The Green, Green Grass was a spin off of Only Fools And Horses. It focused on Boycie and Marlene, characters from OFAH. The Green Green Grass ran for 5 series from 2005 to 2009. Several characters from the show never appeared in Only Fools And Horses itself. Only Boycie, Marlene, Tyler Boyce, Dora Lane, Denzel, Sid and The Driscoll Brothers appeared in Only Fools And Horses as well as The Green Green Grass. All others such as Elgin Sparrowhawk, Bryan, Imelda Cakeworthy, Jed, Llewellyn Ap Caradog, Beth, Pertunia, Ray, Sara, Colin Cakeworthy and Rhian only appeared in Green Green Grass.
Concept
Boycie (played by John Challis) is forced to flee Peckham after providing crucial evidence against the infamous Driscoll brothers regarding illegal immigrants and drug smuggling, resulting in the Driscolls' imprisonment. He is the lead witness in the case and finds himself in trouble when every single other witness changes their statement and the Driscoll brothers walk free. In an attempt to live to old age, Boycie and his wife, Marlene (Sue Holderness) and son Tyler (Jack Doolan) move overnight to the secluded town of Oakam, Shropshire, along with their pet Rottweiler, Earl. Upon arrival at Winterdown Farm, Boycie begins to realise that confronting the violent Driscolls, was maybe the easier option.[1] The situation focuses primarily on their futile attempts to run the farm efficiently through utilising the current staff consisting of Elgin Sparrowhawk (David Ross), Bryan (Ivan Kaye), Jed (Peter Heppelthwaite) and Imelda Cakeworthy (Ella Kenion) – the farm's loyal, if a little eccentric staff. As the series progressed, Boycie and Marlene began to settle into their surroundings however, situations arose occasionally – usually involving their Welsh neighbour, Llewellyn. Tyler was soon sent to school to finish his GCSEs, something he really did not want to do but again problems arose as Tyler fell in love with his English teacher.
The snob in Boycie is often his downfall, as he found out when he attended the Agricultural Ball in 2005, where his photo was taken and published in a magazine that stated where he would be that Christmas. However, luck ensured that Boycie remained at home when he was snowed in and missed his plane, thus not getting scammed by con artists and not getting killed by the Driscoll brothers, who had travelled to meet him.
As the series progressed further, Boycie started to use artificial fertiliser on his organic farm, applied to be mayor, fired Mrs Cakeworthy, only to rehire her and, to Marlene's disgust, became infatuated with Tyler's promiscuous French exchange. He also ended up naked in front of Tyler's girlfriend through a massage gone awry, and took part in a pub quiz, in which a £10,000 bet with Llewellyn – of his own money – was up for grabs.[2]
In 2006, a whole year after they escaped, Boycie allowed Marlene to invite her sister Petunia up to stay; she was, however, followed by the Driscoll brothers, without anyone knowing. They attacked the farm's staff and tied them up in the barn (including Boycie's Rottweiler, Earl). When Boycie realised something was wrong he went to investigate the barn only to come face to face with two sawn-off shotguns.[3]
Following the Driscoll brothers' visit, life on Winterdown Farm is calm. Marlene, Tyler and Boycie have settled down and are beginning to enjoy village life. However, they cannot return to Peckham due to a deal between the Driscoll brothers and Boycie – he would allow them to bury a secret item (later revealed to be 5 million Spanish pesetas in cash) on his land and he must protect it. The events of 2006 still had repercussions in 2007, even though Farm Idol was accepting auditions and Earl was missing in the woods. Also, Boycie began to worry about his health after finding out about a genetic similarity between him and past generations (but still worrying about it after finding out that his biological father was a captured Nazi-German pilot). A death was about to hit the farm hard though, Brian's pet turkey, Paxo.
The departure of Lisa Diveney as Beth was then filled with the arrival of Samantha Sutherland, who played Sara, Tyler's new girlfriend. Boycie fell in fear of the Driscoll brothers once more when they turned up at The Grange and machine gunned his front door down when he refused to answer it. Also, paranormal experts investigate the house, Boycie decides to take some old items to the Antiques Roadshow and Boycie and Marlene decide to renew their vows for their fortieth wedding anniversary, but realise they might not be legally married at all.
The humour comes from several sources. The interaction between characters is essential and much is made of the character's individual traits, such as Boycie's snobbery, Elgin's façade of stupidity, Bryan and Jed's general daftness, Imelda's non-cleaning habits and Llewellyn's constant underhand moves. There are also several running gags, including Boycie's attempts to be a gentleman farmer and his yearning for respect which he never gets, Boycie's fear of the Driscoll brothers and Marlene's supposed long-time affair with a now-unseen Del Boy, and the fact that Tyler is hinted to be Del's son.
Main characters
- Boycie - John Challis
- Marlene - Sue Holderness
- Tyler Boyce - Jack Doolan
- Elgin Sparrowhawk - David Ross
- Bryan - Ivan Kaye
- Imelda Cakeworthy - Ella Kenion
- Jed - Peter Heppelthwaite
- Llewellyn Ap Caradog - Alan David
- Beth - Lisa Deveney
- Ray - Nigel Harrison
- Sara - Samantha Sutherland
Guest characters
- Denzil - Paul Barber
- Sid - Roy Heather
- The Driscoll Brothers - Roy Marsden and Christopher Ryan
- Colin Cakeworthy - Paul Brown
- Dora Lane - June Whitfield
- Rhian - Karen Paullada
- Footballer - Michael Usher
- Ricky Hatton - Himself
- Cliff Cooper - George Wendt
- Pertunia - Paula Wilcox
Flashback only
Episodes
Series 1 2005
- Keep On Running (9th September 2005)
- A Rocky Start (16th September 2005)
- The Country Wife (23rd September 2005)
- Hay Fever (30th September 2005)
- Pillow Talk (7th October 2005)
- Sex And The Country (14th October 2005)
- One Flew Over The Cuckoo Clock (2005 Christmas special - 25th December 2005)
Series 2
2006
- Testing Times (15th September 2006)
- Here's To You, Mrs Boyce (22nd September 2006)
- Bothered And Bewildered (29th September 2006)
- Mother Earth (6th October 2006)
- Schoolboy French (13th October 2006)
- More Questions Than Answers (20th October 2006)
- Brothers And Sisters (27th October 2006)
- From Here To Paternity (2006 Christmas special - 25th December 2006)
Series 3
2007
- But Is It Art? (2nd November 2007)
- The Lonely Herdsman (9th November 2007)
- If You Go Down To The Woods (23rd November 2007)
- Sweet Sorrow (3rd December 2007)
- Fifteen Minutes (7th December 2007)
- The Final Curtain (14th December 2007)
- Lust In Translation (21st December 2007)
- The Special Relationship (2007 Christmas special - 30th December 2007)
Series 4
2009
- The Path Of True Love (8th January 2009)
- Home Brew (15th January 2009)
- Calendar Boys (22nd January 2009)
- Animal Instincts (29th January 2009)
- Your Cheating Art (5th February 2009)
- The Departed (12th February 2009)
- I Done It My Way (19 February 2009)
- One Man's Junk (26th February 2009)
- For Richer For Poorer (5th March 2009)