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Update – 14 January 2010: since this press release was posted on 3 July 2009 the title of the programme has been changed to Rock & Chips.

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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy Production and Shazam Productions have been commissioned by ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One to make a new 90-minute comedy drama which focuses on the earlier years of Peckham's most famous family, the Trotters, it was announced today.

It's 1960 and Peckham's answer to Brigitte Bardot, Joan Trotter, is not-so-happily ensconced with the work-shy Reg Trotter and her teenage son, Derek. But the reappearance of "art connoisseur" Freddie Robdal, fresh from a 10-year stay as a guest of Her Majesty, is set to ruffle some feathers in the Trotter household.

Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips is written by Only Fools And Horses creator John Sullivan, will be produced by Gareth Gwenlan and executive produced by Mark Freeland for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy.

Mark Freeland, Head of Comedy at the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ, says: "'Once upon a time in Peckham...' How incredibly tantalising. Nearly 30 years since Only Fools And Horses hit our screens, now we'll have the chance to see the vivid, bittersweet drama that underpinned the iconic series."

A co-production between in-house ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy and John Sullivan's production company, Shazam Productions, Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips will start shooting, entirely on location in London, in August, for transmission next year.

The comedy drama will centre on the relationships between the glamorous (certain neighbours might say "tarty") Joan Trotter, Del Boy's useless father, Reg, the safe-cracker Freddie Robdal and the young Del Boy himself.

And there will be a chance to see the teenage incarnations of some familiar faces including Boycie, Trigger, Denzil and Jumbo Mills.

The Trotter family haven't yet moved into their flat in Nelson Mandela House, but there'll be some recognisable settings such as the mean streets of Peckham and the Nag's Head circa-1960.

Writer John Sullivan says: "Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips will be set in the real Sixties, before The Beatles and Mary Quant made London the coolest place on the planet.

"The drama will feature South London at its least glamorous, where money was scarce, the staple diet was rock salmon and chips and the flicks offer the only hint of glamour.

"And it will give us a bit of an insight into why Del and Rodney turned out they way they did."

Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips is a co-production between Shazam Productions and ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Comedy and was commissioned by Jay Hunt, Controller, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One, and Lucy Lumsden, former Controller, Comedy Commissioning.

FW

Information for viewers

More content about Sex, Drugs & Rock 'n' Chips will be posted, as transmission approaches, on this page: