James Buckley as he appears in E4's The Inbetweeners

Here’s the full press release.

Filming is commencing on BBC One’s Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips, the new comedy drama which focuses on the early years of South London’s most famous family, The Trotters, with Nicholas Lyndhurst returning to Peckham to play ‘art connoisseur’ Freddie ‘The Frog’ Robdal and Inbetweeners star James Buckley stepping into the teenage shoes (1960s winkle-pickers) of the nation’s favourite wheeler-dealer Del Boy Trotter.

Also joining the cast are Kellie Bright (Kinky Boots, Bad Girls, Jericho) as Del Boy’s glamorous (certain neighbours might say “tarty”) mother Joan Trotter and Shaun Dingwall (Soldier Soldier, Above Suspicion, Doctor Who) as her work-shy husband Reg Trotter. Phil Daniels (Outlaws, The Long Firm) appears as Del’s granddad, Ted Trotter and Robert Dawes (The Royal, Roger Roger) features as Joan’s boss, the sleezy Mr Raynor.

“Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips hurtles us into the rough and unglamorous world of London in 1960 to discover the circumstances that led to Del and Rodney Trotter turning out the way they did,” says writer John Sullivan.  “Nick Lyndhurst is a comedy genius and I can’t think of anyone better suited to bring the shady but charming Freddie Robdal to life and James Buckley has a tough act to follow but is sure to do for leather bomber jackets and winkle-pickers what David Jason did for camel-haired coats and cocktail umbrellas!”

Shooting entirely in London from October 5th, Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips picks up the Trotter story in 1960 as Peckham’s answer to Brigitte Bardot, Joan Trotter, is not-so-happily married with bone-idle Reg and her teenage son, Derek. But the reappearance of ‘art connoisseur’ Freddie ‘The Frog’ Robdal, fresh from a ten year stay as a guest of Her Majesty, is set to ruffle some feathers in the Trotter household.  Centering on the relationships between Joan, Reg, safe-cracker Freddie and teenage Del, the comedy drama will also feature the teenage versions of Only Fools and Horses faves Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Roy Slater.

“It’s nearly 30 years since Only Fools and Horses first hit our screens and we’ve taken great care to pull together a mixture of exciting new faces and highly-experienced talent to do justice to a fantastically-popular and iconic series and bring this bittersweet new chapter of the Trotter story to life,” says Mark Freeland, Head of Comedy at the BBC.

Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips is written by Only Fools and Horses creator John Sullivan, will be produced by Gareth Gwenlan, directed by Dewi Humphreys and executive produced by Mark Freeland for BBC Comedy. A co-production between In House BBC Comedy and John Sullivan’s production company Shazam Productions Sex, Drugs & Rock’n’Chips was commissioned by Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One and Lucy Lumsden, former Controller, Comedy Commissioning.

BBC Comedy Production and Shazam Productions have been commissioned by BBC One to make a new 90-minute comedy drama which focuses on the earlier years of Peckham’s most famous family, the Trotters, it was announced today.

It’s 1960 and Peckham’s answer to Brigitte Bardot, Joan Trotter, is not-so-happily ensconced with the work-shy, Reg Trotter and her teenage son, Derek. But the reappearance of “art connoisseur” Freddie Rodbal, fresh from a 10-year stay as a guest of Her Majesty, is set to ruffle some feathers in the Trotter household.

Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Chips is written by Only Fools And Horses creator John Sullivan, will be produced by Gareth Gwenlan and executive produced by Mark Freeland for BBC Comedy.

Mark Freeland, Head of Comedy at the BBC, says: “‘Once upon a time in Peckham…’ How incredibly tantalising. Nearly 30 years since Only Fools And Horses hit our screens, now we’ll have the chance to see the vivid, bittersweet drama that underpinned the iconic series.”

A co-production between in-house BBC Comedy and John Sullivan’s production company Shazam Productions, Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Chips will start shooting, entirely on location in London, in August, for transmission next year.

The comedy drama will centre on the relationships between the glamorous (certain neighbours might say “tarty”) Joan Trotter, Del-boy’s useless father Reg, the safe-cracker, Freddie Robdal and the young Del-boy himself.

And there will be a chance to see the teenage incarnations of some familiar faces including Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Jumbo Mills.

The Trotter family haven’t yet moved into their flat in Nelson Mandela House, but there’ll be some recognisable settings such as the mean streets of Peckham and the Nag’s Head circa 1960.

Writer John Sullivan says: “Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Chips will be set in the real Sixties, before The Beatles and Mary Quant made London the coolest place on the planet.”

“The drama will feature South London at its least glamorous, where money was scarce, the staple diet was rock salmon and chips, and the flicks offer the only hint of glamour. And it will give us a bit of an insight into why Del and Rodney turned out they way they did.”

Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Chips is a co-production between Shazam Productions and BBC Comedy and was commissioned by Jay Hunt, Controller, BBC One and Lucy Lumsden, former Controller, Comedy Commissioning.

