Before Only Fools, Sunday nights were for boring dramas and the Antiques Roadshow. After it, Sundays became sacred. Families gathered around the telly to watch Del Boy fall through a bar or Rodney get punched by a bouncer. It was the show that made poverty hilarious.
Want a final shocking statistic? The BBC almost cancelled it after the first season. Ratings were average, and critics called it “lowbrow.” But then a rerun of the first episode aired on a Friday night in 1982, and it got double the viewers. The rest is history—and the Trotter family became a national institution.
Why We Still Love It
Forty-plus years later, people still watch the first episode and laugh. Maybe it’s the timeless theme of failing upward. Or the fact that Del Boy’s get-rich-quick schemes are now called “side hustles.” Or maybe it’s just the sight of a yellow van toppling over. Whatever it is, September 8, 1981, is the day Britain got its most beloved chancers. Lovely jubbly.
