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Sir David Jason has recalled the errant plot decision that precipitated the end of Only Fools and Horses.
The actor, 84, played cockney wheeler-dealer Del Boy across seven seasons and sixteen Christmas specials between 1981 and 2003.
Speaking at a fan convention, Jason singled out the 1996 Christmas special “Time On Our Hands” as the moment that ultimately stifled the long-running sitcom – by making Del Boy and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) millionaires.
“There was nowhere to go after the Trotters became millionaires and it all worked out,” Jason said (per The Mirror). “It was the end of a journey and the journey was that struggle for survival, the struggle for the family, the way that they behaved, that interaction and all of that stuff that made the Trotters ceased to exist once they had become millionaires, if you like.”
After Del Boy and Rodney were given their happy ending, Only Fools and Horses nonetheless returned for three further Christmas specials.
In the 2001-2003 episodes, written by John Sullivan, the duo were sent back to their flat in Peckham after losing their fortune.
“It wasn’t that John had run out of steam so much, but he was so used to working mentally with all of the characters, the style of the cut and thrust of learning to survive on the edge of disaster, as it were,” Jason said.
In an interview earlier this year, Jason’s co-star star Sue Holderness issued a defence of a “controversial” episode of Only Fools and Horses that tackled transracial adoption.
The episode in question was the season five premiere “From Prussia with Love”, in which Del Boy attempts to sell a baby born to a pregnant German woman to Boycie (John Challis) and Marlene (Holderness).
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When the couple learn that the baby is mixed race, they pull out of the adoption.
Speaking on the Only Fools and Horses Podcast, Holderness said:“It’s a very controversial episode now because everybody’s being so careful about what they say about everything. There have been many people who have said they don’t want to see that episode anymore or suggested that maybe you shouldn’t see that episode.
“But when I say many people, it’s probably about three.”
She continued: “Very little in Only Fools is offensive to anybody, I think. It’s the love of family that is so overwhelming... It’s so lovely that there is so much love out there still for the show.
“And I think that’s part of the reason for that. You know, this family, though his business dealings weren’t always absolutely as they should be, but you know, they don’t drink and drive, they don’t take drugs, they don’t swear. It’s gorgeous family entertainment. We miss it.”
