Just Good Friends

John Sullivan was one of the best British comedy writers ever and this sitcom proves that.

Each episode is well crafted with lots of warm hearted moments that puts the crude comedy of today to shame. Every character is three dimensional and real to the point where we root for them and wish them well.

It is such a shame that this sitcom is not repeated very often because lots of the jokes still remain as funny as they were when the show was first broadcast.

However the biggest shame is that John Sullivan is still not around today to create more fantastic moments of comedy like he has in this great BBC sitcom.

It seems amazing that it is roughly 23 years since this sit-com was broadcast on BBC, but to me it is one of the most endearing and enjoyable comedies that the BBC ever produced.

The chemistry between the two main characters, Penny and Vince, is quite addictive, and it is helped by the fact that the two actors who took the parts, Jan Francis and Paul Nicholas, were both extremely good-looking in their own right, and apparently off-screen shared a similar sense of humour. The supporting cast, {in particular Sylvia Kay as Daphne, Pennys mother} helped this comedy to become a true classic, almost ageless in quality.

John Sullivan has often received so many plaudits for the great 'Only Fools And Horses' and rightly so, but to me personally, Just Good Friends had everything that you could want in entertainment, a great cast, good story lines, great one-liners, plenty of laughter, sadness, and hope. I just hope that todays generation will get a glimpse of it sometime, and become as addicted as I did.

Just good friends is a magnificent piece of work, writing and acting. As with most John Sullivan's scripts it just gells and is professionally and very cleverly written. People say Only Fools and Horses is his best work but I disagree. I found OFAH ok but it went on to long for me. Just good friend along with Dear John are my favourite. Both main characters from Just good friends are brilliant the rest of the cast do a fantastic job also. Considering the age of this (early 80s) it still holds up well today. Just goes to show the strength and calibre of the writing. It's such a shame John Sullivan is no longer with us. There doesn't seem to be writers around today who can produce classics like this.

Didn't realise this drivel was written by John Sullivan, the man who copied every character - episode - storyline from Steptoe & Son to write Only fools and horses. Don't believe me then watch every episode of Steptoe then go watch Only fools and you'll see the names Rodney, Delboy, Alby-Albert etc etc all mentioned in Steptoe. This Just good friends is utter drivel where every episode is the same. Awful show from a conman.

The series follows the wavering relationship between two ex-lovers, Penny Warrender, a secretary for an advertising firm, and Vincent Pinner, an ex-ice cream salesman turned turf-accountant (bookmaker) who is the son of a wealthy scrap-metal merchant. The couple split up following Vincent's decision not to marry Penny on their wedding day, leaving her at the altar. In the pilot episode, 5 years since their intended wedding day, they meet again by chance in a pub while out on individual dates. They decide to forget the past and become friends, although the rekindling of their relationship is not welcomed by Penny's snobbish parents, particularly her mother Daphne.

i saw this 19 years after it was first released. the BBC have started running it from the start, and i couldn't move after watching the World Cup on tv, and on this popped -- i remember being a kid when this was on, but didn't know anything about it -- anyways, the first episode got me suckered in with a reminiscing jerk of the emotions... i have seen about 7 episodes now, and the one liners can be great, the inter-action between the 2 leads is cute, and i'm interested to see the direction it will go :)

not as good as only fools and horses (sullivan's more renowned comedy series) but very good nonetheless... oh, and i really dig that theme song! ;)