Only Fools and Horses

Created and written by John Sullivan, Only Fools and Horses portrays the prevailing get rich quick culture of the fast and loose 1980s. The British situation comedy ran on BBC in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991. It took a few years for the show to catch on in the U.K. but once it did, Only Fools and Horses broke several ratings records. One episode attracted over 24 million viewers, which represented one-third of the U.K. population at the time. Only Fools and Horses received nearly universal critical acclaim for its realistic character depictions and settings. BAFTA, the National Television Awards, and Royal Television all presented the show with numerous awards, as well as recognising the creative talents of Sullivan. Much of the show occurs in the south London neighbourhood of Peckham, where an overly ambitious market trader experiences a series of immense highs and lows during the quest to become rich. Despite a significant difference in age and personality, the brothers share a strong emotional bond and form a loose business alliance that centres around get rich quick schemes and the buying and selling of low-quality, black market goods. Sullivan wrote 63 episodes, with most of the episodes running on a regular basis between 1981 and 1991. After the conclusion of the regularly schedule programmeme, Sullivan wrote and produced a few Christmas specials, all of which garnered high television ratings. Initially, Only Fools and Horses took up a 30-minute time slot. The popularity of the show prompted producers to extend the length between 50 and 90 minutes. Only Fools and Horses has produced several words and phrases unique to British culture, as well as spawned ancillary merchandise.