Delboy's the business

They are probably the most famous purveyors of tat in Britain.

And with their one-legged turkeys and telescopic trees, loveable rogue Derek Trotter and his hapless brother Rodney have entertained millions of Christmas viewers since Only Fools And Horses first graced our television screens more than two decades ago.

Now their seasonal episodes have been voted as the best specials ever in a survey of 4,000 people.

The top 10 list boasts an impressive four entries by the Trotter brothers and their shifty pub companions.

The most memorable episode, according to those surveyed, was the 1996 special, Heroes And Villains, in which Del and Rodney, dressed as Batman and Robin for a fancy dress party, become accidental crimefighters.

Miami Twice, in which Del is mistaken for a Mafia godfather while on holiday in Florida, came second.

The Trotters missed out on a Christmas hattrick as third place went to the 1986 EastEnders special, when Dirty Den served divorce papers on Angie, followed in fourth by the classic 1977 Morecambe and Wise special that featured the pair's classic lampooning of Andre Previn.

But Only Fools And Horses reappears to take seventh and ninth place on a list of 25 Christmas programmes which customers at Woolworths were asked to rank in order of preference.

Seventh is The Jolly Boys' Outing, the story of Rodney's arrest on a trip to Margate from 1989 and then at number nine is To Hull And Back, the 1985 tale of the brothers' ill-fated journey to Amsterdam to collect some diamonds.

Gill Hudson, editor of the Radio Times, said: "Every great sitcom has two great things in common. First, scenes that everyone remembers and constantly refers back to as a kind of emotional touchstone - a great moment of shared enjoyment.

Secondly, words or phrases that pass into everyday vocabulary. Only Fools And Horses has got bucketloads of both."

Ms Hudson added: "The other real strength of the show is that the writing has always been excellent and the characters utterly distinctive. They are based on common human foibles but at a safe enough distance - sarf London low life, nontraditional family (two brothers of very different temperaments and with a huge age gap) for us all to have a laugh without feeling under attack."