Many popular sitcoms have at sometime or another acquired a spin-off, which more often than not is deemed inferior to the original. Everyone has heard of 'On The Buses' but how many people remember 'Don't Drink The Water'? Those who loved 'The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin' were bitterly disappointed with 'The Legacy Of Reginald Perrin'. 'The Golden Palace' failed to replicate the success of 'The Golden Girls'. Unperturbed by the consequences, John Sullivan bravely created a sequel of his most famous creation, 'Only Fools & Horses'. A tough job, but one that Sullivan remarkably pulled off.Second-hand car dealer Boycie and his wife Marlene, played by John Challis and Sue Holderness, became favourites with fans of 'Only Fools' so Sullivan felt they had potential to appear in their own show. 'The Green Green Grass' saw Boycie and Marlene's idyllic lifestyle being turned upside down when Boycie learns that local mobsters The Driscoll Brothers ( Roy Marsden and Christopher Ryan ) are due to be released from prison and want to exact revenge on him as he was the one responsible for getting them put behind bars. Terrified for his safety, Boycie decides to sell his business and, along with Marlene, their dim-witted son Tyler ( Jack Doolan ) and their rotweiller dog Earl, flee to the countryside. However, Boycie's new life on the farm isn't quite as simple as he thought it would be.'The Green Green Grass' isn't a wonderful show, but it is certainly far from bad. There were many hilarious moments, such as when Boycie discovered that the prize bull he has just bought may be gay! Challis and Holderness were as brilliant as ever though I could not take to Jack Doolan as Tyler. The stereotypical country bumpkins weren't funny either, apart from David Ross as farm manager Elgin. June Whitfield made an appearance as Marlene's brassy mother Dora as did Paula Wilcox as her big-mouthed sister Petunia.'The Green Green Grass' was compared unfairly by some to its predecessor, as was the case with the 'Porridge' sequel 'Going Straight', though unlike Ronnie Barker's sitcom ( which only ran one series ), 'The Green Green Grass' was sufficiently popular to run to a respectable four series.For all its faults, it was superior to many other sitcoms that were around at that time such as 'The Office' and 'The I.T Crowd'. The best place for them was Boycie's compost heap!

I disagree with any bad comments about this sitcom. It is genius. OK, i will admit, i was expecting it to fall on its face after the pilot but it didn't. For those who don't know, this is a spin off to Only Fools & Horses and has the Boyce's as them main characters. Taking into account they were really supporting characters in OFAH, in the early episodes you only saw Boyces once a series and Marlene came in in series 4 or 5, they have been expanded. They escape London to hide from the Driscolls (Londons answer to the Mafia and i doubt these two could spell "mafia") and now live in a farm with 3 locals as their staff. These 3 are brilliant and people saying they slag off people from the country are crazy. I don't think of country people like this - they are characters from a comedy!!!! Enjoy it!!! It keeps connection to OFAH with the mention of characters and events that happened, Denzil is in the pilot, Trigger and Uncle Albert are mentioned (the only Trotter). Del still gets in it as it was hinted Boyces bought the Sat Nav from him. It would be unfair though to bring the Trotters into this as Boyce, Marlene and Tyler (who you never saw in OFAH) have been made and are moulding to the lead role. This is back on British BBC1 next Friday (Nov 2nd) for another series and i say more more more more please Mr Sullivan.

This show works great as a spin off but it's not as good as Only Fools And Horses to be fair though nobody said it would be and I never expected it to be either. The dry wit is still there and it's very amusing when it comes up with the right dialogue. There's been times I've thought this just isn't working but then there's been other times where I've really laughed at what the characters have been saying. On the whole I'm glad that this spin off series was made as it's been great to see the characters involved again. Only the beeb could make a spin off to such an iconic program work and this is what they have done here. Looking forward to the Christmas special and then hopefully a new series in the new year.

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits When the testimony of Boycie (John Challis) nearly sends the Driscoll Brothers, two of Peckham's most notorious gangsters, down before the case collapses due to a technicality, him, his infamous wife Marlene (Sue Holderness) and their teenage son Tyler are forced to relocate to the Staffordshire countryside, where their big city ways create a 'hilarious' culture clash with the stuck in their ways locals.This long-awaited spin off of the hugely successful (and rightfully so) BBC comedy series Only Fools and Horses finally came to the end of it's series last night. But I missed it, along with the last two episodes before it. Which should be an indication of, despite how eagerly I awaited it, intently missable I ended up finding it.I had this strong suspicion it would all fall flat on it's face before I even saw it and I'm sure there were those whose knives were sharpening straight away who wanted it to fail. But, sadly, to a large degree, this is what's happened.Being as huge as OFAH was, a spin-off show was always going to happen one day. And, short of Del and Rodney being the two leading stars and basically just starting another series again, Boycie ('heh heh heh heh heh heh heh') and Maaar-lene were probably the best characters to choose (although the writer showed a bit of indecision by having Denzil make a guest appearance in the first episode!) But whichever way you look at it, it's a series that's simply clutching at straws and the desperation cracks are apparent from the off-set, even with John Sullivan back as the writer (more money in the bank.) The main problem is simply that it's rarely ever funny. There were only one or two moments that raised a mild chuckle, and I can't even remember the jokes. Challis and Holderness desperately try to re-ignite the chemistry they once shared, but the dead script simply kills any chance of it. The show appears very cheap and slapped together in light of it's source of inspiration, most apparent in the opening and closing credits, with some clunky production values to match it. The only other redeeming feature is Sullivan singing the opening theme again in true OFAH vein.You knew it was desperate to begin with, and that it would never match the quality of where it came from. And, sadly, here what you see is what you get. **