46-518: Citizen Smith is a British television sitcom written by John Sullivan , first broadcast from 1977 to 1980. It starred Robert Lindsay as Walter Henry "Wolfie" Smith, a young Marxist "urban guerrilla" in Tooting , south London , who is attempting to emulate his hero Che Guevara . Wolfie is a reference to the Irish revolutionary Wolfe Tone , who used the pseudonym "Citizen Smith" in order to evade capture by
92-409: A Surrey hospital, after having viral pneumonia for six weeks. He was 64. BBC Director-General Mark Thompson paid tribute, saying: "John had a unique gift for turning everyday life and characters we all know into unforgettable comedy." Gareth Gwenlan , a producer of Only Fools and Horses and a close friend of Sullivan, paid tribute to the writer: "The sudden death of John Sullivan has deprived
138-455: A "right to work" protest. The entire series was repeated on BBC1 in 1992–1993. The series has also been re-run on satellite channels UKGold/ UKTV Drama and on Gold , though one episode has never been repeated – "A Story For Christmas" from 1977. All the episodes have been released on DVD. Citizen Smith , a novelisation of the first series written by Christopher Kenworthy, was published by Universal books, London in 1978. In 2015, Lindsay
184-499: A Fulham scarf. He rides a scooter and spends most of the time at his girlfriend's house, which means he constantly clashes with her parents. John Sullivan became a scenery shifter at the BBC in 1974 because of his desire to write a sitcom outline he had called Citizen Smith ; fearing rejection if he sent the idea in, he decided it would be better to get a job, any job, at the BBC, learn more about
230-578: A Scorpion during his time in the Territorial Army , at which point the group steal it and drive it back to London . On returning, they hide it in Charlie Johnson's garage. Charlie comes home from work and opens the garage door to park his car. Curious as to the purpose of the Scorpion parked amongst the garden tools, he climbs down inside and accidentally steps on the machine-gun fire button. The result
276-531: A draft script was shown to the corporation's Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies . Davies commissioned Sullivan to write a full series under an alternative title Only Fools and Horses , which had also been the name of a Citizen Smith episode. Sullivan believed the key factor in it being accepted was the success of ITV 's new drama Minder , a series with a similar premise and also set in 1980s London. Much of Sullivan's material for Only Fools and Horses scripts came from his real-life experiences; falling through
322-458: A job in the BBC props department. He was warned not to pester or approach the stars of the corporation. However, Ronnie Barker encouraged him to write for The Two Ronnies , and he also wrote for Dave Allen . He eventually approached television producer Dennis Main Wilson with a script about a young Marxist . This led to a pilot for Comedy Special in 1977 which, following a positive reaction,
368-604: A raised bar flap, the chandelier falling, his father's poker sessions, his niece working in the police force, and his grandfather falling down holes to claim money. It is possible that the poverty of the Trotter family, and their eventual rise to wealth, is based on Sullivan's own background. He grew up in a poor household and noted in an interview that he and his friends seemingly had no opportunities after leaving school apart from becoming, as Sullivan put it, "factory fodder". The success of Only Fools and Horses made him very rich. With
414-424: A shot mirroring the opening credits, Wolfie is seen entering Tooting Broadway tube station. Series four consisted of seven episodes and a Christmas special, "Buon Natale", in which Wolfie and Ken ride to Rimini on Wolfie's Lambretta to visit Shirley for the festive period, only to find that she has become romantically involved with an Italian named Paolo. This episode was shown after the series officially ended, but
460-420: A variety of low-paid jobs for 15 years before getting his first break writing sketches for The Two Ronnies , which led to writing the sitcom Citizen Smith (1977–1980). He became best known for his next sitcom, Only Fools and Horses (1981–2003). Other sitcoms include Dear John , Sitting Pretty , Roger Roger , and The Green Green Grass . In addition, he wrote the comedy drama serial Over Here and
506-403: Is Back" painted on it. The rest of the credits were backed by clips from the last episode of series three, "The Glorious Day", and Wolfie's shout is heard, but he is not seen. From episode three, "Abide with Me", Wolfie Smith ( Robert Lindsay ) lives, with his religious, teetotal friend Ken Mills ( Mike Grady ), in a flat in the house of his girlfriend's family — Shirley Johnson ( Cheryl Hall , at
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#1732852353320552-734: Is contesting the Tooting North constituency as the TPF candidate at a parliamentary by-election, whose election night declaration is televised; however, he gains only six votes, losing to the Conservative candidate David West. He and the gang attempt to kidnap the new MP from a victory celebration, only to mistakenly capture Harry Fenning (who was leaving the Conservative Club during the occasion) instead (Episode 6 - "The Hostage"). Series two consists of six episodes; however, owing to industrial action at
