Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses began in 1981 as a modest BBC One sitcom about two South London brothers living in Nelson Mandela House, a fictional Peckham tower block, trading dubious goods from a yellow Reliant Regal Supervan III. Across 64 episodes and seven series, including 17 Christmas specials, it grew into a national institution — a comedy that could make you laugh until you cried, then break your heart in the same episode.

Del Boy Trotter, played by David Jason, is one of British television's great creations: a fast-talking, chain-smoking dreamer whose ambitions always outrun his stock. Rodney, the younger brother with a conscience and a face that couldn't sell a lie, is the perfect counterweight. Around them orbited a cast of Peckham regulars — Trigger, Boycie, Grandad, Uncle Albert — each one as sharply drawn as the leads.

John Sullivan's scripts moved effortlessly from farce to pathos. The show gave us the chandelier scene, the Batman and Robin chase, Del Boy falling through the bar, and the Trotters finally becoming millionaires. At its best it was about family, failure, and the stubborn belief that next time, it really would be 'this time next year, we're millionaires'.