John Sullivan

Writer

December 23, 1946 (64 years)

† April 22, 2011

Balham, London, England, UK

Biography

John Richard Thomas Sullivan was an English TV scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends. From working-class South London, Sullivan worked in a variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing sketches for The Two Ronnies, which led to writing the sitcom Citizen Smith.

Filmography

8.1

Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses.... Is a British sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally transmitted on BBC One from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until 2003. In working-class Peckham in south-east London, ambitious market trader Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter and his younger half-brother Rodney, explore their highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich. Initially not an immediate hit and receiving little promotion early on, it later achieved consistently high ratings, and the 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" (originally billed as the series finale) holds the record for the biggest UK audience for a sitcom episode, attracting 24.3 million viewers. The series bears a significant influence on British culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language.

7.7

The Two Ronnies

The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show which aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.

6.8

Citizen Smith

Classic BBC comedy starring Robert Lindsay as revolutionary leader Wolfie Smith of the Tooting Popular Front. Hoping to emulate his icons, Wolfie forms the Tooting Popular Front with a small group of his friends. However, he soon finds himself struggling to get his ambitious plans off the ground due to his laid back attitude and lack of organisation.

6.9

The Green Green Grass

Sitcom spin-off from Only Fools and Horses, featuring the characters of Boycie and Marlene adapting to life in rural Shropshire. Starring John Challis and Sue Holderness

6.6

Just Good Friends

A bittersweet sitcom about a couple who meet again five years after he jilted her at the altar.

9.0

Roger Roger

Roger Roger is a BBC television comedy-drama written by John Sullivan. The series was about a mini-cab firm called Cresta Cabs. The pilot aired in 1996 and there were three subsequent series on BBC1 in 1998, 1999 and 2003.

7.6

Dear John

Dear John is a British sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Two series and a special were broadcast between 1986 and 1987. The title refers to 'Dear John' letters, girls to their boyfriends breaking off a relationship. John discovers in the opening episode that his wife is leaving him for a friend, and he is forced to find lodgings. In desperation, he attends the 1-2-1 Singles Club and finds other members mostly social misfits. In 1988, an American adaptation of the same name was produced by Paramount for the NBC network, starring Judd Hirsch. It lasted for four seasons.

8.2

Rock & Chips

Period comedy drama and prequel to Only Fools and Horses, following the exploits of the Trotter family in sixties Peckham.

7.0

Sitting Pretty

Sitting Pretty is a 1992 BBC television sitcom written by John Sullivan. The series starred Diane Bull, David Ashford and John Cater and was directed by Susan Belbin and Angela De Chastelai Smith. The series followed the travails of a woman whose millionaire husband dies suddenly. She discovers that her husband's will has left her penniless and she is forced to move back in with her parents and sister on their farm. The lead role was originally intended to be played by a male lead, but was changed to become the first Sullivan sitcom to feature a female lead since Just Good Friends. However, John Oliver notes that it is also remembered as the writer's first notable failure.

6.2

Rock & Chips

Prequel to Only Fools and Horses, set in the 1960s. Joan Trotter is in an unhappy marriage with the work-shy Reg, with whom she has a teenage son, Derek ('Del Boy'). However, the reappearance in Peckham of bank robber, 'art connoisseur' and womaniser Freddie Robdal, recently released after a ten year prison sentence, would bring about changes in her life.

N/A

Roger Roger

Minicab boss Sam has his work cut out controlling a wayward bunch of drivers

N/A

The Funny Side of Christmas

Skits from: "The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin"; "The Les Dawson Show"; "Yes Minister"; "Only Fools and Horses"; "Three of a Kind"; "Last of the Summer Wine"; "Sorry!"; "Butterflies"; "Smith and Jones"; and "Open All Hours".

7.0

The Vanishing Man

While Nick Cameron is returning to England from the continent with mysterious cargo in the cabin section of his small aircraft, he is thrown off-course by a severe electrical storm and loses radio contact. To his surprise and horror, he is arrested upon landing and accused of being a traitor in connection with the cargo he has been carrying - which, unknown to him, contained plutonium. Although he pleads innocent, Nick is not believed and is sentenced to a long term in prison. While in prison, he is subjected to special experimentation at a mysterious laboratory - with one unnerving, and unexpected, side-effect of the experiments being intermittent invisibility. —David McAnally

N/A

Only Fools & Horses - Miami Twice - The Movie

Del and Rodney touch down in Miami, and hire a camper van. Very soon they run into trouble: it just so happens that Del is a dead ringer for notorious Mafia boss Don Vincenzo Occhetti, and is spotted by his sons in a bar. Occhetti is due to stand trial and destined to go down for several life sentences and, with Del's uncanny resemblance, his sons see a way out for their father. When the Trotters leave the bar, they discover their camper van has been broken into and all their possessions stolen. But this is only the start of their problems: help is soon at hand when Occhetti's sons step in as apparent Good Samaritans.

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