The third instalment of this baffling Only Fools and Horses prequel was scheduled before writer John Sullivan's death from viral pneumonia on Saturday.

For that reason, it'll get a much kinder critical reception than would otherwise have been the case. But I will now never get to ask Sullivan what possessed him to rewrite the nation's sitcom as a drama (or at least a sitcom without any discernible jokes).

It's 1962 and we're following the love affair between Rodney's mum Joan (Kellie Bright) and his criminal father Freddie (a moustachioed Nicholas Lyndhurst).

The young Del Boy (James Buckley) has got himself a Lambretta and a fiancee called Barbara (Jessica Ashworth). The scene in which we meet her middle-class parents offers a flash of what this might have been.

Sullivan's death means we can probably expect more Only Fools and Horses repeats in tribute, which will be much better to remember him by than this.

It's 1961 and Joan is still keeping the Trotter fortunes afloat, as the late John Sullivan's comedy about the early lives of the Trotter family returns for a one-off special.

Joan has two jobs, one at the Ritz cinema and the other as wrong 'un Freddie Robdal's charlady, while Del (James Buckley) romances half the girls in Peckham. Meanwhile, Det Insp Thomas is keen to make an arrest for the Margate gems heist.

The late John Sullivan's prequel to Only Fools and Horses staggers on to 1962 with Del and Rodney's mum, Joan (Kellie Bright managing to be both sassy and naive), holding down two jobs to keep the Trotter family going. Meanwhile, Rodney's biological dad and smooth criminal Freddie Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is being hounded by DI Thomas (Mel Smith at his jowly best) for the Margate jewellery heist, and young Del (James Buckley) has got engaged to a posh bird called Barbara. Samantha Spiro and Alex MacQueen give wonderfully over-the-top, cartoon-like performances as the up-market Birds. The disdainful yet bewildered expression on their faces when they hear that Del's dad is a docker is akin to that of Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith when she enquired exactly what a weekend is. But, despite these moments, most of this is clunky and charmless. And lovely Lambrettas and Golden Egg restaurant aside, some of the period detail is strangely unconvincing. Yet audiences have loved earlier outings. An enduring nostalgia for the Trotters maybe.

Another one-off special for the Only Fools And Horses prequel, centring on the lives of the Trotter parents. Light-fingered Freddie Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is being investigated for the jewellery heist in Margate that ended the last Rock & Chips outing but, for all his wits, it looks like his affair with Del Boy's sweet mum Joan (Kellie Bright) might be his undoing. In the meantime, the teenage Del (The Inbetweeners' James Buckley) is hanging out with his pals, chasing girls and coming up with more hair-brained money-making schemes. Amusing enough, but it's actually the more charismatic and colourful grown-ups - Lyndhurst, Bright and copper Mel Smith - who keep this pukka.

John Sullivan's Rock & Chips blog

While Rock & Chips was in production, John Sullivan kindly wrote this blog post for us. Here is his introduction to tonight's episode, which sadly only leaves us wanting more...

John Sullivan, the marvellous comedy writer who created Only Fools and Horses, died at the weekend aged 64. Tonight his prequel of Only Fools, Rock & Chips, returns. Showing the misadventures of a young Del Boy Trotter, it was partly inspired by Sullivan's own youth in South London (the significance of the title, he said, was that in those days "rock music and chips was what we lived off"). Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney Trotter in Only Fools) plays local gangster Freddie Robdal, with James Buckley as Del Boy and Kellie Bright as Joan, Del's mother and Robdal's mistress. In tonight's episode, Del Boy turns his charms on well-to-do Barbara Bird (Jessica Ashworth), and the police pursue Robdal over the Margate jewellery heist.

James Buckey: Growing up with OFAH helped me audition

James Buckley says growing up with Only Fools and Horses helped him audition to play young Del Boy.

Nicholas Lyndhurst: 'It's nice playing a baddie!'

Rock & Chips, the prequel to Only Fools and Horses, is back. Freddie Robdal is still up to no good, as Nicholas Lyndhurst reveals...

James Buckley interview

With Rock & Chips returning for its third special, James Buckley again plays the young Del Trotter in the Only Fools And Horses prequel. Best known for playing vulgar fantasist Jay in The Inbetweeners, James Buckley talks to TV Choice about his two most famous roles...

Rock and Chips (BBC1), the prequel to Only Fools and Horses with Nicholas Lyndhurst playing his own (well, Rodney's) father Freddie the Frog, returns. I didn't think it was a good idea last time, and there's nothing here to change my mind.

The Inbetweeners' James Buckley gives a spirited performance as a young Del Boy, but he can't rescue a lame duck. Lyndhurst is still no more a gangster than I am. There are some French language misunderstandings as there were last time, more sex pestery by the cinema-manager on Joan (ha ha ha). Humour has moved on from puns and misunderstanding and a bit of how's your father when Reg isn't looking. Actually, there aren't many laughs at all. It all feels a bit like trying to recreate a childhood holiday by going back to the same place, and finding it's not as you remembered. A mistake.