Only Fools and Horses star Sir David Jason says ‘falling through the bar’ was based on theatre stunts
ONLY Fools and Horses star Sir David Jason says the “falling through the bar” scene was based on similar stunts on stage.
He told how the writer John Sullivan once saw a man “nearly” fall through a bar hatch.
Jason, 80, said: “John asked me, ‘Shall we do it’? I said ‘Yes but I’ll fall through the hatch’.
He said, ‘Why? And I said ‘Because it’s really funny and I know it works’.”
He said in stage farces there was a sofa which he fell off.
He recalled: “I would get a big laugh.”
The 1989 scene is often voted funniest-ever.
Jason said playing Del Boy in the BBC sitcom was “bittersweet”.
He said on the My Time Capsule podcast: “It’s a bit like a ghost, it keeps coming back to haunt you.”
The sketch, originally broadcast as part of the episode Yuppy Love on January 8 1989, shows Jason's character Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter asking Trigger how to woo 'modern Euro-birds.'
As he spots two women looking over, Del Boy tells Trigger, played by the late Roger Lloyd Pack: 'Play it nice and cool, son, nice and cool - you know what I mean?', before disappearing through the bar.
In 2008, Empire magazine placed Only Fools and Horses 42nd on their list of 'The 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time' and cited 'Yuppy Love' as the show's best episode.
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