598-459: Is set before the events of the last episode. The first episode aired on 12 April 1977. This episode was a pilot. Over the next three years, a further four series and a Christmas special were aired, totalling thirty episodes. The last episode aired on 31 December 1980. There is a mythical episode called "Right to Work" which appears in some episode guides; the confusion may arise from the episode "Working Class Hero", which opens with Wolfie involved in
644-484: Is that their neat garden is raked with heavy machine-gun fire, narrowly missing his wife Florence who is hanging out the washing, and annihilating their garden gnomes . This episode also includes a new song from John Sullivan and sung by Robert Lindsay — "We are the TPF. We are the People." Series three consists of seven episodes. The series began with Wolfie and company being paroled, a brief flirtation at being pop stars on
690-475: The Dublin Castle administration . Wolfie is the self-proclaimed leader of the revolutionary Tooting Popular Front (the TPF, merely a small bunch of his friends), the goals of which are "Power to the People" and "Freedom for Tooting". Wolfie dresses in a stereotypical fashion for rebellious students of the period: logoed T-shirt, denim jeans, Afghan coat and black beret. He supports Fulham and occasionally wears
736-677: The Jewish Museum , the JW3 and the National Portrait Gallery to celebrate the author's 85th and 90th birthdays. From 2016 to 2018, together with Fenella Fielding , Greif appeared at Crazy Coqs at Zedel's Brasserie on multiple occasions, and various other venues in David Stuttard 's adaptation of drama and comedy from famous ancient Greek literature called Tears, Treachery..and Just a little Murder produced by Simon McKay . The production
782-1206: The Olivier Awards . Grief was back again at the invitation of Nicholas Hytner to join his inaugural season appearing in His Girl Friday , Edmund and the Christmas production His Dark Materials . He acted alongside Elaine Stritch in The Gingerbread Lady , Denholm Elliott in The Paranormalist , Frank Langella in Abracadaver , Albert Finney in Ronald Harwood 's Reflected Glory , Felicity Kendal and Frances de la Tour in Fallen Angels , Joseph Fiennes in George Dillon and Lesley Manville in Six Degrees of Separation . He appeared in three plays by his friend Bernard Kops , an East End playwright and poet, at
828-623: The White City Stadium amongst other venues. He briefly attended the Regent Street Polytechnic before entering a variety of jobs, including troubleshooter at a TV and radiogram manufacturer and as a negotiator in a boutique West End estate agency, before applying for drama school. Greif was an honours graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art , where he won numerous awards including Best Actor and Most Promising Actor, and
874-566: The theme tunes for Only Fools and Horses , Just Good Friends , Dear John and The Green Green Grass . Stephen Greif Stephen John Greif ( / ɡ r aɪ f / ; 26 August 1944 – 23 December 2022) was an English actor known for his roles as Travis in Blake's 7 , Harry Fenning in three series of Citizen Smith , Signor Donato in Casanova and Commander John Shepherd in Shoot on Sight . Greif
920-633: The 1996 Only Fools and Horses (OFAH) Christmas trilogy and another from The Heritage Foundation in 2001. In the 2005 New Year Honours , Sullivan was appointed an OBE for services to drama. On 2 September 2008, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship at Goldsmiths, University of London . On 22 July 2012, a blue plaque was unveiled by David Jason at Teddington Studios in Middlesex , England, to celebrate Sullivan's contribution to British comedy. Nicholas Lyndhurst and John Challis also attended among other cast members. Sullivan died on 22 April 2011, in
966-584: The BBC on 22 December 1978, one episode ("Spanish Fly") had to be rescheduled as a special in August 1979. "The Glorious Day", which Wolfie had always been plotting, comes at the end of the third series, in an episode of the same name, in which the Tooting Popular Front "liberate" a Scorpion tank and use it to invade the Houses of Parliament , only to find the place empty, owing to a parliamentary recess . During
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#17328523533201012-458: The Beatles tracks "Till There Was You" (and Tucker's line "I think they like us.") and "Help!" have been cut from the scene where Tucker serenades June; and "Prisoners" – where a short scene of Wolfie singing along to the Beatles track "She Loves You", which comes in between the shot of Speed throwing stones at Wolfie's window and the shot of the window breaking, has also been cut. Cinema Club bought
1058-582: The Cartoon Network. Greif won the BBC audio books of America award for narrating The Boy with the Magic Numbers by Sally Gardner . He also narrated various documentaries on Channel 5, and in 2021 contributed to and participated in the documentary tribute Alfred Burke is Frank Marker. Greif enjoyed golf, and was a member and past President of the Stage Golfing Society. He married in 1980;
1104-493: The People", resulting in awkward consequences such as waking a sleeping baby or causing a vehicle to crash. From the third series, the shots of Wolfie on the bridge were replaced with on-screen clips of other cast members and their names, rather than just the list of names that had been used previously, and the reactions to Wolfie's shout were dropped entirely. Series 4 had a new title sequence, which began with Tucker's van driving past Tooting Broadway tube station with "The Revolution
