Nicholas Lyndhurst admits Only Fools and Horses job was ‘on the line’ after scene mishap. (Image: BBC)
recounted how his co-star Nicholas Lyndhurst feared he would be sacked from the iconic sitcom after a “high-pressure scene” caused tension amongst the crew.
David described how he and Nick, as Del Boy and Rodney Trotter, were issued with a stern warning when they filmed the iconic chandelier scene from the series two finale, A Touch of Glass.
The legendary moment sees Rodney and Derek attempt to clean a chandelier, leading to its catastrophic drop.
The actor wrote in his new autobiography, : “Nick and I duly found ourselves up pair of ladders and shooting the most highly pressured scene in the whole of the making of Only Fools…
“It was made very clear to us that there was only the one chandelier available for this stunt and that it cost £6,000.
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Only Fools and Horses’s chandelier scene has gone down in history. (Image: BBC)
“The director was so stern about the consequences of us screwing this up that Nick actually thought his job was on the line and the series along with it.”
Nicholas, 63, also recalled the moment in a 2021 documentary and explained that the tension on-set soon dissipated as the director himself succumbed to laughter following the humorous incident.
Nicholas reminisced about the moment, saying: “About 10 seconds went past and I could see his shoulders going.
“I see him out of the corner of my eye, reach into his parker and pull out a handkerchief. He just stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.”
Eventually, the scene was completed without further disruption, much to everyone’s relief.
“I came down that ladder and the air went blue”, Nicholas amusingly recounted.
Only Fools and Horses, which originally aired seven series on One, turned Nicholas and David into household names and shone the spotlight on other actors like Lennard Pearce and Buster Merryfield.
The show enjoyed a successful run from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen additional Christmas specials broadcast sporadically until the series concluded in 2003.
It’s been more than two decades since the final episode of Only Fools and Horses aired, yet the fervour among fans is still palpable.
Only Fools and Horses is available to watch on NOW.