Sir David Jason saw it as a "huge blow" when he didn’t make ‘Monty Python’.
The 77-year-old legend may have a highly successful acting career – with roles in ‘Open All Hours’, ‘Porridge’ and ‘Only Fools and Horses’ to name a few – but he was devastated when he found out his friends were concocting a plan to create the comedy show without him and he sometimes wonders how different it would have been if he’d been included.
Speaking in his new show ‘David Jason: My Life on Screen’, he said: "Missing out on ‘Monty Python’ was a real blow at the time.
"I sometimes wonder how things would have been different if I had been invited to join Monty Python, but as the saying goes, one door closes another opens."
Shortly after he was rejected from the comedy group, David became good friends with the late Ronnie Barker and he believes he owes a lot of his "life and career" to the star.
He explained: "Ronnie would become both a wonderful friend and a great teacher to me. I owe him a great deal for the life and career that I have had.
"He was such a genius. I used to call him the guv’nor, because he was."
David later secured the role of Del Boy in the comedy ‘Only Fools and Horses’ but has admitted he was shocked when he found out he’d been chosen to play the character.
He said: "Against the odds, I got the part.
"For inspiration I went back to my own working-class roots and ¬remembered a real life East End wheeler-dealer I met whilst working as an electrician, Derek Hockley. He impressed me so much that I thought that has got to be Del Boy. It was the age of the yuppie and oversized mobile phones. Millions of wannabe entrepreneurs all with plans of how to get rich quick. Del Boy captured the moment. After two decades on television it brought me a level of fame way beyond anything I had expected."
And, although he’s achieved huge success in the UK, he’s never wanted to spread his wings and attempt to crack the US – despite having offers – because he’s too busy.
He explained: "Despite offers I have never felt the urge to try to make it in Hollywood. There are too many interesting parts for me to play here."
With offers still flooding in, David is adamant he has no plans to retire any time soon.
He added: "I have been so fortunate. I always say, it is not the arrival, it is the journey. And there is still more to the journey left hopefully. I will continue to entertain the great British public. Because that is what I love doing."
Sir David Jason: It was a ‘huge’ blow to not make Monty Python
