Only Fools and Horses and Mad Dogs and Englishmen? - New stamps 16 February 2021

From Royal Mail:

Royal Mail is proud to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the much-loved British sitcom Only Fools and Horses with a set of eight stamps featuring some of its most iconic scenes.

Created and written by John Sullivan and first broadcast in 1981, Only Fools and Horses follows the exploits of wheeler-dealer Del Trotter, his younger brother Rodney, their Grandad and later their Uncle Albert. Created by John Sullivan it is fondly remembered for its fine writing, comic one-liners and the warmth and idiosyncrasies of the characters.

Only Fools and Horses has frequently been voted as Britain’s favourite TV comedy series. It ran for 64 episodes from 1981 to 2003 and at its peak was watched by 24.3 million people.

The impact of Only Fools on the life of the nation is demonstrated by many of the show’s catchphrases and words having entered common usage. In 2003, the most popular of these, ‘lovely jubbly’, was listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.

A set of eight stamps, each featuring a memorable scene from Only Fools and Horses. Each stamps features still frames and captioned one-liners taken from some of the most memorable episodes including: Del Boy’s fall through the bar in Yuppy Love, and the Chandelier scene in A Touch of Glass, both frequently voted among the funniest TV moments of all time.

Unfortunately while previous television-themed stamp issues, depicting television programmes have just about worked when they are transferred from the small-screen to the even smaller stamp, these reduce scenes even further, and even enlarged, don't show the scene to its best - both the Chandelier scene, and the 'Play it Cool' fall through the open bar space, rely on movement for the visual impact. Reduced to stamp size they only impact if you have seen and enjoyed the broadcast action. 

Nonetheless, Del Boy's fans will buy them, and we may even see the 1st class stamps on letters.  You could imagine that if the series were to be set in the last five years, Del Boy would be selling books and sheets of deeply discounted 1st class stamps!

 

Set of 8 stamps, 4 x £1.70 and 4 x 1st class.

The stamps are in vertical se-tenant pairs as shown size 50 x 30 mm. (Click on the image to see them larger than the actual stamps)  They were designed by Interabang and printed by International Security Printers in litho on ordinary gummed paper, perforated 14 x 14.

The Miniature Sheet focuses on the central Trotter Family and the four main Trotter characters over
the series on the individual stamps; Del Boy, Rodney, Grandad and Uncle Albert with a quote for each.
The background features Del and Rodney with the unmistakable Trotters Independent Trading yellow 1968 Reliant Regal three-wheeled van. One which featured in a 2001 epispde sold for £37,000 plus fees at an auction in 2017.  There are 2 x 1st class and 2 x £1.70 stamps.

The stamp are 41mm (w) x 30mm (h), in a sheet with dimensions 192mm (w) x 74mm (h).

Acknowledgements
BBC and ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES (word marks and logos) are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC logo © BBC 1996. Only Fools And Horses logo © BBC 1981. Series created and written by John Sullivan. Licensed by BBC Studios.

 

Retail booklet

The self-adhesive retail booklet contains the two 1st class stamps from the miniature sheet and 4 x 1st class Machin security stamps coded MCIL M21L, which first appeared in the National Parks retail booklet.   On the small supply we have, the booklet backing paper has the same orientation as the previous one. (This is a scan of the actual booklet.)  The colours of the self-adhesive stamps contain a lot less black than do those on the miniature sheet, leaving a rather pale-faced character, more like one who sells everything on eBay rather than in a street market.

Prestige Stamp Book

The PSB reaches a new high of excessive pricing, coming in at nearly £2 (9.7%) over the face value of the stamps it contained.  The first premium-priced PSB was produced 10 years ago, so I suppose it is reasonable for Royal Mail's production costs for these to have doubled in that period.  (Thanks to those who pointed out the editing error which omitted pane 4.)

Actual definitive pane.

The Machin definitives are coded M20L MPIL.  The 2nd class (Norvic 2901P.20) has already appeared in last year's Star Trek PSB, but the 20p and 1st class are new, and have the Norvic numbers 4020Pa.20 and 3702aP.20 respectively.

(We will have limited supplies of these for sale.)

Collectors Sheet

 

This A4-sized self-adhesive collector sheet contains ten first class Del Boy and Rodney stamps from the Miniature Sheet. Each stamp is presented alongside a label featuring some of the wider Only Fools and Horses cast. The sheet is designed in the style of the Trotters Independent Trading yellow three-wheeled van with Only Fools and Horses branding. Price £9.60.

Other products

Presentation Pack, 2 x First Day Covers, Stamp Cards.

Character packs,  Limited edition Medal Covers, Prestige Stamp Book, press sheet of 14 miniature sheets, Fan Souvenir Folder, framed products.

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