Shaun Dingwall

  • Actor

Press clippings

I must confess that I hadn't seen the previous two editions of this Only Fools and Horses prequel. It's a shame because I rather enjoyed this (most probably) final outing.

In this episode, the young Del Boy (James Buckley) decides to find his fortune by going into movies, proposing his cinematic masterpiece Dracula on the Moon. Meanwhile, gangster and father of Rodney, Freddie "The Frog" Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is trying to avoid being arrested after a robbery he carried at during The Jolly Boys Outing.

The thing you have to remember when watching Rock & Chips is not to treat it as a sitcom but as a comedy drama. There are no real belly laughs, but a few chuckles along the way. At times it is rather tender. It is also ruder. I cannot recall an episode of Only Fools which included the phrase: "F*** off".

The series is basically the backdrop to everything we have already seen in the original classic series, with many references to the Only Fools, such as Del's fondness for the song "Old Shep".

Sadly, this looks to be the final edition of the series following the death of writer John Sullivan, to whom the episode was dedicated to. Of course they could always get another writer to continue it, but there seems little point. As it is a prequel, we already know what happens. We know that Robdal is blown up during a botched raid, that Joan (Kellie Bright) dies young, that Reg (Shaun Dingwall) leaves the family when Rodney's aged two, and that it is not the last time Del has an idea for a movie - but like Dracula on the Moon, There's a Rhino Loose in the City also never took off.

It is a pleasing hour of well written material, and John Sullivan will be sadly missed.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 2nd May 2011

We've known for a while that there wouldn't be any more Only Fools And Horses. But creator John Sullivan is happy to wind back the clock instead, taking us back 50 years for this feature-length comedy-drama, focusing on the Trotter family's early years.

Set in the less-than-swinging Peckham of 1960, the story centres on glamorous (in a low-budget kind of way) cinema usherette Joan Trotter, played by Kellie Bright, along with waste-of-space husband Reg (Shaun Dingwall) and their teenage lad Derek - hanging out with pals Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Jumbo Mills and already showing entrepreneurial tendencies.

Only Fools' Nicholas Lyndhurst is "art connoisseur" Freddie Robdal, fresh out of jail and set to cause ructions in the Trotter household.

Mike Ward, Daily Star, 24th January 2010

John Sullivan's one-off drama sees the return to TV of his most famous creations, the Trotters of Only Fools and Horses (which still holds the British record for biggest sitcom audience, over 24 million for the 1996 Christmas episode Time on Our Hands). Set in 1960, this focuses on the family's early years in Peckham, with Shaun Dingwall as bone-idle Trotter paterfamilias Reg, Kelly Bright as his wife Joan and James Buckley as a youthful Del Boy. Nicholas Lyndhurst (who played Rodney in the original Only Fools), though, is the undoubted centre of attention in the role of Freddie "The Frog" Robdal, a charming geezer-about-town whose roving eye has settled on the lovely Mrs T...

Gerard O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 23rd January 2010

John Sullivan's 90-minute prequel to Only Fools and Horses turned out to be the wonderful surprise of the week. With no laughter track and a minimum of slapstick, it is very different in tone to Only Fools and Horses. Rather than going for broad laughter, it concentrates instead on an affair between the unhappily married Joan Trotter (Kellie Bright) and a local crook (Nicholas Lyndhurst) fresh out of prison. It is a simple and touching love story played out against the backdrop of a pre-Beatles Britain, when money was short and the chance to move into a high-rise tower block was seen as the epitome of luxury. Helped by a strong supporting cast that includes Phil Daniels and Shaun Dingwall, Rock & Chips works on its terms, and will explain much about why Del and Rodney turned out the way they did.

David Chater, The Times, 23rd January 2010

James Buckley looks cushty as the teenage Derek Trotter in new BBC show Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips, a prequel to comedy classic Only Fools And Horses.

The Inbetweeners star pulled on a leather jacket and winkle-pickers yesterday and braved the rain in London for the first day of filming.

Del Boy's tarty mum Joan, played by Kellie Bright, and work-shy dad Reg (Shaun Dingwall) were also on yesterday's shoot.

Colin Robertson, The Sun, 7th October 2009

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