David Jason talks iconic Only Fools and Horses moment
Sir David Jason spontaneously delivered a line during an iconic Only Fools and Horses scene to successfully shift the audience’s attention. The legendary entertainer hinted at how different the fan-favourite moment could have been if he hadn’t ad-libbed an 11-word phrase.
In December 1982, the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses premiered its season two finale, ‘A Touch of Glass’. The Ray Butt-directed offering sees the Trotters being hired to clean two Louis XIV chandeliers owned by Lord and Lady Ridgemere (played by Geoffrey Toone and Elizabeth Benson, respectively).
The Trotters - Del Boy (David Jason), Rodney Trotter (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Grandad (Leonard Pearce)- all attend the job at a Dorset mansion, but disaster strikes when the latter unscrews the holding bolt of one of the pendants. Unbeknown to Del Boy and Rodney, Grandad has unscrewed one of the chandeliers, but unfortunately, it’s not the one they’re standing under with a blanket to catch it.
The chandelier crashes to the floor, swiftly followed by the second, and the trio are forced to flee the mansion in their van. 84-year-old David has since revealed a line his character says during the chandelier smash scene was born out of his desire to “improve the joke”.
On Tuesday (October 8), the industry veteran discussed whether he believed any Only Fools and Horses scenes were “iconic” with Absolute Radio hosts Richie Firth and Andy Bush. “I don’t think I prefer any because there are so many,” he began.
“But my experience on the stage was always important and brought back to me ways to improve the joke.
“For example, when we set up the chandelier in the background of the shot was the other chandelier that was eventually going to fall.
“But what I decided to do is that as we go up the stairs, I say to Nick - which I ad-libbed - ‘Now, careful Rodders because this is going to be quite heavy.”
The father-of-two claimed he wanted to “bring the audience in to concentrate on” one of the chandeliers because he wanted them to think they were in the know.
“So they were so busy on that, that when [the other one] went crash, they went ‘No, no, it couldn’t. They’re on the wrong one’,” he added.
Following the conversation, fans have come out in droves to debate David’s revelation, with one user of X, formerly known as Twitter, calling it: “Genius”.
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“Icon is an overused word as is legend, but in this particular case those words aren’t big enough! Comedic genius and an incredible actor. Love DJ,” commented a second user.
Someone else typed: “National Treasure, I hate seeing him so old.”
David’s new autobiography This Time Next Year is set to be released on Thursday (October 10).
According to Penguin Publishing, the 304-page memoir sees the star revealing “hard-won wisdom of a life doggedly led getting through one day, looking to the next, and always chasing what's new on the horizon.”
You can pre-order David Jason: This Time Next Year now.
