Only Fools and Horses creator's forgotten sitcom was pulled despite 15 million viewers

Legendary sitcom writer and creator John Sullivan's enduring legacy is Only Fools and Horses. It is the show he is most associated with and which dominated most of his professional life. However, it wasn't the only iconic comedy he penned for the BBC and one of his other offerings had a remarkable audience of 15 million people for it's final episode, despite only running for two seasons between 1986 and 1987. Alongside the two series, there was one special, meaning there was a total of just 14 episodes made.

The title of the show refers to the Dear John letters, which were written by women to their partners to end a relationship. Hammer horror legend Ralph Bates played John, who learned his wife Kate (played by 2 Point 4 Children's Belinda Lang), was leaving him for a friend in the opening episode throwing his life into complete disarray.

He found himself tossed out of the home he was still paying the mortgage on while being forced to live a lonely existence in lodgings.

Although he tried to carry on with his life he felt disengaged from his son, who he only saw on Sundays, forcing them to vist the zoo as there was nowhere else open.

Hoping to engage with some similarly desperate souls he joined a 1-2-1 Singles Club and the motley crew he encountered contributed much of the comedy.

The show was a huge hit with critics and audiences alike, and the last episode is believed to have had 15 millon viewers, an unthinkable figure these days, yet it never got a proper finale or returned for a third season.

However, this was not down to the BBC - rather Sullivan himself called a halt to the show believing he had taken the story as far as he could.

Any hopes fans had of a revival was quashed when Bates tragically died from pancreatic cancer four years later on March 27, 1991 at the age of 51.

He had been diagnosed with the disease just ten weeks and one day before his death.

In 1988, an American adaptation of Dear John was produced by Paramount for the NBC network, starring Judd Hirsch. That series lasted for four seasons.