Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
FAMILY ALWAYS BEATS FAME
Only Fools And Horses, which ran from 1981 to 2003, is the most popular British sitcom of all time and made stars of David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst. Both men rarely give interviews, but they told us how it affected them.
DAVID JASON
‘If I went to the moon, a chap would pop up from behind a crater and say, “Lovelyjubbly!”’ he told us in March 2008. ‘Wherever you go, everyone knows you. Once I was relieving myself in the gents’ and a bloke said, “Can I have your autograph? I didn’t want to embarrass you out there.” So he waited until I was mid-flow in the toilets? Unbelieveable!’
David came late to fatherhood – he was 61 when his girlfriend (now wife) Gill gave birth to Sophie in 2001. ‘It changes your life. It’s tiring; but kids make you laugh so much.’ He said modern childhood bewildered him. ‘Sophie had 20 mates to her seventh birthday party, and they have this thing at kids’ parties these days where they give the guests presents in bags to go home with. Bizarre! So Sophie spent half a day filling up bags with her mates’ names on them, just for turning up at a party.’
Of the show, David told us in August 2017, ‘It didn’t occur to us it could go on like it did and still be held in such affection. It never entered our minds.’
NICHOLAS LYNDHURST
Rodney Trotter haunted Nicholas Lyndhurst too, as he told us in February 2005. He was accosted in the street with ‘ Oi Rodders!’ and worse. ‘ The papers loved it, they could say “plonker” now!’ He’d been seen as a commitmentphobe after two failed romances. ‘I had a recurring dream where I’m walking up the aisle, catching up with a bride who was already at the altar. All around were people I knew. I’d walk towards her, she’d turn around and I’d realise I’d never met this woman.’
Meeting wife Lucy Smith in 1992 was a coup de foudre, but being public property meant going to great lengths to ensure privacy for their wedding. ‘We found a great place but our secret was out,’ he said. ‘So I gave it to OK magazine, knowing their security would be perfect. People asked why I acted so out of character – that’s why.’
When their son Archie was born in 2000, Nicholas’s life was complete. ‘Family life is wonderful,’ he said. ‘I love being a daddy. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. You know how children laugh so much that they cackle? I can get Archie to do that, and it’s the best feeling. Pretty much the only ambition I have now is to narrate a children’s series so I can show off to my boy!’