Television series

Only Fools and Horses....

Name: Only Fools and Horses....
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1981
Cast: Nicholas Lyndhurst, David Jason, Buster Merryfield, Lennard Pearce

South London market trader Del Boy Trotter is always one dodgy briefcase full of Peruvian handbags away from being a millionaire, dragging brother Rodney, Uncle Albert and a garage full of unsellable junk along for the ride. It's warm, quotable, brilliantly plotted farce that sneaks real heartbreak in under the jokes. For anyone who likes their comedy with a family in it.

TVMaze rating

8.5

If you liked this

Steptoe and Son1962

The rag-and-bone father-son act that basically invented this whole strain of British sitcom: two men stuck with each other, class shame, dreams that never quite land. Bleaker and funnier than you'd expect.

But Much harsher than OFAH, with genuine cruelty between the two leads rather than affectionate needling. It can sting.

Porridge1974

Ronnie Barker doing what David Jason learned from, in a prison sitcom about surviving with your dignity and a scam or two intact. Tight, wise, endlessly rewatchable scripts.

But Confined to one cell block for its whole run, so if you want sprawl and family, this feels narrower by design.

Fawlty Towers1975

Only twelve episodes, and each one is a masterclass in comic escalation. If Del Boy is a schemer who mostly means well, Basil Fawlty is a schemer who mostly doesn't — same DNA, different temperature.

But Far more manic and less sentimental. Nobody in this show gets a hug at the end.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Lavender Hill Mob1951

This is where the 'lovable British crook with a doomed scheme' template comes from — Del Boy's entire comic engine, thirty years earlier and in a dinner jacket.

An Ealing comedy about a mild-mannered bank clerk and his accomplices trying to smuggle stolen gold as souvenir Eiffel Towers. Impeccably plotted, very funny, and the direct ancestor of every British small-time-crook comedy since.

But Black and white, 1950s pacing, and Alec Guinness instead of anyone shouting 'lovely jubbly' — a much politer register throughout.

The Royle Family1998

All the family warmth of OFAH with almost none of the plot — just a Manchester family on the sofa, talking rubbish, loving each other. Proof that observation alone can carry a sitcom.

But Deliberately static and quiet; if you love OFAH for the capers and heists, this offers none of that.

Open All Hours1976

David Jason again, this time as the long-suffering nephew to Ronnie Barker's stammering, penny-pinching shopkeeper. Smaller canvas, same appetite for a hustle and a laugh.

But Gentler and more repetitive by design — a shop-set two-hander rather than a whole sprawling world of characters.

Birds of a Feather1989no page yet

Two sisters and a nosy neighbour in Chigwell, holding a family together while the men in their lives are useless or in prison. Same London-adjacent, get-by comic warmth from a female angle.

But Broader and more studio-bound than OFAH, with less of Sullivan's plotting ingenuity.

Blackadder1983

Same era of British telly, same appetite for a schemer at the centre of things, but transplanted into history and dialled up into pure verbal savagery. Rowan Atkinson at his most delightfully vicious.

But Completely different setting and tone — costume comedy rather than kitchen-sink, with barely any sentiment at all.

Last of the Summer Wine1973

Ageing men doing daft schemes in a Yorkshire village — gentler, slower, but there's real kinship with Del and Rodney's endless small ambitions and bigger disappointments.

But The pace is glacial by comparison, and it ran so long it can feel like comfort food rather than a proper meal.

Gavin & Stacey2007

A more modern heir to OFAH's trick of making you laugh and then quietly wrecking you with how much the characters love each other. Big extended-family energy, brilliant supporting cast.

But No cons or heists here — it's romance and family, not hustling, so the engine is genuinely different.

The Full Monty1997

Both are about men whose comic bravado is really a cover for genuine financial fear — the plan is always a bit mad because the situation actually is that dire.

Unemployed Sheffield steelworkers hatch a desperate, funny, faintly dignified scheme to make money the only way left to them. Same mix of comedy and real financial desperation that OFAH always had underneath the gags.

But It leans harder into the bleakness of unemployment than OFAH ever does — the laughs are there, but so is real despair.

Nil by Mouth1997

Take away the punchlines from Del and Rodney's world and this is roughly what's left: same South London milieu, same fierce family bonds, none of the safety net.

Gary Oldman's directing debut, set among a working-class London family unravelling through drink and violence. It's the same streets and same kind of family loyalty as OFAH, with every joke stripped out.

But Genuinely difficult and upsetting — this is not comfort viewing, and there's nothing here to laugh at.