<P> Only Fools and Horses won the BAFTA award for best comedy series in 1985, 1988 and 1996, was nominated in 1983, 1986, 1989, 1990 and 1991, and won the audience award in 2004 . David Jason received individual BAFTAs for his portrayal of Del Boy in 1990 and 1996 . The series won a National Television Award in 1997 for most popular comedy series; Jason won two individual awards, in 1997 and 2002 . At the British Comedy Awards, the show was named best BBC sitcom for 1990, and received the People's Choice award in 1997 . It also won the Royal Television Society best comedy award in 1997 and two Television and Radio Industries Club Awards for comedy programme of the year, in 1984 and 1997 . John Sullivan received the Writers' Guild of Great Britain comedy award in 1997 . </P> <P> The show regularly features in polls to find the most popular comedy series, moments and characters . It was voted Britain's Best Sitcom in a 2004 BBC poll, and came 45th in the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes . It was 3rd on a subsequent viewers' poll on the BFI website . Empire magazine ranked Only Fools and Horses #42 on their list of the 50 greatest television shows of all time . It was also named the funniest British sitcom of all time through a scientific formula, in a study by Gold . Scenes such as Del Boy's fall through a bar flap in "Yuppy Love" and the Trotters accidentally smashing a priceless chandelier in "A Touch of Glass" have become recognisable British comedy moments, invariably topping polls of comedy viewers . Del Boy was voted the most popular British television character of all time in a survey by Open...and came fourth in a Channel 4 list of Britain's best - loved television characters . A Onepoll survey found that Only Fools and Horses was the television series Britons would most like to see return . </P> <P> Only Fools and Horses has separate theme songs for the opening and closing credits, "Only Fools and Horses" and "Hooky Street", respectively . The original theme tune was produced by Ronnie Hazlehurst and recorded on 6 August 1981 at Lime Grove Studios . Alf Bigden, Paul Westwood, Don Hunt, John Dean, Judd Proctor, Eddie Mordue, and Rex Morris were hired to play the music . The tune was changed after the first series, and the new one was written by John Sullivan (he disliked the tune for the first series, and his new one explained the show's title), and Hazlehurst conducted it . It was recorded at Lime Grove on 11 May 1982, with musicians John Horler, Dave Richmond, Bigden, and Proctor . Sullivan wanted the band Chas & Dave singing, but this was not possible due to their single Ain't No Pleasing You being successful in the charts . Sullivan had intended for Chas & Dave to sing it because they had enjoyed success with the "Rockney" style, a mixture of rock n' roll and traditional Cockney music . Sullivan was persuaded to do it himself by Ray Butt . Despite the creation of a new theme tune, the original one remained in occasional use . Chas & Dave did later contribute to the show, performing the closing credits song for the 1989 episode "The Jolly Boys' Outing". Both songs are performed by Sullivan himself, and not--as is sometimes thought--by Nicholas Lyndhurst . </P> <P> The opening credits see images of the three principal actors peel on and off the screen sequentially . These appear over a background of still photographs of everyday life in South London . The sequence was conceived by graphic designer, Peter Clayton, as a "metaphor for the vagaries of the Trotters' lifestyle", whereby money was earned and quickly lost again . Clayton had also considered using five - pound notes having Del's face . The action was shot manually frame by frame, and took around six weeks to complete . Clayton knew that it was important to have the characters established in the titles, and prepared a storyboard depicting his ideas using drawings . He photographed various locations with a photographer, and the titles were shot using a rostrum camera and not edited . Brian Stephens, a professional animator, was hired to create the labels' movement . </P>

Who sang theme tune only fools and horses