bosses turned down a reboot of the popular series Goodnight Sweetheart.
Before Frasier, the Only Fools and Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst played a time-traveller adulterer – in a sitcom judged “the strangest idea in TV history”.
The sitcom told the story of a time travelling TV repair man Gary Sparrow, who was able to travel back from the 1990s to 1940s London during World War Two, after finding a time travel portal
The show captured the imagination of viewers with enthusiasts holding out hope for another network to revive the series.
Fans of the show were disheartened when creators Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran revealed via Twitter (now X) in 2016 that the had decided against bringing the show back, stating: “Sadly the have passed on Goodnight Sweetheart, whilst acknowledging its excellence. Gary will have to find another TV channel.”
Goodnight Sweetheart television programme with actor Nicholas Lyndhurst as Gary Liz Carling as Phoebe and Christopher Ettridge as Reg (Image: BBC)
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Goodnight Sweetheart Nicholas Lyndhurst actor with Elizabeth Carling in bed holding their baby (Image: PA)
The show’s writer, Laurence, claimed his offer to write a new series was rejected because the wanted to focus on new ideas, something he thinks was a mistake.
“We could have done another series of Goodnight Sweetheart, but the pulled back from that,” he told the Daily Star.
“They got frightened that they were putting on too many old shows — shows that had already been seen. So instead, they put on shows that nobody wanted to watch. And that’s their choice.”
He said: “You can’t be vicious to people anymore. Everyone has to be nice. And everyone has to be spoon-fed by the hand to safe places.
The Only Fools and Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst starred as a time traveller (Image: Getty Images)
“You can’t talk about the things that you find funny because of what I believe is called cancel culture. So you avoid them. And if you avoid them, you lose your humour.”
The show’s star, Nicholas, previously said that the reboot was only intended to be a one-off special, and was the last sitcom the spent a lot of money on.
Nicholas portrayed Gary, who embarks on a double life in the past, balancing relationships with women from both time periods.
This much-loved show enjoyed a successful run of six series from 1993 to 1999 and was briefly resurrected for a special episode in 2016.
At the height of its success, the show peaked with an audience of 13.5 million viewers and ran for 59 episodes.