The one thing Only Fools and Horses does that makes it better than every American sitcom
David Jason himself has acknowledged this as his 'own little area of mastery'
There are a whole host of different things that made Only Fools and Horses so special, but one fan has singled out a very specific detail they reckon automatically puts the show above any American sitcom.
It’s all to do with how the actors ate on screen. They made the case that whilst in US shows you can always tell actors aren’t eating the food in front of them, Only Fools was far more immersive, with Del Boy, Rodney, Grandad, and Uncle Albert always getting stuck into their food.
In the post on Facebook, they said: “One of the things I love most is seeing the cast actually eat the food! My wife watches American sitcoms, and I just HATE when they stay playing with the food and not actually eat it.
“They stay moving the food around with the fork, and then grab a fork full of food and as soon as they’re going to put it in their mouth, someone tells them something, they act all surprised, and put the fork down again.
“It drives me nuts!! What a difference to OFAH, eating English breakfast and all sorts of food! Makes you relate to them so much more!!”
It’s no accident that the characters like their grub in Only Fools either. In fact, in his biography a Del of a Life David Jason wrote that viewers could “always tell” when actors were taking a “fake sip”, with empty cups and mugs always noticeable by their lack of weight in the star’s hand.
He argued that unlike this American style, eating and drinking on screen was actually his “little area of mastery,” adding: “I’m not kidding – the way that I could demolish a bacon sandwich, while making myself crisply audible.
“Yet, without spraying breadcrumbs at the length of the room drew awed appreciation from the other side of the pond.”
