I can take or leave 'Only Fools', bit too slapstick for me - the canned laughter, the crammed-in gags - but I like it enough to check this out. What I saw was a pleasant surprise.
If you want 'Only Fools', approach carefully. Yes, this is comedy, but much more a 'family drama' than 'Only Fools' ever was. R&C wants you to invest in the characters - Del and Rodney's parents, grandparents, Del himself, and Lyndhurst - 'Only Fools'' Rodney - pulling off a surprisingly convincing suave yet thuggish criminal - and by the end you feel more for them than you can from watching 'Only Fools' in its entirety. It is, dare I say it, more intelligent fare than 'Only Fools' and benefits from it.
Indeed, R&C may have profited from having no connection with 'Only Fools' at all. Knowledge of subsequent events constrains R&C in plot development, so much of what's to come we can surmise from our knowledge of 'Only Fools', stripping R&C of some potential tension. Moreover, 'Only Fools' fans tuning in to this as a prequel may find themselves disappointed while others, perhaps not great fans of 'Only Fools', may miss out on a treat for the association.