So no casting announced yet. Surely we’ll see David Jason playing Reg. But who could be the young Del Boy? Suggestions please…

Whether these mitigating factors should have tempered our judgement to last Christmas’ outing is debatable; one could certainly argue that they were reason enough not to bring back the series in the first place. But whatever the problem was, this time around Sullivan seemed insistent that this year’s Christmas story, “Strangers on the Shore”, would be an OFAH episode of the old school – one that could have taken place at any point in the series’ history.

This reviewer’s hopes were therefore raised, albeit slightly, and it has to be said that the slice of OFAH we were offered up this time around was certainly superior to last year’s. Unfortunately, however, on any other terms it was still a disappointment. OFAH‘s been in a rut before. In truth, the rot probably set in when the series simply became a string of Christmas specials from 1991 onwards (with “Miami Twice” and the following year’s “Mother Nature’s Son” as particular lowpoints). The programme’s return in 1996, however, was an epiphany of sorts. Up until then it seemed that throughout the 1990s the programme had established a level of affection with the public that was contrary to its current form. The ’96 trilogy, though, finally found the series back at its best, and living up to the reception it was given. Of course it should all have ended there.

The problem, then, with the current rut is that Sullivan has no leeway to write himself out of it. This year’s OFAH, like last year’s, is being packaged (no pun intended) as the BBC’s Christmas present to us. Expectations rise, the show doesn’t deliver … and that’s it till next year. One feels that if Sullivan was back wirting a proper six-part series (and the fact that he isn”t has been – in part – his decision) he’d soon be able to find his voice again. Instead all we’re getting is a yearly grandstand, where all of the supporting cast have to be accommodated within one story because – well, it’s not Only Fools without Denzil, Mickey Pearce or even Sid (who he?) again, is it? In truth, the rich array of secondary characters that OFAH enjoys were used sparingly during the series proper run. Nowadays, we get them all sat around a table in the Nag’s Head, all with at least one line of dialogue, but all just name-badge versions of the real characters. This isn’t Only Fools and Horses – it’s an Only Fools and Horses convention.

So what did “Strangers on the Shore” have going for it? The core plotline, wherein Del and Rodney find themselves lumbered with an apparent illegal emigrant did have the essence of old-style OFAH. The script quite cleverly kept the connection between this story and Boycie’s dealings with a France based business acquaintance (in that the alien was actually the son of the acquaintance) quite well obscured until the final reveal. Unfortunately, alongside this was a lot of irrelevant stuff relating to the deceased Uncle Albert’s wartime sexploits and the paternity of a whole French village. After last year’s burial of Albert, it perhaps would have been better if the show had dropped all reference to the character. This may seem a little callous, but these whimsical remembrances of “Unc” have quickly become maudlin.

Alas, there were other failings present here too, although some were textbook OFAH weaknesses. As ever the script seemed to have a preoccupation with name-checking current cultural artefacts. It almost appears that Sullivan is so desperate for the show to prove it’s still of its time that he feels he must allude to being “as thick as Phil Mitchell” (although this is at least better than basing the second half of the show around an extended parody of Who Wants to be a Millionaire – cf. last year’s episode). Somehow, it just doesn’t sit well – maybe because the joke that delivered the observation was rather weak. Alongside this, we still had Damien talking in that cod-gangsta rappa dialect (which seemed passé last year, let alone this time around). More unusually, however, there were moments when the show seemed to grasp at gags with desperation. Del’s telephone conversation with Monkey Harris was an example, wherein after speaking to him quite normally throughout the background of a scene, he suddenly started dropping his name into every reply when the camera focussed back on him again. “Yes, Monkey .. OK, Monkey, Goodbye, Monkey….” Why? So he could quip: “that was Monkey” upon hanging up. Painfully convoluted, obviously telegraphed and not very funny.

OK, so we’re nit-picking here, but it’s hard to help yourself when you’re watching such a limp version of a previously excellent series. Where Only Fools and Horses used to be fast, funny and confident, it’s now a kind of embarrassing footnote that serves only to deflate the latter half of Christmas Day. But the worst of it is, the cumulative effect this OFAH revival has had for me is to cause me to groan when I spot that three-wheeler van in BBC1′s Christmas trailers. And – mon dieu! – that’s a real shame.

The 1996 trilogy (billed at the time as the finale to the series) eschewed careful plotting in favour of a collection of set pieces (Rodney and Del as “Batman and Robin” being perhaps the most obvious example of this). That this format worked is probably attributable to the quality of jokes and the affection with which the public held the characters. Nonetheless, as entertaining as those three episodes were there was a sense that had Only Fools and Horses continued, a change back to the original format would have been required lest the series began to resemble too closely those sitcoms reliant on stunts for their big laughs (the fate which has befallen Last of the Summer Wine).

