Sir David Jason made a rare public appearance for the Only Fools and Horses The Musical gala in London on Wednesday night.
The actor, 84, played Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in the beloved BBC comedy which aired from 1981 to 1991, followed by several Christmas specials which ended in 2003.
Posing for photos backstage at the Eventim Apollo, he was joined by Sam Lupton, who took on his iconic character for the UK tour.
David looked dapper in a red zip-up jumper which he wore with a suede jacket and a pair of beige trousers.
Also present were Vinny Jones, who plays Danny Driscoll in the musical, and Paul Whitehouse, who took on the role of Grandpa.
Chas and Dave star Dave Peacock was on hand for the opening night, accompanied by his late wife Joan Hodges.
Sir David Jason made a rare public appearance for the Only Fools and Horses The Musical gala in London on Wednesday night (pictured with Sam Lupton)
The actor, 84, played Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in the beloved BBC comedy which ran from 1981 to 1991, followed by several Christmas specials which ended in 2003.
Only Fools and Horses The Musical will run for 28 performances at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo from December 17.
The show is now on a national tour until July 5 next year, following its record-breaking four-year sell-out West End tour.
Sir David reportedly almost left Only Fools And Horses during its prime in 1986 and an almost completely different ending was written for Del Boy’s character.
According the sunAs the actor contemplated leaving, head writer John Sullivan wrote a possible final episode called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
The episode aired that year but almost had a very different ending. It saw a character called Jumbo Mills arrive in Peckham after supposedly making a fortune while living in Australia.
The initial idea was for Jumbo to cross paths with Del and tempt him to return to Australia with him to make his fortune there.
This would have given David the opportunity to make a clean break from the show while preparing for the series to continue without him.
Producers were reportedly contemplating making Nicholas Lyndhurst the star of a new version of the show called Hot Rod, centered on his character Rodney.
Also present was Paul Whitehouse, who has taken on the role of the grandfather.
Vinny Jones plays Danny Driscoll in the stage adaptation
David looked stylish in a red zip-up sweater which he wore with a suede jacket and a pair of beige trousers (LR Georgina Hagen, Sam, Craig Berry, Tom Major and Vinnie)
Chas and Dave star Dave Peacock was on hand for the opening night, accompanied by his late wife Joan Hodges.
He was wearing a blue plaid shirt with a striped jacket.
While the fate of Only Fools And Horses was at stake, David eventually changed his mind and decided to stay with the series.
The episode aired with Del rejecting Jumbo Mils’ offer to go to Australia.
David previously told how he feels like Del’s ‘ghost’ is following him and feels like the character is looming over him.
He said, “That Derek Trotter thing, it’s some kind of ghost that comes after me like A Christmas Story.”
The star expressed frustration that despite a decades-long career in film and television, he is best known for playing Del Boy.
He said that the character “just leaves me behind, it just bothers me a little bit because it seems to be the only thing people remember me for.”
“In a way I’m delighted that it’s reached so many people and they’ve enjoyed what I’ve done with the character, but I’ve done so many other things that everyone seems to have forgotten. It’s like I’ve only played Derek Trotter.
David revealed that while he is not disappointed with his career, there are still many goals he has not achieved and attributed this to being followed by the ghost of his most iconic character.
The star explained: “My real disappointment or regret, if you will, is that I always wanted to be a National Theater actor.”
They were joined at the event by Juliet Hodges.
Theater director Caroline Jay Ranger gave David a hug.
Only Fools and Horses The Musical will run for 28 performances at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo starting December 17.
The show is now on a national tour until July 5 next year, following its record-breaking four-year sell-out West End tour.
There was an almost completely different ending to David’s character when the actor was considering leaving the show in 1986.
While the fate of Only Fools And Horses was at stake, David eventually changed his mind and decided to stay with the series (pictured in the 1983 Christmas special).
He continued: ‘I always wanted to be on stage at the National Theatre. It was just that romantic image of playing those big productions with all those great, wonderful actors. That never happened.’
When host Jon suggested that he still had time to make his dream of going on stage come true, Jason responded that perhaps his time was up and explained that his memory isn’t what it used to be.
He said, ‘Well, you wonder if the old memory would be good enough. I could do it with the autocue stuff.’
But, seeming to shake off his melancholy mood, he then playfully turned to the camera and said, ‘Hey! Yes, National Theatre, I’m available!’