Sir David Jason believes family values are to thank for the success of ‘Only Fools and Horses’.
The 74-year-old actor, who played wide boy Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in the popular comedy, admits telling the story of Del and his brother Rodney’s (Nicholas Lyndhurst) journey through life allowed viewers to connect with them, resulting in its success.
He said: Nobody had done one before about families and, of course, everyone has a family. You’ve either got a family or in a family. One of the things that [writer] John [Sullivan] put his heart into was that he knew London, and he knew its people. He knew all about the world he was writing about and family was desperately important to him."
The ‘Still Open All Hours’ star – who is counting down the nation’s favourite episodes in a new show – also revealed he never thought of ‘OFAH’ as a sitcom, but rather as a "comedy drama" because of the development of the characters.
Speaking about talking with Nicholas and Lennard Pearce, who played Del and Rodney’s Granddad, after they landed the roles, he explained: "We went to the bar and we were elated to get the jobs, and I said to the pair of them – because I’d had a little bit of experience of sitcoms – that his wasn’t a sitcom, I’d call it more a comedy drama. What we’ve got here is a comedy drama. From that moment on and the way we approached it, OFAH changed the way sitcoms were viewed.
"You had a very strong narrative, and the characters were being funny during the journey they were going on."
Sir David presents ‘Only Fools and Horses: The Favourites’, nightly at 9pm from 31st January on Gold
Sir David Jason thanks family values for Only Fools and Horses success
