Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2264 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-06-04
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 180 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Regularly touted as one of the best British sitcoms ever, Only Fools and Horses kicked off in 1981 when mobile phones were the size of bricks and wine bars were the ultimate places to hang out. The formula was simple enough: Cockney wideboy Derek "Del Boy" Trotter (brilliantly played by David Jason) dreams of better things for himself while sharing a cramped council flat in the nicely named Peckham tower block Nelson Mandela House with his unworldly brother Rodney and his sweet but doddery old grandad. Trouble is, Del's endless money-making schemes (such as his attempt to flog a consignment of one-legged turkeys, or his plan to sell bottled tap water under the label "Peckham Spring") inevitably backfire, like the beat-up old Robin Reliant van he uses to cart around all this faulty gear in.

Created by John Sullivan, who also sings the very catchy theme tune, Only Fools and Horses is a wonderful mix of dodgy but loveable characters (such as Del Boy's dimwit friend Trigger), knockabout slapstick (no-one falls down with as much comedic grace as Jason) and brilliantly crafted dialogue. Sadly, Leonard Pierce, who played Grandad, died in 1983 (his armchair in the Trotter household was filled in 1985 by Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert, an old merchant seaman who used to bore Del and Rodney with tales of his war days). The show ran to seven series and ended with characteristic warmth in 1991, when Del Boy became a father; but the Trotters made occasional returns to the small screens with six hugely popular one-off Christmas specials. This, as Del Boy himself might say, is "lovely jubbly". --Edward Lawrenson

Special Features
4:3
DVD 10
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital Stereo English
Dolby Digital Stereo
Scene Selection

Synopsis
Follow Del Trotter (David Jason), his brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), and Grandad (Lennard Pearce) on a third series of scams. Episodes include: "Homesick," "Friday the 14th," "Yesterday Never Comes," "May the Force Be with You," "Who's a Pretty Boy," and three more.

Customer Reviews

The 'Difficult' Third Series...
Plenty of media forms and their artists cite the 'third' installment of their journey's to be the most challenging. The third album/series/film tends to be the make or break. And as you can probably guess from the five stars, it made the Trotters.

Series three is, in this humble narrators opinion, the very best of Only Fools. For sure there are better episodes; the nuclear fall-out shelter, the seance, the holiday to Benidorm and of course, the chandilier and wine bar episodes. But what makes series three stand out is that it has by far and away the greatest concentration of episodes. Whereas other 'Fools series will dip or fall flat, this series is the real gem with consistant episodes all guarenteed to make you howl with laughter.

Much of this is down to the cast, now perfectly gelled and bouncing off each other. The plots are marvellous and ambitious as well; observe Del challenging a psychopath to an imaginary game of snooker "shall we say...a fiver a frame?" and the brilliant but haunting storyline of Rodney falsely accused of rape by a demented middle aged woman called 'Blossom'. It is when you really think about these storylines that you realise how close to the line Sullivan occasionally pushed what was (in effect) a harmless comedy.

Jason and Lyndhurst are predictably flawless throughout the series, but the real star for me (mainly because he isn't with us anymore) is Lennard Pearce. As lovable, dopey Grandad he comes into his own in the plots instead of being merely background laughter such as in 'Homesick', where he feigns exhaustion to try and get the Trotters into better accomodation, but he can still deliver killer lines out of nowhere. "What you got, a Wendy house?" he asks Rodney, after Rod lies about his new self catering business venture on £200, and after Del and Rodney exchange views on the ethics of fishing for money he informs Rodney curtly that it isn't stealing at all..."it's poachin'". As good as Merryfield (Uncle Albert) was, he was always the butt of the Trotters dialogue and could not have delivered such killer lines in the same way as Pearce.

Only Fools series three rates in my mind as the top of the pile, and anyone who wishes to pursue their intake of the sitcom on the back of a couple of scattered episodes could do much worse than buy this DVD.

Perfection.
Series Three for me was the first series of 'Only Fools and Horses' in which I put my cards on the table and said 'I love this show.' As much as I admired the first two series, I felt there were more superior shows. However after seeing this series I quickly thought (and still think) that Only Fools and Horses is the best television show ever. (Forget the overated 'Fawlty Towers'). This series also contains my all time favourite episode: 'Friday the 14th.'

The moments in this series include: Grandad feigning illness to move houses (which nearly reduced me to emotional tears the first time I watched it without knowing their scam) (Homesick); the 'wendy house' gag (Healthy Competition); the Trotters meeting an insane axe murderer in Cornwall (Friday the 14th); Del falling for an art dealer (Yesterday Never Comes); Roy Slater making his first apperance (May the Force Be With You); Del playing another trick on Rodney (Wanted); the 'canary' episode (Who's a Pretty Boy?) and Reginald Trotter (Thicker Than Water).

Overall, if you only watch one series of 'Fools' watch Series Three as this consists of the funniest episodes. Unfortunately this was the final series with Grandad and 'Fools' would never be the same again.

Which Episodes are included?
The Complete Series 3 includes: Homesick, Healthy Competition, Friday The 14th, Yesterday Never Comes, May The Force Be With You, Wanted, Who's A Pretty Boy, and Thicker Than Water.