Vinnie Jones goes full Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels in his guest turn as local Peckham villain Danny Driscoll. He even reprises the scene in which he slams a debt defaulter’s head in a car door. Given that the car is Del Boy’s decrepit Robin Reliant it is more funny than violent.
Paul Whitehouse’s musical of the iconic sitcom about dodgy dealers, market traders and loveable rogues is utterly faithful to John Sullivan’s original series. You can almost smell the aroma of rotting mangoes on the market stall in front of the Nag’s Head set as Del Boy (Sam Lupton) and his young brother Rodney (Tom Major) attempt to offload bent (in every sense) models of the Eiffel Tower to gullible punters. A pair of removable walls rotate to reveal the Trotters’ flat and the pub’s interior while a video screen displays scudding clouds and twinkling stars as day turns to night.
Suited and booted to the max, Vinnie brings a touch of well-dressed menace while also sending up his image by singing – or, rather growling – Being a Villain, reminding us that he can be funny as well as scary. His performance fits right into the enterprise which is ripe with rough family affection and the unquenchable spirit of a South London community.
The gang’s all here – Del Boy and Rodders, Grandad (Whitehouse, who doubles as Uncle Albert), Boycie (Craig Berry), Trigger (Lee VG), Marlene (Nicola Munns), Raquel (Georgina Hagen) and Tina (Amanda Coutts).
The dialogue is to die for – “I could have had my own Aston Martin with a cellulite phone,” complains Del Boy like a Cockney Uncle Vanya and the songs, written by various combinations of Whitehouse, John & Jim Sullivan, Chas Hodges and Stuart Morley, range from infectious knees-ups of Hooky Street and Where Have All the Cockneys Gone? to the aching ballad The Girl. Infused with the essence of Music Hall (there’s even a soft shoe shuffle) and a touch of Lionel Bart, it’s a fast-paced, raucous, sentimental show with a heart as big as the world. Thank you, gents. It’s been emotional.
Only Fools and Horses will be at the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo until January 5
Tickets: 0208 563 3800