Only Fools and Horses legend David Jason 'threatened' to resign over audience reaction to joke
Sir David Jason revealed that he threatened to step down from his iconic role in Only Fools and Horses due to the audience's reaction to a simple joke.
The legendary actor, 84, gave us a decade of TV gold while starring as the hilarious wheeler dealer, Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter, but it turns out that he was thinking about calling time on the esteemed character after just two years.
Brits enjoyed seven chucklesome series of the BBC comedy, which aired from 1981 to 1991, which the likes of Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Lennard Pearce, Buster Merryfield, Roger Lloyd-Pack, and John Challis starred in.
The sitcom was centred around working-class brothers, Del Boy and Rodney, who ran around Peckham getting into all sorts of silly shenanigans while trying to strike it rich.
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Earlier this week, Jason opened up about how the 'cushty' character beloved by Brits has 'haunted' him throughout his lengthy career, as fans have 'forgotten' all the other projects that he has been apart of.
And previously, Jason revealed that he threatened to hang up his flat cap while still filming the third series of Only Fools and Horses in 1983, due to a one-liner made by Pearce, who played 'Grandad'.
In his 2014 memoir, My Life, the Edmonton-born actor explained that a side-splitting gag made by his co-star made him reconsider his role in the series - but do keep in mind, this is a man with a flair for the dramatics and being facetious.
"There's a moment in series three of Only Fools and Horses where Del and Rodney are squabbling about the viability of Rodney's plans to go it alone in business and invest his £200 of start-up capital in the self-catering holiday trade," Jason wrote in his book, according to the Mirror.
"Lennard [Pearce] as Grandad, has had almost no lines in this scene - he's just been a silent presence in his armchair in the sitting room.
"But now, at the mention of Rodney's proposed £200 holiday property investment, he suddenly pipes up and says, 'What you got, Rodney - a Wendy house?'
"It's hard, even now, to summon words that adequately account for the volume of the laughter this line got from the studio audience.
"The laugh went on so long, it threatened to run into the next episode - and all Nick and I could do was stand there and ride it, while trying not to join in."
So why did an amused audience result in Jason weighing up whether to continue playing Del Boy?
Sour grapes, of course.
The BAFTA winner continued: "When we had completed the filming, I stepped forward to say a few words of thanks to the audience, which I always liked to do. This time, just to tease Lennard, I said, 'That's it. I'm resigning'.
"'Nick Lyndhurst and myself have worked our socks off all evening for this show. Lennard Pearce hasn't said a bloody word - and then he just says 'Wendy house' and he gets the biggest laugh I've ever heard in my entire life'."
Obviously, his threats to exile Del Boy were only tongue-in-cheek.
And hilariously, the Wendy house wisecrack went on to spawn a 'laughter rating system' for the cast and crew on Only Fools and Horses, as jokes would be categorised on the Wendy scale for their success.
Jason explained in his memoir: "Laughs would be ranked according to their perceived Wendy-ness. A decent line might be scored as a 'mini-Wendy'. A good line would get a 'sub-Wendy'.
"What you were hoping for, of course, was an 'all-out Wendy' or a 'full-blown Wendy'. The 'full-blown Wendy' was the holy grail."
Olivia Burke