Unfortunately, after watching the 2001 Christmas special “If They Could See Us Now” the indications are that Sullivan has elected to stick with slapstick and stunts. The return of Only Fools and Horses is obviously “event” television, but to write each episode so consciously in the shadow of that which has gone before results in a parody of the original programme. It has been said that each of us knows a Del or a Rodney, or a Trigger or a Boycie. However, over the course of the years, Del and Rodney have grown less and less familiar as they have been placed into the middle of increasingly implausible adventures (perhaps the turning point here is “Miami Twice” – arguably the series first truly “non-realist” story). With this latest episode though, the characters have truly moved beyond the realms or realism and have been transformed into cartoon approximations of their old selves. In particular the treatment of the supporting cast (now wheeled out en masse) typifies the programme’s changed remit. It would seem that each episode must now include the roll call of Boycie, Marlene, Trigger, Denzil and Mickey in some shape or form, and that each must get at least one line, just so we can rejoice at their return.

“If They Could See Us Now” had enough of a brief to fulfil without being forced to accommodate an entire supporting cast as well. The deaths of Buster Merryfield and Kenneth MacDonald needed to be addressed and the notion of Del and Rodney as millionaires had to be perpetuated or unpicked. Wisely, Sullivan attempted to address all of these in as economic manner as possible – through exposition. As such the episode opened with Del and Rodney recounting the events of the past five years to their Brief. The desire to “do right” by the demised actors meant that we were told that Mike had been arrested whilst Uncle Albert we were told had died of natural causes. The comic vignette which then followed (the first significant one of the programme) set the level for the remainder of the episode.

Misdirection is a classic Sullivan trick and has resulted in many of Only Fools and Horsesfinest moments (the “chandelier scene” springs to mind from an early episode whilst that inappropriate “Batman and Robin” attire of Del and Rodney is a later example). Yet having the Trotters turn up at the wrong funeral was a predictable a turn of events. It was during this scene that Sullivan sought to re-invoke that other famed facet of the Trotter clan – family loyalty. Del’s angry response to what he took to be a criticism levelled at his Uncle Albert was designed to remind the viewer that Del is – at heart – a sentimentalist. However, for some reason it seemed fundamentally out of character. Had it truly been a stranger making disparaging remarks then Del’s actions would have been more understandable. However this was another member of Albert’s family (or so it appeared) – and someone who it seemed had known him just as well as the Trotters. Furthermore, it was not expressed in a tone of malice, more as a frank recollection of a deceased relative, and as such Del’s reaction was – at best – over the top, delivering a forced eulogy to those who had served in World War II. Thankfully little more was made of this as it soon after became apparent to the Trotters that they were at the wrong funeral. By this time most of the audience had already worked that out.

And so it careered on. Having successfully done away with Del and Rodney’s riches it was little surprise to find the family ensconced once again in Peckham. The remainder of the episode consisted then of two more set pieces, the first another go at provoking belly laughs by having Rodney dress up in a ridiculous costume (this time as Russell Crowe in Gladiator) and the second, Sullivan’s customary attempt at topicality – this time having Del participate in an edition of a faux Who Wants to be a Millionaire game show.

Damien’s “gangsta” talk and references to the internet were rather quaint attempts by the production team to make jokes at the expense of current popular obsessions. Such efforts have occurred regularly throughout the series’ history, and although never consistently successful, they have previously always remained relatively innocuous. Indeed one of the series’ most brilliant throwaway jokes (Del’s attempt to explain away the presence of a police helicopter to an escaped convict in “Friday 14th” as “it’s Barratts”) relied wholly on the audience’s familiarity with a then ubiquitous television advertising campaign. However, the parody of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was far more than a passing gag, taking up the final third of the episode.

As well as being somewhat out of date (The Weakest Link would seem to be a far more obvious target) the hastily constructed Jonathan Ross fronted game show looked utterly unrealistic. Television has a long and undistinguished history of spectacularly failing to create fictional television programmes within a programme, and so Only Fools and Horses was doing little more than adhering to a long time TV tradition. However, special mention must be made to both Jonathan Ross (who was in fact more convincing here as game show host than he ever is on It’s Only TV But I Like It) and the actors playing the contestants (who conversely were truly unrealistic). Ultimately though Del’s participation did little more than take Only Fools and Horses a step further away from its realistic roots, much to the detriment of the series’ original, underlying premise.

Perhaps it is because there is such a rich archive of similarly crafted jokes, concepts and set pieces with which to compare any new episode of Only Fools and Horses to that such scrutiny is applied to any addition to the canon. There were some funny moments in “If They Could See Us Now” (mostly one-liners delivered by the dependable Roger Lloyd Pack as Trigger), but when one gets beyond the euphoria of the return of (according to Channel 4) Britain’s best loved family, those of us who tuned in on Christmas Day will come to reflect that we were presented with an episode that failed to match any of the high standards attained by the 1996 trilogy. In fact, it is difficult to think of a less appealing episode. Perhaps”If They Could See Us Now” will ultimately live longest in the memory as the least funny Only Fools and Horses of all time (although let’s not forget that the series did go seriously off the boil before its triumphant finale of five years a go). Last minute script revisions withstanding, this was a major disappointment. Let us hope it is not saved from the ignominy of “worst ever episode” by the two further stories mysteriously scheduled for “some time in 2002″.

The Trotters are back apparently, and whilst the tabloids have rejoiced in their return and 20.3 million of us tuned in to watch them, one wonders whether they’ll be as welcome on our screens this time next year.