The underrated comedy legend who appeared in Only Fools and Horses, Bottom, The Young Ones and Absolutely Fabulous
Between Only Fools and Horses, Bottom, The Young Ones and Absolutely Fabulous, you have basically everything you need to know about British culture.
They have spawned some of the biggest icons of our time: David Jason, Joanna Lumley and Rik Mayall.
But these four pillars of British culture have one thing in common. One thing that is, if you ask me, criminally underrated. Mr Christopher Ryan. You may not have realised that he crops up in every single one of these iconic shows, but he’s been instrumental to the making of all four.
71-year-old Christopher Ryan (who was born Christopher Papazoglou) is an important but often forgotten name in British comedy and absolutely kills it in every role he takes on. He was born in Bayswater and attended East 15 acting school, which has also produced notable alumni such as The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison and Snatch star Alan Ford.
In case you’ve been a bit slow on your Ab Fab recaps during lockdown (inexcusable but I’ll forgive you), let’s do a run through every time he popped up in these legendary series.
Absolutely Fabulous – Marshall Turtle
Marshall Turtle is Edina’s (Jennifer Saunders) first ex husband and the father of her son Serge. He crops up consistently in episodes Ab Fab and has appeared in nearly every series and reboot.
Marshall Turtle was a slippery man always looking for the next money making scheme, usually with help of his second wife, Bo.
This means his tenure on the show officially ran from 1992 to 2012, totalling 2020 years.
Only Fools and Horses – Tony Driscoll
Christopher played one half of the Driscoll brothers in season six of Only Fools and Horses. While they are mentioned multiple times in OFAH, they only actually appear in one episode of the show (Little Problems).
The two brothers, Tony and Danny, are painted as Peckham’s answer to The Kray twins. Del Boy gets caught up in a twist with the brothers after doing a dodgy deal with some mobile phones, which doesn’t end well.
Bottom – Dave Hedgehog
Christopher Ryan also appeared in the seminal series Bottom, which was basically the original Peep Show. The series surrounded two flatmates, constantly on the lookout for opportunities to get laid, make money and do all of the above without killing each other.
Dave Hedgehog is a regular character in Bottom and appeared in the show from episode six of series one to the fourth episode of series two.
He’s usually accompanied by his mate Spudgun and has a total dislike for main character Ritchie (Richard Richard).
