John Challis thinks ‘Only Fools and Horses’ can cheer people up during the coronavirus crisis.
The 77-year-old actor – who played car salesman Boycie in the iconic sitcom – believes the comedy is the perfect answer to lift people’s spirits following the nationwide lockdown, just as it kept people smiling during unrest in Serbia in the 90s.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper, John – who has travelled to south-eastern Europe to meet fans of the comedy – explained: "I say in [‘Boycie in Belgrade’], if we could only bottle it, maybe all our problems would be over. There are all these fans of ‘Only Fools and Horses’."
In the documentary, John and his friend Lazar Vukovic travel around the city to investigate the country’s love of the show and everywhere John goes he is greeted like a national hero.
The veteran actor visits the Royal Palace, a brandy distillery, gets a tour of Red Star Belgrade’s stadium and even attempts to teach university students the nuances of cockney rhyming slang.
The documentary has been eight years in the making following an unexpected invitation to appear on a Serbian chat show during the tour for his autobiography ‘Being Boycie’.
John admitted it was fascinating to learn about the connection between Serbia and the long-running sitcom.
He recalled: "The host said something very poignant. He said, ‘It was the only thing that made us laugh during our conflict with each other.’
"And I had this picture of all these poor people sitting in bombed-out buildings laughing at ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and then going back to having a terrible life. And I thought, humour sort of brings people together doesn’t it?"