Sir David Jason said he was “full of anticipation” to watch Only Fools And Horses The Musical for the first time.
After a four-year run on the West End, the stage production based on the hit BBC comedy has returned for a UK and Ireland tour.
Sir David, who played Derek “Del Boy” Trotter in the sitcom, said original writer John Sullivan would be happy to see the show’s continued success as the musical adaptation opened at the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo on Wednesday.
“I’m sure John would be as pleased as punch to see how successful it is, because it’s still reaching the audience that he wrote it for,” Sir David told the PA news agency ahead of the stage performance.
The show has been adapted by Mr Sullivan’s son Jim and actor Paul Whitehouse.
Following a string of London dates, the show will perform on stages in Newcastle, Oxford, Cardiff and Liverpool, and will conclude across five dates in Dublin in July.
“I’m full of anticipation,” Sir David, dressed in Del Boy’s signature flat cap, told PA ahead of the London performance.
“I’ve heard that it’s very good, but I’m going to make my own mind up when I see it.
“It’s getting big houses, which is the main thing, so people are telling each other how good it is.”
The London cast features ex-footballer Vinnie Jones making his stage acting debut as one half of the notorious Driscoll brothers, crime boss Danny Driscoll, alongside comedy star Whitehouse, who reprises the role of Grandad “Ted” Trotter.
It features elements from the whole series and took five years to complete, as well as having an original score including contributions from the late Chas Hodges.
“I’ll tell you one of the things I’ve discovered about Only Fools And Horses, because it’s nearly 40 years ago when the first episode came out,” Sir David said.
It's a show that can appeal right across the board to your mother, your grandmother, your kids and all that, and that is one of the things that I love about the show
“I mean that is (a) terribly long time, even for me.
“But one of the things about it is that it was written by a guy (John Sullivan) who knew the area he was talking about, he came from there.
“So, not only was he just gifted, a brilliant writer, but he knew his characters, and he knew what it was like to be there.”
Sir David also noted the lack of “any bad language” as a major pull factor to the series.
“There are a lot of words in the show that describe unfortunate swearing, but they’re cleverly disguised, covered in words like ‘you plonker’, things like that,” he told PA.
“That sounds funny, and it is, but it’s not vulgar.
“What I’m saying is that it’s a show that can appeal right across the board to your mother, your grandmother, your kids and all that, and that is one of the things that I love about the show.”
The production is led by the original West End director Caroline Jay Ranger.
It follows Del Boy as he tries to find his soulmate while brother Rodney ties the knot with Cassandra, and Boycie and Marlene give parenthood one final shot.
The tour kicked off in Bromley in September and will travel to more than 30 towns and cities up and down the country, culminating in Ireland in July.
It has been described as a “feelgood family celebration of traditional working-class London life in 1989 and the aspirations we all share”.
The original series, written by Sullivan, first aired on the BBC in 1981.
It featured the colourful escapades of market trader Del Boy (Sir David) and his less streetwise younger brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) as they went through the highs and lows of life trying to become rich.
Sir David was best known for his role as Del Boy but also starred as Detective Inspector Jack Frost in A Touch Of Frost, Granville in Open All Hours and Still Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in The Darling Buds Of May during his career.
