David Jason revealed the brutal reason he was axed from Dad’s Army. (Image: Getty)
, famed for his legendary role in , did not always ride a wave of acting success. The veteran actor once found himself brutally dismissed from the set of just hours into filming.
Sir David, 84, had clinched a role in the classic sitcom after impressing creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft in his audition for the character Lance Corporal Jones.
David mused on the abrupt change, stating: “Let’s just briefly recap some of the false dawns I had endured – the points where everything in my career seemed to be about to come up roses, only for the plant to wilt in the pot and all its leaves drop off.
“Somewhere in 1968, I secured the part of Corporal Jones in a new sitcom by Jimmy Perry and David Croft called Dad’s Army – only to unsecure it a matter of hours later when the discovered that Clive Dunn (whom they had originally wanted for the role but thought they couldn’t get) was available after all.”
David dealt with his sacking like a champ and told himself that “nothing would come” of the show. However, he then spent the best part of a decade watching Dad’s Army become one of the most popular comedies on TV.
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David Jason is famed for Only Fools And Horses but almost made his name in Dad’s Army. (Image: Getty)
In the same year, David secured a job on Do Not Adjust Your Set alongside Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. But the popular children’s show was short-lived, and David was dealt another crushing blow.
David continued in his autobiography, : “Only a year later, the four of them ditched the programme and, without so much as a ‘thanks and see you later’, gone off to form a comedy troupe with John Cleese and Graham Chapman.”
The comedy troupe was, of course, .
Despite these setbacks, David ultimately hit the big time in 1981 as charismatic wheeler-dealer Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses, having already celebrated achievements in Open All Hours and Porridge alongside renowned actors Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale.
David Jason hit the big time in 1981. (Image: Getty)
The actor also revealed how his role in Open All Hours came about, thanks to his strong rapport with co-star Ronnie Barker.
He explained: “The reason I got to work with Ronnie on Open All Hours was because of the little bits that I had done in his other series,” reports .
He fondly recalled their on-screen dynamic, saying: “He played this wonderful, bumbling character, and I was playing this hundred-year-old gardener. It was just working with him and understanding how he approached things.”