Post by Teddy Bear on Apr 27, 2011 21:10:57 GMT
Many lament the passing of John Sullivan this week, best known for his creation of 'Only Fools and Horses'. Maurice Gran in the Daily Mail quite rightly observes Del Boy creator John Sullivan whose genius shames today's charmless comics. Bearing in mind that Sullivan started writing the series 30 years ago back in 1981, and they are still being repeated regularly on Gold TV, as well as on the BBC over Christmas.
Not only does it show how brilliant and successful this series was, but also shows how few other successful creative shows have been produced over that time, with little nowadays to even come close. This itself reflects on the BBC's ability to attract this kind of talent, much less recognize it. As the Daily Mail article tells, if it was up to the BBC at the time, it wouldn't have been produced, and it was only by Sullivan's persistence and belief in himself that he eventually succeeded.
Wikipedia tells us more about the beginnings of 'Only Fools...'
I don't know what Mark Thompson considers successful in terms of senior executives, that he believes he can't today afford 'top people', but all these years he's been paying out the high salaries to get them, and what does he have to show for it?
Not only does it show how brilliant and successful this series was, but also shows how few other successful creative shows have been produced over that time, with little nowadays to even come close. This itself reflects on the BBC's ability to attract this kind of talent, much less recognize it. As the Daily Mail article tells, if it was up to the BBC at the time, it wouldn't have been produced, and it was only by Sullivan's persistence and belief in himself that he eventually succeeded.
It all started for John when a friend of his, Paul Saunders, showed him a newspaper article about how much money comedy legend Johnny Speight had earned for writing Till Death Us Do Part. The pair set about producing a comedy script set in a gentlemen’s convenience.
The BBC were unconvinced by this offering, but John — though not Paul — enjoyed the writing process enough to want to continue, later hatching an idea for a comedy series about a would-be South London communist revolutionary, Wolfie Smith.
When Citizen Smith, starring Robert Lindsay, hit the screens, John became an ‘overnight success’. It had taken him 15 years to achieve this. John’s perseverance is spoken of with awe when comedy writers gather, for in 1974 he managed to wangle a job as a scene shifter, moving furniture for the BBC.
His plan was to get inside the Corporation, where he could slip his scripts into the hands of likely performers and producers.
Though he had been instructed not to ‘bother’ people with his efforts, he ended up showing his sketches to Ronnie Barker, who offered him work on The Two Ronnies. He was then commissioned to write Citizen Smith, and it ran for four successful years.
Wikipedia tells us more about the beginnings of 'Only Fools...'
n 1980, John Sullivan, a scriptwriter under contract at the BBC, had already written the successful sit-com Citizen Smith. It had come to an end and he was searching for a new project. An initial idea for a comedy set in the world of football had already been rejected by the BBC, as had his alternative idea, a sit-com centring around a cockney market trader in working-class, modern-day London. The latter idea persisted.[5] Through Ray Butt, a BBC producer and director whom Sullivan had met and become friends with when they were working on Citizen Smith, a draft script was shown to the Corporation's Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies. Davies commissioned Sullivan to write a full series. Sullivan believed the key factor in it being accepted was the success of ITV's new drama, Minder, a series with a similar premise and also set in modern-day London.[6]
Sullivan had initially given the show the working title Readies. For the actual title he intended to use, as a reference to the protagonist's tax and work-evading lifestyle, Only Fools and Horses. That name was based on a genuine, though very obscure saying, "why do only fools and horses work? (for a living)", which had its origins in 19th century American vaudeville.[7] Only Fools and Horses had also been the title of an episode of Citizen Smith and Sullivan felt that a longer name would help to grab the viewers' attention. He was first overruled on the grounds that the audience would not understand the title, but he eventually got his way and, from the second series onwards, the theme music was changed to a version explaining the meaning of the saying; some first series episodes were subsequently re-edited to use the new theme.
Filming of the first series began in May 1981, and the first episode, "Big Brother", was transmitted on BBC1 at 8.30 pm on 8 September that year. It attracted a respectable, though unspectacular (by those days' standards) 9.2 million viewers[8] and generally received a lukewarm response from critics.[9] The viewing figures for the whole first series, which averaged at around 7 million, were considered mediocre[10] but owing to the BBC's policy of nurturing television shows, a second series was commissioned for 1982. The second series fared little better and the show was close to being cancelled altogether. However, both the first and second series had a repeat run in June 1983 in a more low-key time slot, but attracted respectable viewing figures, which convinced Davies to commission a third series.[11] From there, the show gradually built up a following, and began to top the television ratings. Viewing figures for the fourth series were double those of the first.[12]
I don't know what Mark Thompson considers successful in terms of senior executives, that he believes he can't today afford 'top people', but all these years he's been paying out the high salaries to get them, and what does he have to show for it?