Are they having a giraffe Marlene? Boycie is a national hero in Serbia!
VIEWERS adore classic Only Fools And Horses but as Boycie star John Challis was shocked to discover... not as much as those in Serbia.
The BBC comedy classic is Serbian TV’s most popular show, though what they make of the Cockney rhyming slang is not recorded.
Intrigued John jetted to the former Yugoslav republic to find out exactly what was going on.
And in a bizarre drama that could have been written by creator John Sullivan himself, he was greeted as a national hero. The actor found himself besieged by fans in a shopping centre before being received by the British ambassador.
Igniting memories of Sir David Jason’s Del Boy and Raquel, played by Tessa Peake-Jones, he was reunited with a Trotters-style Reliant Regal and awarded his own Red Star Belgrade FC shirt.
Mobbed
As Boycie’s favourite tipple in The Nag’s Head was cognac, John saw the red carpet rolled out at a brandy tasting session.
The 77-year-old, who was working on a documentary with film-maker Lazar Vukovic, was even invited on to a comedy show for a secondhand car salesman sketch penned in his honour.
Yesterday the actor – who starred with Sue Holderness as his wife Marlene – said “I was told out there that during the terrible Yugoslav wars in the 1990s, one thing brought Serbians joy – Only Fools And Horses. They said families would sit round the TV during all the fighting and escape it for half an hour and laugh together.
“Everywhere I went there I was mobbed. There were hundreds of fans at one shopping centre. It was incredible.
“I was signing autographs for ages. The extraordinary adventure brought home to me how universal comedy is and how it can bring people together. I enjoyed their warm welcome so much I must go back again. It was a wonderful trip.”
Although Only Fools’ final episode was in 2003, Serbian fans still watch prime-time repeats.
British comedy has long been popular abroad, with Benny Hill filming a special US series and the Two Ronnies recording shows just for Australian fans. And Albania fell in love with Sir Norman Wisdom’s slapstick movies in the Communist era.
●The documentary is released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 4.
DEL Boy would have dreamed of such an export deal. Not only did Only Fools and Horses find an audience in Serbia, it became the country’s most popular show. Actor John Challis, who played Boycie, was mobbed when he recently visited the former Yugoslav state.
There was a time when the BBC routinely produced wholesome comedies that portrayed a country we could recognise in all its quirks and glories, with stories that brought joy and hilarity to people of all nations. Such brilliance has been sadly lacking lately but we hope the broadcaster will return to this magic formula.