How Hannibal Lecter almost joined the cast

DID YOU know that Anthony Hopkins was nearly in Only Fools And Horses? And no, he wasn’t on the list of people who were considered for the part of Del before I was. But he did nearly make an appearance.

Part way through the Eighties I met Anthony and his wife in a restaurant. He hadn’t yet played Hannibal Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs, but he had played everything in British theatre and was unquestionably a mega-star.

It should have been me who was fawning all over him yet, as so often with Only Fools, embarrassingly, the tables were switched and he turned out to be a Trotters fan.

‘I love that show,’ he said. ‘I’ve always wanted to be in it.’

‘Really?’ I said. ‘Always,’ he said. Well, this was a bit of a scoop.

Casting a surreptitious look over each shoulder, I leaned in a little closer to Anthony and said: ‘Listen, I have influence. Strings I can pull. Levers I can activate.

‘Not for any old geezer, it goes without saying. But in your case, Ant? Leave it with, my son. Leave it with.’

Actually, I didn’t say any of that last bit. I was far too busy swallowing my surprise. But I did tell our script writer John Sullivan about it and he was practically melting with excitement, immediately setting to work on writing him a part.

Alas for us — though probably not for him — something came up for Anthony in Hollywood and removed him from our grasp.

Ah, well. Maybe it would have lost the show some credibility if it had been seen to be bending itself out of shape to accommodate a Hollywood star? We never found out.