Some of Del Boy’s riper turns of phrase means the sitcom would not stand a chance in today’s right-on world, says the scriptwriter’s son
From ‘cushty’ to ‘plonker’, many of Only Fools And Horses’s contributions to modern language have been, well, lovely jubbly.
But some of Del Boy’s riper turns of phrase means the sitcom would not stand a chance in today’s right-on world, says the scriptwriter’s son.
Jim Sullivan, whose father was the late John Sullivan, says the BBC’s ‘PC brigade’ would stop the show from being launched today over fears of offending viewers.
Speaking ahead of a new documentary about the much-loved show, he said: ‘Sadly I doubt that it could be made today – or if it was it certainly wouldn’t be the Only Fools that we know.
‘When dad originally wrote the show he wanted it to reflect the more honest and vibrant multi-cultural London that he knew – as opposed to the stereotypical, “Cor blimey guv’nor, have a banana!” depiction of working-class Londoners that had gone before. Nowadays you only have to mention something a bit foreign sounding and the PC mob are all over it like ants on a sugar cube.
‘To do today what dad did with Only Fools back then would at the very least require warning the audience beforehand about dangerous and unacceptable language.’
In the sitcom, set in Peckham in South-East London, Del Boy and Rodney were not ones to mince their words.
Jim Sullivan, whose father was the late John Sullivan, says the BBC’s ‘PC brigade’ would stop the show from being launched today over fears of offending viewers’
Indeed, in one episode Del casually orders a child to ‘pop down to the P*** shop’. Jokes were also made about an Indian family in the show, the Patels.
In fact, the BBC has already made moves to distance itself from the hit show. In DVD releases of the series and in repeats shown on daytime television, several cuts have been made to remove language now deemed offensive.
n Del Boy and Rodney would be millionaires in today’s market, new research has revealed.
The wheeler-dealers’ accumulated assets would now be worth £3million – with their flat in trendy Peckham worth over £850,000 alone.
Speaking ahead of a new documentary about the much-loved show, he said: ‘Sadly I doubt that it could be made today – or if it was it certainly wouldn’t be the Only Fools that we know’