Theo Paphitis

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Press clippings

David Jason & Ch5 tell The Story Of Only Fools And Horses At Christmas

David Jason will share secrets from the Only Fools And Horses' Christmas specials in a 90-minute festive documentary for Channel 5. The Story Of Only Fools And Horses At Christmas will air on Christmas Eve.

British Comedy Guide, 4th December 2023

More frothy fun from Alan Carr as the ninth series of his effervescent chat show continues. Tonight Carr will be camping it up with fellow comedian and Take Me Out presenter Paddy McGuinness and chatting to formidable Dragons' Den entrepreneurs Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden, Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones. Music comes from Britain's own Justin Bieber, teen pop star Conor Maynard, performing his new single Turn Around.

Toby Dantzic, The Telegraph, 4th October 2012

I've steered clear of The Angelos Epithemiou Show because it looked bullying in the pre-publicity, one of those performances in which a comic apes a slow-witted character and in doing so licenses cruelty to those who actually are. It's not quite that (though it definitely hovers dangerously close at times). But it isn't easy to pigeonhole what it is instead. The format is cod interview show, but on the evidence of Friday's show at least Renton Skinner isn't quite nimble enough to take advantage of the liberties his mouth-breathing alter ego gives him. Tellingly, Theo Paphitis got in the sharpest line in his appearance, with Skinner reduced to rather feeble ad libs ("I bought a new bow the other day," said Paphitis when he was asked how he spent his money. "All right, Robin Hood," replied Angelos).

It also owes a considerable debt to Reeves and Mortimer-style mucking about (Skinner served an apprentice as guest clown on Shooting Stars) and these elements are more successful, even if they wildly overestimate the comic payload of stage explosives. Keying up the second half, Epithemiou announced that "for all you metrosexuals out there I will be showing you how to exfoliate", a promise illustrated with footage of him appearing, fully dressed, from between the rollers of a functioning carwash. That made me laugh and Adeel Akhtar is very funny too as Angelos's sidekick Gupta. If there was more of him, I might watch it again.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 13th August 2012

Audio: Theo Paphitis on his love of Only Fools

The first ever Only Fools and Horses was broadcast 30 years ago.

The sitcom, which ran for 10 years, was watched by more than 24 million people at its peak.

A new book has been released, claiming to have the official inside story.

Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis is a big fan and told Radio 5 Live's Morning Reports about the foreward he has written for Only Fools and Horses: The Official Inside Story.

BBC News, 8th September 2011

Rather than attempt to hold on to their youthful glamour like some yoiks I could mention, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse returned on Friday for the second series of Harry and Paul embracing old age so tightly it may soon expire on their chests. The opening titles feature them as a pair of old Soviet generals and they reappear as geriatric DJs playing their favourite Nineties rap and then again as Nelson Mandela and Castro.

You might accuse them of favouring some pretty old jokes, too. Thirties cinema remains an inspiration; here an early version of The Bourne Identity had a plummy Jason asking: "Hells bells who am I?" Whitehouse's version of Theo Paphitis in the Dragons' Den sketch was clearly a close relative of Stavros. And the pair still delight in imagining breaches of the walls that divide Britain culturally: meet the builders with opinions on Tracey Emin ("a child of five could become a ludicrous parody of themselves"), a foul-mouthed but multilingual football manager, the over-educated surgeon operating on a Foo Fighter and the fishermen chatting, by the side of their local pond, about the merits of Peter Shaffer.

For those of us of a certain age, this half hour was pure pleasure, or would have been were it not for knowing that its producer, Geoffrey Perkins, had died ten days ago without seeing the old age his stars parody with such fate-tempting brio.

Andrew Billen, The Times, 8th September 2008

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