Comedy interview: Boycie and Marlene

Thursday 4th February 2010

Natalie Hale talks to Only Fools and Horses’ favourites Sue Holderness and John Challis about their new stage show

They may have spent most of their marriage tearing strips out of each other, but Boycie and Marlene are still going strong after nearly 30 years.

“We’ve had a jolly good run, haven’t we?,” laughs Sue Holderness, who played tart-with-a-heart Marlene in the nation’s favourite sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

“I went into Only Fools and Horses in 1981, so as Boycie and Marlene, John and I have racked up well over quarter of a century as a married couple. That’s a record you know. There’s no other TV couple that have lasted so long – Terry and June only managed 20 years. And it looks like we might be knocking up a few more!”

Television’s long-serving on screen couple are showing no signs of heading for the divorce courts. Sue and John Challis, who played the larger-than-life Boycie, are together again touring the country in the imaginatively titled Boycie and Marlene.

“We had gone out separately on cruises doing little shows of our own and were then asked to do something together,” explains John. “We cobbled together our two shows on the seas and they seemed to go terribly well, so we wondered what would happen if we did it on dry land!

“It’s really the story of the two of them,” continues John. “We’ll be going in and out of character, sharing some of the show’s most memorable moments, talking about our experiences behind the scenes and sharing anecdotes on other stuff Sue and I have done together, like our spin-off sitcom The Green Green Grass.

“There will be a Q&A, pictures and memorabilia and some entirely new bits.”

Unlike the rough diamond with the Peckham drawl that she portrays so well, Sue is bright, well-spoken and witty. John is down-to-earth, affable and funny – and he even throws in Boycie’s trademark “Mar-leeeene!” for my amusement.

Still, it’s a bit surreal chatting to the two of them together. Boycie and Marlene are simply part of the nation’s consciousness.

“I think the main reason why they are so loved is because everybody seems to know a Boycie or Marlene. Everybody knows a secondhand dealer type.

“Also, people love watching this really pompous git, who grandly parades himself with all this pride, get the rug pulled out from under him.”

One of British television’s finest ever sitcoms, Only Fools and Horses ran for more than 20 years and viewers never seem to tire of the endless repeats.

“It’s wonderful to have been involved in something that means so much to people. It can be quite amusing actually when you see people in the street waiting until you walk past before shouting out ‘Mar-leeeene’ and then giggling like a bunch of school girls. It’s nice to have invented this catchphrase that has stuck around for so long.

“Sometimes, if you’re in a private situation, you can do without the shouts and the Boycie laugh, but you can’t really put a sign around your neck saying ‘I’m not in Boycie mode today’. And at the end of the day, it’s a bit of fun.”

Sue adds, “You get recognised in the strangest of places. The one that really shocked me was when I was doing a tour around India. We were driving out of Delhi and there was this grotty little motorbike garage with a table outside saying ‘Del’s Diner’ and as I went past someone sitting at the table shouted out ‘Mar-leeeene’. I thought that was extraordinary.”

John made his appearance as wide boy Boycie in the first series of Only Fools, but it was never the writer’s intention for the audience to see his tarty wife.

“She was ‘Er indoors – referred to but never seen,” explains Sue. “It was sheer luck really that John Sullivan was writing an episode in which Del and Rodney were looking after a dog and he had this idea that Boycie could give it to Marlene because she couldn’t have children.

“I thought that it was just a half day’s work, so it was really rather thrilling when I had a call from John Sullivan a couple weeks later saying they liked Marlene and would I come back. It was a life-changing phone call.”

As part of their new tour, Sue and John will be performing at Weston’s Playhouse. The pair are no strangers to the South West, as much of Only Fools was filmed in the city. The market scenes were filmed in Bristol City’s car park, while the flats used as Nelson Mandela House are directly outside the stadium.

“I’m looking forward to the Weston show,” says John. “I live not far away in Herefordshire and I was actually born in Bristol. Apparently, I was born near the Clifton Suspension Bridge – unkind people say I was born underneath it!

“We filmed a lot of Only Fools in Bristol. It became too difficult to do it in London because as soon as word got out that we were filming, the whole population of London seemed to turn up. We always enjoyed location filming in Bristol – it’s a great city.”

So with over 25 years of “married life” under their belts, I wonder how much longer this on-screen romance will continue?

“We love doing Boycie and Marlene,” chuckles John. “We’ve done Only Fools and Horses, The Green Green Grass and this live show is yet another extension of the Boycie and Marlene story – who knows how much more life there is in them?”

Sue smilingly concludes, “Truthfully, John and I would like to go on being Boycie and Marlene until we are staggering around in our zimmer frames.”

Boycie and Marlene appears at Weston’s Playhouse Theatre on Saturday, February 20. Tickets cost £12-£14 – call 01934 645544.