John Sullivan

Who was John Sullivan?

John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends.

From working-class South London, Sullivan worked in a variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing Citizen Smith. However, it was for the sitcom Only Fools and Horses that he is best known. Other sitcoms include Dear John, Just Good Friends, Sitting Pretty, Roger Roger, and The Green Green Grass. In addition, he wrote the comedy drama serial Over Here and the drama series Micawber for ITV, and co-wrote the comedy Heartburn Hotel. His work won him a number of comedy awards, including the BAFTA for best sitcom on three occasions, and he was made an OBE in 2005. His last work was Rock & Chips, a comedy drama prequel to Only Fools and Horses. The final episode of Sullivan's last comedy series aired five days after his death from pneumonia on 23 April 2011.

To remember Sullivan's work, the BBC broadcast the episode of Only Fools and Horses in which the Trotters drop a chandelier while cleaning it for an upper-class family. They also showed "Top 40 Only Fools and Horses Moments", where it is shown the best moment in Only Fools and Horses. The episode, "A Touch of Glass" was voted number 2, losing to when Del Boy falls through an open bar in "Yuppy Love".