1150-556: The TPF's "annual manoeuvres" on Salisbury Plain , Wolfie, Ken, Tucker and Speed decide to camp down after an evening of heavy drinking; unbeknownst to them, they are in the middle of a military live firing area. During the night, the Army hold an exercise, and the Scorpion is "abandoned" by its crew after being declared "knocked out" by a "landmine" during a training exercise. When Wolfie and his comrades discover this, Wolfie comes up with his revolutionary plan. Speed states that he learned to drive
1196-558: The back of their "fame" ended in disaster. While the TPF have been away, a new gangster, Ronnie Lynch, has usurped Fenning's position in Tooting, including his old pub. Wolfie hates him more than he did Fenning, and after various run-ins with Lynch (who constantly refers to Wolfie as "Wally"), the series was concluded in the penultimate episode, with Wolfie fleeing Tooting to escape a £6,000 contract put on his head by Ronnie Lynch after Lynch had caught Wolfie in his wife Mandy's bedroom. Closing with
1242-416: The business and then meet someone who would actually take notice of his as yet unwritten script. After he approached producer Dennis Main Wilson , the first Citizen Smith script was written. Main Wilson loved the script, and saw the potential for a series; it was put into production almost immediately as a pilot for Comedy Special — a showcase for new talent, which had succeeded Comedy Playhouse — under
1288-495: The drama series Micawber for ITV, and co-wrote the comedy Heartburn Hotel . Sullivan's work won him a number of comedy awards, including the BAFTA for best sitcom on three occasions, and he was made an OBE in 2005. His last work was Rock & Chips , a comedy drama prequel to Only Fools and Horses . The final episode of Sullivan's last comedy series aired six days after his death from pneumonia on 22 April 2011. Sullivan
1334-601: The last story of Waking the Dead , The Crown , The Alienist: Angel of Darkness , Doctors and New Tricks . Greif reprised his Blake's 7 role of Travis from season 1 of the TV series in eleven new audio stories for Big Finish Productions . He voiced Raymond Maarloeve in the video game The Witcher . He voiced and was nominated for best narrator for Sony 's PlayStation Video game Puppeteer in addition to many more games and cartoon series including Elliott from Earth for
1380-429: The rights to the series, and later released all four series in a complete series set on 17 July 2017. John Sullivan (writer) John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE (23 December 1946 – 22 April 2011) was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several British sitcoms , including Only Fools and Horses , Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends . From working-class South London , Sullivan worked in
1426-413: The same month the pilot episode of Citizen Smith was broadcast. The opening titles of each episode of the first two series always began with Wolfie emerging from Tooting Broadway Underground station , followed by a shot of him kicking a can across a bridge until he is in close up, accompanied by a background rendition of the socialist anthem The Red Flag . They always ended with him shouting "Power to
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1472-552: The series are the other "urban guerrillas": Tucker (married to the ever-pregnant but never-seen June); Speed, the TPF's Warlord, and his girlfriend Desiree; and local gangster publican Harry Fenning (played by Stephen Greif ), who refers to Wolfie as " Trotsky ". Wolfie and the TPF frequent Harry's pub, The Vigilante, and are at times menaced by Harry's hired muscle Floyd and Cyril (played by Dana Michie and Barry Hayes), who are referred to by Florence as "Mr Fenning's foster children". The closest Wolfie comes to legitimate political office
1518-679: The success of Only Fools... , at the suggestion of his wife he decided to write a romantic comedy series featuring a strong female lead character. His source of inspiration was a letter in a magazine read to him by his wife, written by a woman who had been jilted by her fiancé on the day of her wedding. Just Good Friends ran for three series and a feature-length special between 1983 and 1986. Other sitcoms included Dear John (1986–1987) and Sitting Pretty (1992–1993). Later in his career, he moved towards writing comedy drama series such as Over Here (1996), Roger Roger (1996–2003), and Micawber (2001). His last work, Rock and Chips (2010–2011),
1564-429: The time Lindsay's wife); her affable but naïve mother, Florence, who mistakenly calls Wolfie "Foxy"; and her strict, right-wing father, Charlie, who disapproves of Smith's lifestyle and refers to him as a "flaming yeti " or " Chairman Mao ". Shirley considers herself engaged to Wolfie, on account of a fake crocodile tooth necklace he gave her after she was asked when they would get engaged. Other regular characters in
1610-601: The title Citizen Smith . The pilot was a success, and four series and a Christmas special were produced between 1977 and 1980. It has been claimed that the "Tooting Popular Front" — fictionally based near to writer John Sullivan's childhood home of Balham — was partly inspired by a real-life fellow- South London far-left group, the Brixton -based Workers' Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought . The group's activities were reported in The Times ' diary of April 1977,
