The British sitcom that swept through the Balkans (2023)

Summary

If you were in Britain on Christmas Day in 1992, chances are you sat in front of the TV to watch an episode of one of the most-beloved series in the country, Only Fools and Horses.In that particular Christmas episode, protagonists Del Boy and Rodney come up with a plan to bottle and sell tap water under the “Peckham Spring” brand, named after a London district not far from where I live.The episode came to public attention again in 2004, when journalists discovered that Coca-Cola’s newly-launched Dasani brand was just tap water bottled about 15km from Peckham. Tom Scott does a good job explaining that story in this video.As Tom mentions, the episode was viewed by 20 million people, more than a third of the British population. It was by far the most viewed programme on that day, and one of the most viewed that year (as Christmas Day programmes tend to be).This was not the first time — or the last — Only Fools and Horses took the top spot on Christmas.In fact, it happened eight times between 1990 and 2003, according to figures from Barb, Britain’s television ratings company.Fools was not only popular, it was well-liked. And I mean really well-liked.On IMDb, it is the 35th best-rated TV series of all time with an overall rating of 9/10, above classics such as Seinfeld, Succession, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.It didn’t start that way. The first season started off slow, and the characters were not fully-fleshed out. But the quality picks up in season 2 and peaks in season 6.Nevertheless, the 1996 Christmas trilogy takes the top spot as the best “season”, with the third episode, Time on Our Hands, also being the best-rated episodes of the entire sitcom.Overall, it’s an excellent series and I wholeheartedly recommend it.So, what about the title of this newsletter? What’s the Balkans got to do with it?If you go back to the IMDb ratings page, you’ll see a filter that allows you to see the average rating Only Fools and Horses received by country.Besides the UK, Irela...