David Jason reveals why he almost quit Only Fools and Horses 17 years before show ended

'Lorraine' TV show, London, UK - 21 Nov 2022

Sir David Jason almost quit his famous role in Only Fools and Horses (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

reportedly almost quit his legendary role in when the show was in its prime.

The 84-year-old actor portrayed Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter on the sitcom which ran from 1981 to 1991 in addition to several Christmas specials before it came to an end in 2003.

According to , there was almost a completely different ending for David’s character when the actor was toying with the idea of leaving the show in 1986.

As the actor contemplated leaving the show, head writer John Sullivan wrote a potential final episode called Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

The episode did hit the airwaves that year, but it almost had a completely different ending. It saw a character named Jumbo Mills arrive in Peckham after supposedly making a fortune while living in Australia.

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Del Boy

His character Del Boy nearly moved Down Under (Image: BBC)

The initial idea was that Jumbo would cross paths with Del and tempt him to return to Australia with him to make his fortune there. This was to give David the chance to take a break from the show while setting up for the series to move on without him.

Producers were reportedly contemplating making Nicholas Lyndhurst the lead of a new version of the show titled Hot Rod, centred around his character Rodney.

Ultimately, David decided to continue with the series, with the episode ending with Del rejecting Jumbo’s exciting offer to move Down Under.

David previously confessed that he often feels the “ghost” of Del following him around and still feels like the character is still with him. He previously told outlets: “That Derek Trotter thing, he’s a bit of a ghost that comes along behind me like A Christmas Carol.”

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The actor admitted that his character follows him around like a ‘ghost’ (Image: BBC)

The actor expressed his frustration that despite his decades-long career in film and television, he is still known most for his role as Del Boy.

Reflecting on the role, he said the character “only hangs me back, only upsets me slightly is because that seems to be the only thing that people remember me for.

“I’m delighted in one way that it’s reached so many people and they’ve enjoyed what I’ve done with the character, but I’ve done so many other things that everybody seems to have forgotten about. It’s like I’ve only ever played Derek Trotter.”

David revealed that while he isn’t disappointed with his career, the doting dad explained that he believes his role as Del Boy has held him back from achieving his other acting goals.

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The TV star said he would still return to the role in the future (Image: Comic Relief via Getty Images)

He explained: “My real disappointment or regret, if you like, is I always wanted to be a National Theatre player. I always wanted to be on the stage of the National Theatre. It was just that romantic image of playing those big productions with all those big, wonderful actors. That never happened.”

When the reporter suggested he still had time to fulfil dream of performing on stage, Jason replied that his time may have run out because his memory is not what it once was.

He said: “Well you wonder whether the old memory would be quite good enough. I could do it with the autocue things.” But the star quickly snapped out of how pessimistic mood and countered: “Hey! Yes, National Theatre, I’m available!”

His admission comes after he confessed that despite his regrets about the role, he revealed that he would still return to the famous role again.

Last year, David said he would be happy to play Del Boy again, but aded that a reboot would be unlikely after the main writer of the show, John Sullivan, tragically passed away in 2011.

Speaking about a potential reboot, he told The Sun: “Well, to be honest with you, we would like that to happen very much because not only did we enjoy it so much, but so did most of the British public. Because of that, we would love to do it.

“I don’t think we could do another episode of Only Fools and Horses because the brains behind it, Mr John Sullivan, is unfortunately no longer with us.”

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