1656-440: The world of television comedy of its greatest exponent. John was a writer of immense talent and he leaves behind him an extraordinary body of work which has entertained tens of millions of viewers and will continue to do so for many decades to come." Sullivan was survived by his wife Sharon, whom he married on 23 February 1974, two sons Dan and Jim , a daughter, Amy, and three grandchildren. Sullivan wrote (and in two cases sang)
1702-716: Was an Associate Member and served on the audition panel. He was a member of the National Theatre Company both at the Old Vic in Laurence Olivier 's company and on the South Bank for Peter Hall 's company. Among the productions he appeared in were Danton's Death , A Woman Killed with Kindness , The Merchant of Venice (with Olivier), Long Day's Journey into Night (again with Olivier), The School for Scandal , Richard II , The Front Page and Macbeth . Greif
1748-451: Was as a messenger boy for Reuters . He then worked in the second-hand car trade, in a brewery, as a window cleaner, and as a carpet layer in the House of Commons . Sullivan got his break into television after submitting scripts to the BBC . He admired Steptoe and Son , Till Death Us Do Part , Phil Silvers ' US show Bilko , and "anything by Neil Simon ". In November 1974, he gained
1794-498: Was born at 35 Zennor Road in Balham , South London , on 23 December 1946. His father was John Patrick Sullivan (17 March 1908 – September 1993) and his mother was Hilda Clara May, née Parker (23 December 1907 – December 1992). Sullivan was from a working-class background, and grew up in Balham. His father was an Irish-born plumber , and his mother occasionally worked as a charwoman . It
1840-473: Was born in Sawbridgeworth , Hertfordshire, England, in a building originally belonging to Anne Boleyn as a gift from King Henry VIII . Greif was the son of Pauline (née Rubinstein) and Franz Greif. He was of Polish, Russian and Hungarian Jewish descent. He was educated at Sloane Grammar School , where he was school champion in athletics and swimming, and represented the school and the county in athletics at
1886-500: Was commissioned for a full series, Citizen Smith (1977–80). Citizen Smith ran for four series, after which Sullivan was asked to submit another idea. An initial idea for a comedy set in the world of football was rejected, so he proposed an alternative idea for a sitcom centring on a cockney market trader in working-class, modern-day London called Readies . Through Ray Butt , a BBC producer and director whom Sullivan had met and befriended when they were working on Citizen Smith ,
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1932-697: Was in Balham where he observed the sort of market trader that would later appear in Only Fools and Horses . Sullivan failed his eleven-plus and attended Telferscot Secondary Modern School , where he had an inspirational English teacher named Jim Trowers, who sparked an interest in reading the novels of Charles Dickens and discovered his talent for writing stories. Sullivan left the school at Christmas 1961 with no qualifications. He did, however, attend evening classes in German and English, and read Teach Yourself books after leaving school. Sullivan's first paid employment
1978-688: Was invited back to appear with them at Queen's Theatre in the West End in the Italian comedy Saturday, Sunday, Monday , directed by Franco Zeffirelli and Laurence Olivier , where he won a Best Actor nomination in the Critics' Circle Theatre Award . Later, he was invited to join the National again on the South Bank under Peter Hall in the revival of Death of a Salesman , directed by Michael Rudman and with Warren Mitchell winning himself another Best Actor nomination in
2024-536: Was reported as saying he was very keen to reprise the role of Wolfie Smith, particularly with the rise of Jeremy Corbyn . However, it was also reported that the family of the by then deceased Sullivan, who own the rights, did not want to bring it back. Playback released two DVD volumes of Citizen Smith , each with two series. Series one and two (including the pilot) were released in 2003 followed by series three and four later that year. Only two episodes have actually been cut: "Changes" – where Tucker and Wolfie miming to
2070-681: Was revived in 2020/21, with Dame Sian Phillips replacing Fielding, and retitled Savage Beauty , playing again at Crazy Coqs with further shows to come, this time entitled Lovers, Traitors...and bloody Greeks . Greif appears in many films including Gerry , Risen , Woman in Gold , Bill , D is for Detroit , Lasse Hallström 's Casanova , Shoot on Sight , Eichmann , Spartan , The Upside of Anger , Boogie Woogie and Fakers . His many television appearances include Only When I Laugh , Thriller (1 episode, 1976) , Howard's Way , Spooks , Mistresses , He Kills Coppers , Silent Witness ,
2116-503: Was the second spin-off of Only Fools... . Only Fools and Horses won the BAFTA award for best comedy series in 1986, 1989 and 1997, as well as the RTS best comedy award in 1997, best sitcom at the 1990 British Comedy Awards , and two Television and Radio Industries Club Awards for comedy programme of the year in 1984 and 1997. Sullivan won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain comedy award for
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