Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	John Sullivan
Written by	John Sullivan
Directed by	Martin Shardlow (1981) Bernard Thompson (1981) Ray Butt (1982–1983, 1985–1987) Susan Belbin (1985) Mandie Fletcher (1986) Tony Dow (1988–2003)
Starring	David Jason Nicholas Lyndhurst Lennard Pearce Buster Merryfield Tessa Peake-Jones Gwyneth Strong Roger Lloyd-Pack John Challis Paul Barber Roy Heather Patrick Murray Sue Holderness Kenneth MacDonald
Theme music composer	Ronnie Hazlehurst (1981) John Sullivan (1982–2003)
Opening theme	"Only Fools and Horses Theme" (Why Do Only Fools and Horses Work?)
Ending theme	"Hooky Street"
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	7
No. of episodes	64 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Ray Butt (1981–1987) Bernard Thompson (1981) Gareth Gwenlan (1988–1993, 1996, 2001–2003) John Sullivan (1991–2003)
Production locations	BBC Television Centre, White City, London Acton, London (1981–1988) Bristol (1988–2003)
Running time	Regular episodes Series 1–5: 30 minutes Series 6–7: 50 minutes Christmas specials 35–95 minutes
Production company	BBC Studios Comedy Productions
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	8 September 1981 (1981-09-08) – 25 December 2003 (2003-12-25)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Only Fools and Horses.... is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until the end of the show in 2003. Set in working-class Peckham in south-east London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger half-brother Rodney Trotter, alongside a supporting cast. The series follows the Trotters' highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the series received numerous awards, including recognition from BAFTA, the National Television Awards, and the Royal Television Society, as well as winning individual accolades for both Sullivan and Jason. It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll.

Lennard Pearce appeared in the first three series as Del and Rodney's elderly grandfather. After Pearce's death in 1984, a new character was introduced—Uncle Albert, the boys' great-uncle, played by Buster Merryfield—to replace Grandad. From 1988, the show featured regular characters in Del Boy's and Rodney's love interests: Raquel (Tessa Peake-Jones) and Cassandra (Gwyneth Strong), respectively. Other recurring characters included car dealer Boycie (John Challis), road sweeper Trigger (Roger Lloyd-Pack), lorry driver Denzil (Paul Barber), spiv Mickey Pearce (Patrick Murray), Boycie's wife Marlene (Sue Holderness), and pub landlord Mike (Kenneth MacDonald).

The show was not an immediate hit with viewers and received little promotion early on,^[1] but later achieved consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" (originally billed as the last episode) holds the record for the biggest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers.^[2] The series influenced British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language. It spawned an extensive range of merchandise, including books, videos, DVDs, toys and board games. Episodes are frequently repeated on UKTV comedy channel Gold.

A spin-off series, The Green Green Grass, ran for four series in the UK from 2005 to 2009. A prequel, Rock & Chips, ran for three specials in 2010 and 2011. A special Sport Relief episode aired in March 2014, guest starring David Beckham. In February 2019, a musical adaptation of the show, written by John Sullivan's son Jim Sullivan and Paul Whitehouse, was launched at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London.^[3]