Lovely jubbly! Could Rodders and Del Boy make a comeback?
ONLY Fools And Horses star David Jason says he would love to play Del Boy again in a remake of Britain’s favourite comedy.
Sir David revealed this week that he has pleaded with Nicholas Lyndhurst, famous as Del Boy’s “plonker” brother Rodney, to bring the Trotters up to date.
And he promised Lyndhurst: “This time next year, Rodders, we could be back on the telly!”
The two actors reunited at the National Film Awards in London on Wednesday where they both received Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Sir David, 77, has also starred in TV detective series A Touch Of Frost and sitcom Open All Hours, which has been remade. But he will forever be known as Cockney market trader Del Trotter, whose classic catchphrase was “lovely jubbly”.
However, Lyndhurst, who has gone on to success in Goodnight Sweetheart and long-running BBC drama New Tricks, is less keen than Sir David on a Fools remake. Lyndhurst, 55, said he was thrilled to meet his old comedy partner. He said: “I would like to do more comedy. If the scripts are good I will come and do whatever. I have tried writing but it was the hardest thing I tried to do. It was just me and a friend throwing some ideas around but it didn’t work. Those oneliners from Fools And Horses are hard to come up with.”
Sir David, who with Lyndhurst starred as Batman and Robin in one of Britain’s best-loved comedy moments, said: “It’s something that neither of us have ruled out. He’s Mr Busy. To be fair, I’m also doing my shows. We would have to get it totally right. I can’t see this happening anytime soon. There’s the issue of finding a good script and writers.
“When we did Fools And Horses we just had a writer (John Sullivan) who just wrote and that was his craft and he handed it on to us. We were very fortunate that we were doing a TV show that was written by such a talented man. Now everybody wants an instant success, an instant winner and you can’t have an instant winner. You have got to nurse things along.”
Lyndhurst added: “The BBC are doing remakes (Porridge, Open All Hours) and it just goes to show there is a market for that type of comedy.”
Only Fools, starring Sir David, Lyndhurst and the late Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert, came to an end 20 years ago but topped a poll of the shows viewers would most like to see back on their screens.
DAVID JASON and Nicholas Lyndhurst have been pictured together sparking discussion of an Only Fools And Horses return. Would it be lovely jubbly or just make the two of them look like plonkers? Perhaps the much-loved show is best left in the past.