John Challis has filmed a new documentary exploring why ‘Only Fools and Horses’ is so popular in Serbia.
‘Boycie In Belgrade’ sees the 77-year-old actor – who played used car salesman Boycie in the beloved BBC sitcom – travel to the Serbian capital to explore why the wheeling and dealing of brothers Del Boy and Rodney Trotter have made the comedy the most-watched television show in the Balkan state.
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.
John visits the Royal Palace, a brandy distillery, gets a tour of Redstar Belgrade football 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’ and John admits it was fascinating to learn about the connection between Serbia and John Sullivan’s comedy.
Speaking about the project, he said: "Lazar had this wonderful idea about the documentary and it’s about the connection we share. It is so popular over there, the show, and I wondered why that was, why we have this comedy connection? I enjoyed being there, I find it a fascinating place because it’s a place I don’t know much about, it’s in that part of Europe where the history of it is not readily available. I love history and I love all those stories so it’s been great to find out about Serbia and what happens there, and of course the football. I’ve followed football all my life my team Arsenal have played them several times in European championships so I’ve always known that name, Redstar Belgrade, it’s always had a ring to it to me. There’s lots of other famous clubs but they don’t have that cache."
‘Boycie In Belgrade’ is being released on DVD on September 4.