John Sullivan dies at 64

[Peter Gray]

Rock and Chips is on next Thursday so this will be the last program of John's...

John has left us an amazing legacy of work...with some great laughs..
thank you John...and just like Liz Sladen working right to the end and still very popular..

My prayers are with your friends and family..

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

I never actually saw a complete episode of 'Fools and Horses', but there is no denying it was a total smash-hit. My 17- year-old nephew bought the entire box-set on DVD, and the impression I got was that he never left his room for a month, once he started viewing the entire saga from end to end.

[Digifiend]

Gee, we're losing all the talent so young... another one dead in their 60s.

RIP John.

[stevezodiac]

Whenever I bought fish and chips from the chip shop it was always Rock and Chips (Rock being another name for Huss). I don't think chip shops outside London sold Rock did they?

Britain has produced some great comedy scriptwriters and, unlike the USA, they seem to be able to write on their own. Johhny Speight, Eddie Braben, Roy Clarke, Raymond Allen (Some Mothers...) and Eric Chappell (Only When I Laugh and Rising Damp) or in pairs like Galton and Simpson, Perry and Croft, Clements and La Frenais and Sid Green and Dick Hills (Morecambe & Wise). If you look at shows such as Porridge, The Likely Lads and Till Death Us Do Part the dialogue seems more natura,l almost like a fly on the wall documentary, whereas shows like Friends are just a succession of witty one liners. The golden age of US sitcoms was the late fifties early sixties with Bilko, The Munsters, Car 54 Where are You?, Get Smart, I'm Dickens He's Fenster and The Adventures of Hiram Holliday.

[STARBOY]

I never watched an episode of Fools and Horses for the first 2-3 years of its run as I used to go out with my mates on Friday/Saturday to the "dancin'" looking for a " lumber so left home before it stated as hormones always winning out over TV (many, many fruitless nights of course) - I heard so much about this show that I had to sit in and watch it, found it to be nothing less them comedy brilliance, so funny and well acted ( I even eventually got the London references) very clever scripts - 64 still very young so a sad loss to all - Yeah I ve seen rock (rock salmon) sold in lots of parts of the UK although its not very popular in most of Scotland and very rarely see it up here (more cod and deep fried Mars bars here)

[Niblet]

John Sullivan and the cast and crew of OFAH were responsible for some classic British TV comedy moments - Del falling through the open bar flap, Grandad unscrewing the wrong chandelier, and the Batman and Robin scene to name but three.

He also wrote sitcoms Citizen Smith and Dear John which were pretty good.

[stevezodiac]

The Jolly Boys Outing to Margate was my favourite - so much packed into it. Especially the creepy guest house segment.

And the riot on his estate where Del boy goes right through the middle of it swapping pleasantries with police and rioters that he knows.

[grumpy old man]

Steve the reason writers are solo in the UK is because they're commissioned to only write 6-8 episodes. In the US it's 13-26 (both not including re-writes). It'd be impossible to do!