Only Fools and Horses secrets revealed as show hits 40 – & you’ll never guess which sexy star was snubbed for major role
THE NATION’S favourite sitcom, Only Fools And Horses, is 40 years old this week.
The show about wheeler-dealer market traders the Trotters and their pals in Peckham, South East London, was first broadcast on September 8, 1981, and ran for 64 episodes until 2003.
During its long run it attracted fans from all walks of life including the Royal Family, and it still holds the record for the most-watched comedy ever after 24.3million people tuned in to watch stars Del and Rodney finally become millionaires.
Here, the author of Only Fools And Horses: The Official Inside Story presents 40 little-known facts about the much-loved show . . .
1. John Sullivan only wrote Only Fools because he was desperate for cash after his first telly series, Citizen Smith, ended and his next show, Over The Moon, about a run-down soccer team, was cancelled.
2. The show was born at The Three Kings pub in North End Road, Fulham, West London, where John went with his producer friend Ray Butt to drown his sorrows when Over The Moon was axed.
3. John’s script for the first episode had the show called Readies.
The name was changed to Only Fools And Horses despite opposition from BBC execs.
A straw poll was held in the BBC bar asking what the saying meant. Some people thought it was a quote from Shakespeare, while others thought it was the title of jockey Lester Piggott’s autobiography.
It actually came from the Vaudeville Theatre days in America.
4. Only Fools still holds the record for the highest-rated comedy ever after 24.3million people tuned in to the 1996 episode Time On Our Hands.
5. Part of John’s inspiration for Del was a man he knew called Chicky Stocker.
He said: “He was a working-class Londoner and a tough man but always dressed very neatly.
“He wasn’t the sort of bloke you’d go out of your way to annoy but nevertheless he was very nice.”
6. One of Del’s favourite phrases, “Bonnet de douche”, came about after John spotted it in a hotel room in Ramsgate, Kent. It means shower cap.
7. Nicholas Lyndhurst was first to be cast, as dopey Rodney. He was just 19. The inspiration for the character came from John himself.
He said: “I was a dreamer and an idealist, just like Rodders.”
8. Veteran actor Lennard Pearce was hired to play Grandad. Lennard, who served with the Army entertainment unit ENSA during World War Two, was thrilled to be famous after a long but unrecognised career.
He once told Nicholas he had met Hitler in a theatre while on tour in Berlin in the late Thirties. He was in a room when the fuhrer and all his cronies came in.
Nicholas said: “He told me, ‘Knowing what I do now, what I wouldn’t have given for a gun’.”
9. In 1997 Chief Schools Inspector Chris Woodhead blasted the show’s morals.
John hit back, pointing out that the Trotters weren’t violent, didn’t take drugs, cared about their family and that some of Del Boy’s business arrangements might not have fared well in court but, compared to the activities of some business executives, he was squeaky- clean.
10. Casting the crucial role of Del wasn’t easy.
The first two actors wanted for the part – Jim Broadbent, then Enn Reitel – were each too busy.
Robin Nedwell from Doctor In The House, and The Bill’s Billy Murray, were also considered.
11. Producer Ray Butt wanted David Jason, then starring in Open All Hours, to get the job, but he faced opposition from BBC bosses and John, who wasn’t sure he was right for the role.
12. David would never have played the role had he not suffered what was a major stroke of bad luck in 1967.
John’s school days inspired him to give Rodney just two exam passes, which Del was very proud of
He was offered the part of bumbling Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army, which Clive Dunn had turned down.
David, then just 27 but already building a reputation for playing old men, was thrilled but then gutted when Clive changed his mind and three hours later the job offer was withdrawn.
13. The original costume design for Del Boy saw him having a beer belly, dyed and blow-dried hair, tight trousers and built-up heels in his shoes.
14. When the show ended David kept a few souvenirs – two bottles of Peckham Spring Water and a flat cap.
15. One of the viewers’ favourite gags – that Del’s Trotter Independent Traders spells TIT – came about by accident.
John explained: “I’d love to say it was deliberate from the start but it wasn’t, it was a pure accident.”
16. John’s school days inspired him to give Rodney just two exam passes, which Del was very proud of.
The writer recalled: “There was a kid in school with us who had two GCEs and he went round acting like he was Einstein.
Whenever there was an argument, he’d behave like his two GCEs made him automatically right. I thought that was pathetic.”
17. Sue Holderness, who played Boycie’s wife Marlene, left, still keeps a supply of gaudy clothes in her wardrobe so that she can dress up like Marlene when she’s asked to open charity fetes.
18. The first episode was broadcast on BBC1 at 8.30pm on Tuesday, September 8, 1981.
Viewing figures were a respectable 9.2million, but went down for the rest of series and by the end of it BBC bosses wanted to dump it.
20. The first series went out with a different theme tune.
The BBC had received letters asking what Only Fools And Horses meant so it was decided they would change the theme tune to one John had written to explain it.
Only Fools was never filmed in Peckham. The original Nelson Mandela House, where the Trotters lived, was in Acton, North London.
