Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
People now would not stand for Del Boy pinching women’s bottoms... that’s a good thing
Only Fools’ Tessa Peake-jones on how times have changed
including Alan Titchmarsh and Corrie’s Danny Brocklebank on ITV’S All Star Musicals, hosted by John Barrowman.
And as if stepping out on to the London Palladium stage in front of 2,500 people wasn’t nerve-racking enough, she also had to face a judging panel including Strictly pro Kevin Clifton and musical theatre juggernaut Elaine Paige.
Tessa, who spent two months preparing before last week’s filming by gargling salt water daily, says: “The whole thing was a mixture of joy, excitement and absolute terror. When they called me to the stage I felt like I was walking to my execution, to a bullfight or the electric chair. “But then came all the cheering and people stamping. It was like being in a rock band.” Perhaps there could have been a chance to play Raquel in the new, record-breaking Only Fools musical? “The characters are all in their 20s, unfortunately,” she laughs.
Tessa adds there’s no chance of a real Only Fools reunion with David Jason or Nicholas Lyndhurst, after creator John Sullivan died last year.
“Without him there is no programme so it will never happen now,” Tessa says.
“Being on the show was a huge privilege. Yet I think it’s also nice to look back at things when they were good, rather than try to recapture them years later.”
She is still friends with Gwyneth Strong, who played Cassandra, and the dad of her two children Douglas Hodge, who once played her on-screen son Damien as an adult.
They split in 2013. But is Tessa in the mood to find love again?
“No, I’m enjoying myself and my own time, and it’s really lovely!” she smiles. Sounds lovely jubbly to us too, Tessa.
All Star Musicals is on ITV, 6pm tomorrow.