Smithy! 🤗

Citizen Smith was John Sullivan's first sitcom, and I absolutely love it so much I bought the dvds for it AND an actual dvd player a few years ago because it wasn't streaming (update: STILL not streaming 😡). It's one of those huge sitcoms that for some reason can't be found anywhere; even finding clips on YouTube isn't easy. Robert Lindsay's Wolfie Smith is an Xmastime Top 10 Britcom character:

Just as his very name suggests, he’s a lovable scamp that considers himself a revolutionary Marxist who really has nothing tangible to say about anything and couldn't actually tell you what he’s fighting for. But watching him do it, while dragging his daft but earnest friends along is a joy to watch, as well is his Fonzarelli-style living quarters above his girlfriends parent’s apartment. Sitcom 101 dictates the father is woefully disapproving of Wolifie’s “socialist” lifestyle, and of course the mother dotes on him while calling him “Foxy.” It’s no wonder John Sullivan’s first sitcom would lead the way for Only Fools and Horses; Wolfie is like a much younger Del Boy who peddles bullshit politics instead of cheap, crappy merchandise. Freedom for Tooting!

It's got a lot of touches that you can see made it thru to Sullivan's next show Only Fools and Horses (including mother-in-law figure Hilda always thinking Wolfie’s name was “Foxy” - was this a precursor to Trigger calling Rodney “Dave”?) and I can't recommend it enough. And for this clip to be from the episode where the Only Fools and Horses name came from AND include Wilfred Brambell who was a MEGA SUPERSTAR after starring in Steptoe and Son and then as Paul McCartney's "clean" grandfather in a little picture  called A Hard Day's Night.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!! 😜

Citizen Smith - Only Fools and Horses (27th September 1979). Confining your regular characters within an enclosed space is a good sitcom ploy (even better if there's a decent guest star like Wilfrid Brambell added to the mix). And that episode title might be useful later on .... pic.twitter.com/n14WQ2Jz9n

— Archivetvmusings (@archivetvmus71) September 27, 2023