The original costume design for Del Boy saw him having a beer belly, dyed and blow-dried hair, tight trousers and built-up heels in his shoes
But once the show became popular, filming had to move out of the capital because crowds became disruptive.
Exterior scenes were filmed all over the country. There was a version of The Nags Head in Hull, Ipswich and Brighton.
21. Tragedy hit the show in December 1984 when Lennard died after suffering a heart attack.
Instead of replacing him, a new older character, Uncle Albert, was created.
Buster Merryfield, inset below left, got the part after producer Ray saw his picture and thought he looked like Captain Birdseye.
Buster, real name Harry, had been a bank manager for 40 years before becoming a professional actor.
22. After Lennard died, David said the team briefly considered bringing in a new character, an Auntie Doris instead of a man.
But he said: “You couldn’t say, ‘Shut up you old git’ to a woman or bundle her into the back of the van.”
23. David is a qualified helicopter and glider pilot and was disappointed when he wasn’t allowed to do his own hang-gliding for the 1986 episode Tea For Three.
24. The 1983 episode Who’s A Pretty Boy? featured the only appearance by actress Eva Mottley as Denzil’s wife Corinne.
Tragically, she died of a drugs overdose in 1985.
25. Buster was teetotal, so Uncle Albert’s rum was a mixture of Coca-Cola and water.
26. Del’s jewellery was all fake and had to be replaced between each series because the gold paint would rub off – with one exception.
His “D” necklace was specially made, for £70.
27. Classic 1982 episode A Touch Of Glass, where a chandelier crashed to the floor, was inspired by a real-life incident involving John’s father.
He recalled: “Seven men got the sack, including my dad.” The TV chandelier which dropped and smashed was a prop, but still cost £6,000.
28. The antique watch that made Del and Rodney multi-millionaires in 1996 episode Time On Our Hands, did actually exist and really is missing.
Three different brass watches were used for filming, each costing £1,000.
One of them was sold at an auction, in 2018, for £28,000.
David is a qualified helicopter and glider pilot and was disappointed when he wasn’t allowed to do his own hang-gliding for the 1986 episode Tea For Three
29. David was once stitched up by a real-life Del Boy. He explained: “I went to this place in Dubai where they sell cheap perfume and aftershave.
I bought half a dozen bottles for a fiver. Later I found out why it was so cheap.
When you take the top off, it smells OK, but then a few days afterwards it smells like cabbage water.”
30. The show has been sold all over the world, including Croatia, Greece and Israel.
There have been lots of remakes, too, including: Wat Schuift’t? (What’s It Worth?) in Holland, O Fura-Vidas (Outside Of The Law) in Portugal and Brat Bratu (Brother To Brother) in Slovenia.
31. Del’s yellow van is a Reliant Regal Supervan III. The model has not been made for decades and is now a collectors’ item.
32. David and Nicholas had met before they began working on Only Fools.
Nicholas had interviewed him about his 1976 series Lucky Feller while hosting an LWT kids’ programme called Our Show.
33. Among the show’s many famous fans are the Royal Family, who regularly requested advance copies of episodes.
Nicholas said: “I guess they must have liked them because they never gave them back.”
34. “Lovely jubbly” came from the slogan for an ice-lolly brand, Jubbly, which was popular in the 1950s and used the advertising slogan “Lubberly Jubbly”.
35. Patrick Murray, who played would-be wideboy Mickey Pearce, left, once had an accident a few days before filming and had his arm put in plaster.
Rather than leave him out, John incorporated it into the script for the Little Problems episode.
36. Lots of famous faces appeared in the series: Bee Gees star Barry Gibb made a guest appearance in Miami Twice – Oh To Be In England (1991), TV presenter Aled Jones was among 100 drama students hired to play rioters in Fatal Extraction (1993), Carry On veteran Joan Sims appeared as a friend of Del and Rodney’s mum in The Frog’s Legacy (1987), Richard Branson played himself in Miami Twice: The American Dream (1991) and Jonathan Ross played himself in If They Could See Us Now (2001).
37. David Beckham appeared with Del and Rodney in a special episode for Sport Relief in 2014.
“Lovely jubbly” came from the slogan for an ice-lolly brand
Trigger, played by Roger Lloyd-Pack, was also due to appear and would have been seen walking into Sid’s Cafe and saying, “All right, Dave?” to which Becks and Rodney would have both replied: “All right, Trig!” Sadly, Roger was too ill.
He died a few days after filming.
38. When the cast and crew got together to film three episodes in 2003, there were plans for a scene in which Del would appear on ITV gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
But rival broadcasters ITV and the BBC could not agree terms so the idea was dropped.
39. When the show needed a newborn baby to play Del and Raquel’s son Damien, a member of the production team went into a maternity ward at the hospital where they were filming, and said: “Hands up who’s had a baby in the last hour and is prepared to lend it to the BBC?”
40. Gwyneth Strong, who played Rodney’s wife Cassandra, won the part ahead of other actresses including Liz Hurley.
