Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham Archives by Rod Green
We are in the world of one of the country's most famous and well-loved sitcoms – even if it was sort-of killed off for Christmas 2003. Yes, there have been specials since, and more repeats to clog up the BBC schedules than is really pukka, but very few people failed to succumb to its charms at one time or another. I'm sure there have been books before now celebrating the stony-faced reception of that drop through the open bar hatch, and that chandelier scene, but this is much more meaty. Purporting to be the family archives, found dumped in Nelson Mandela House, the documents here were passed from pillar to post, from one council worker in a department with a clumsy acronym to another, from them to the police – and now here they are being published for their social history worth. Will enough readers find them of worth, as the series quietly celebrates its 35th birthday?
| Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham Archives by Rod Green | |
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| Category: Entertainment | |
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Reviewer: John Lloyd
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| Summary: It's been a long time coming, but this at least is a pukka tribute. Lovely jubbly! | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 288 | Date: October 2016 |
| Publisher: BBC Books | |
| ISBN: 9781849909242 | |
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Well, the answer is probably – and you don't need to be a salesman with the gift of the gab like Del Boy to shift units here. It's not for those seeking a trivia round-up of the series – things like the fact the Peckham scenes were quite often filmed in Bristol are out there, but not here. It's not just a recap of all the more beloved episodes, although someone has definitely delved into the creator's archives for original drafts of shooting scripts. What we have is a book that strictly sticks to the idea of, and very decently presents, said fictional archived documents. So we get every main character's school reports, or letters of dismissal from either the Forces or some job or another. We get the application forms Del Boy and Raquel used at the dating agency, which are only just fleshing out the dialogue, but aren't exactly a waste of space.
The person who's presented as being busiest here is Rodney. In his tightly-scripted handwriting font he discusses his folder full of failed products sold by his brother, and Del's ridiculous mangling of the French language. He also would appear to have written a self-aggrandising novel. Del's contribution is his lovely annotated cocktail recipes. But we also see many subsidiary characters – Uncle Albert and Grandad both with ignominious military records conveyed in different narrative forms, Trigger at work, Damien being suitably demonic towards his uncle…
None of these documents, then, however closely they mirror the programme, have been penned by its actual creator, but that comes across as no problem whatsoever. There isn't a huge range in the authorial voice here, meaning the art department and the different forms of document are chiefly responsible for making the characters stand out, but when they're so familiar anyway that again is no problem. The design is sterling – everything looks suitably created to be authentic, pasted into a scrapbook along with stills from the series that once more don't just flag up the best-known comedic beats, but give these people a great sense of reality and life. The whole thing is actually a quite fabulous way to memorialise the programme – calmly re-presenting what we've had the chance to know and love, and buy on DVD. Nothing much seems actually brand new here, but when you consider this has a lot of quite small font script, and it's a heavy, large-format hardback, you get a cushty product. I'd probably choke on my Caribbean Stallion if you disagreed.
I must thank the publishers for my review copy.
Danger Mouse: Declassified by Bruno Vincent concerns a very different series of course, but one equally funny, and also revisited as a gift book for the 2016 season. You might also enjoy David Jason's Autobiography.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Only Fools and Horses: The Peckham Archives by Rod Green at Amazon.com.
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