Only Fools and Horses The Musical is coming to Edinburgh Playhouse between November 5 and 9, bringing John Sullivan’s iconic TV show to the stage. The musical was created by John’s son, Jim Sullivan, and Paul Whitehouse, who wrote the script and the music for the production.
Both Jim and Paul spoke a bit more about the show in an interview, unveiling their insight into its creation, process and challenges.
Paul, when you were approached to work on the musical was it always important that you wrote as well as performed in it?
“That was all I was approached to do initially, I was asked to write and adapt it, I wasn’t asked to be in it. […] I met Jim and I was very conscious of how precious the legacy was to him and his family, and for me too as someone who loved the series.
But the fact that Chas Hodges and John Sullivan had already written a song together for it struck me as a positive element. […] I can’t wait to get back into Grandad’s hat and slippers and take the show to new audiences around the country.”
Only Fools and Horses is such a cherished series, was it a little daunting to take characters and events that generations of viewers knew so well? Did you feel that there were some things you could have artistic license with but others not?
Jim: “In this case it was an especially tricky challenge. When my Dad wrote the first series back in 1981 he wasn’t sure it would get a second series. When he wrote the second series it looked as though there wouldn’t be a third. When he wrote the final episode in 2003 there were, all told, 64 episodes (approximately 44 hours of viewing material).
Our job was to boil that down into a single two hour story… with songs! Obviously we couldn’t include everything, and while we have tried to remain faithful to the original scripts, we’ve also used a bit of creative license with the timeline. Ultimately, we are not trying to reinvent the series but rather to pay homage to it. What we’ve ended up with is (hopefully) something that captures and celebrates the heart and spirit of what the series was all about.”
Paul, was it ever on the cards that you would play the other senior Trotter, Uncle Albert or did you have a preference towards playing the part of Grandad?
“I always thought that Grandad was an easier character to write for. He’s much more vulnerable than Uncle Albert, and I always loved Lennard Pearce’s (who played Grandad in the BBC series) delivery. As the writing developed and we did a couple of workshops, in which I played Grandad, I reached the point where I had to do it!”
Finally, can we expect to see the old man of the sea and ancient mariner himself Uncle Albert make an appearance in the musical?
Paul: “Well, you never know, Uncle Albert might pop up in the show when things get tricky!”
To go see Only Fools and Horses, you can book your tickets on the ATG tickets website.