John Sullivan has died

frot · 23rd April 2011, 01:23 PM

64

. True comedy legend

Quote:

John Sullivan, who wrote one of the best-loved British sitcoms, Only Fools and Horses, has died at the age of 64.

The BBC said he had suffered a short illness.

He also wrote Citizen Smith, and his latest work Rock & Chips is due to be shown on BBC One on Thursday.

BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "John had a unique gift for turning everyday life and characters we all know into unforgettable comedy."

Only Fools and Horses - starring David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst as two south London brothers forever trying to make a quick fortune - ran for 10 years between 1981 and 1991, with several Christmas specials in the years that followed.

The 1996 special Time On Our Hands, which was billed as the final episode and saw Del Boy Trotter come good on his ambition to make him and Rodney millionaires, was watched by more than 24 million people, a record for a sitcom in the UK.

The demand for follow-ups saw Sullivan eventually relent and return to the story of the Trotters from 2001 for occasional Christmas specials.

He also wrote a spin-off - The Green Green Grass, featuring Only Fools characters Boycie and Marlene - and a prequel, Rock & Chips, which documented Del Boy's early life.

John Sullivan, who was born in Balham, south London, in 1946, and always said his secret was that he wrote about what he knew, was appointed an OBE in 2005 for services to drama.

He was married with two sons and one daughter, and two grandchildren.

BBC head of comedy Mark Freeland said: "No one understood what made us laugh and cry better than John Sullivan."

"He was the Dickens of our generation. Simply the best, most natural, most heartfelt comedy writer of our time."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13176198

Wonder what this means for Rock and Chips