book? It is meticulous, exact, intelligent, affectionate and somehow inspirational. McCann, who has written on Cary Grant and Morecombe & Wise, has delivered his best one yet. * * Guardian on Dad's Army * *
McCann's impeccably detailed biography is both a celebration and a lament. * * The Times on Morecambe and Wise * *
Never has the sheer awkwardness of the human condition been so comically or beautifully conveyed. * * Daily Mail on Frankie Howerd * *
You will laugh, you will learn and you will undoubtedly, start speaking in a silly voice. * * Word Magazine on Spike & Co * *
This book also makes one look anew at one's favourite scenes . . . McCann has some nice insights into the production techniques that made this the most frenetic farce to have appeared on television. * * Telegraph on Fawlty Towers * *
This is a thoroughly-researched, breezily-written, affectionate and yet never dewy-eyed account of how a great TV series was put together. It stands as a worthy monument to its creator * * Daily Mail * *
McCann provides hundreds of interesting details . . . on how the show crept into the British consciousness and captured the British public's imagination with its characters and humour . . . The back stories of the actors and actresses are engrossing and how the theme music came about is a comic tale in itself * * Telegraph * *
