Sir David Jason's beloved show axe left star devastated as he issues plea to BBC
Sir David Jason has claimed Still Open All Hours being unfinished continues to “eat him” up to this day. The beloved sitcom focused on how the veteran actor’s character, Granville, ran his late uncle’s grocery shop with the assistance of his son, Leroy (played by James Baxter).
Still Open All Hours, a direct sequel to 1976’s Open All Hours, was broadcast for six series on the BBC before being officially cancelled in 2023. In his new autobiography, the Only Fools and Horses favourite announced his regret over the abrupt way the show ended.
In his memoir, David Jason: This Time Next Year, the 84-year-old wrote that he initially enjoyed returning to film scenes as Granville in the same hairdresser’s salon which featured in Open All Hours. “It put me back in the same shop on the same street in Doncaster — a hairdressing establishment normally, but still happy to let us move in for a few weeks and stand all the old items out on the street,” he explained
The national treasure believed there was a “solid connection” between the two shoes and that he enjoyed “standing in the same doorway, looking up the same street” years later. “I liked the sense that so much had changed in the forty years that had passed since the first series and yet that nothing had changed because that seemed to me to be very true about life in general,” he continued.
“So that’s what eats me a bit about the cancellation of the show right at the end, when the finish line was in sight. The failure to complete and tie up a story when we were all set to do so would have been frustrating in the context of any show.”
READ MORE David Jason 'extremely upset' as future of iconic BBC sitcom confirmed
David portrayed Graville on Open All Hours and its sequel Still Open All Hours. (Image: BBC)David said he sees Still Open All Hours as a “tribute” to the late comedian Ronnie Barker, who portrayed Arkwright on the long-running programme and not being able to “bring strings together at the end” left him feeling “sad”.
He also confessed his hopes that one day the BBC finds itself re-screening episodes of the programme and discovers fans are itching for another series.
“And then, in the face of booming viewing figures and brightly glowing notices, they are forced to bring the show back and commission those final clinching episodes,” he added.
“And I finally get to bring the curtain down on the story and close up the old shop properly for the last time.”
The sixth season of Still Open All Hours concluded in 2019, with viewers hoping that a seventh instalment of the revival was on the way.
However, broadcaster bosses announced that there were “no plans” to recommission another season in February 2023.
A BBC executive stated: "We’d like to thank the cast and crew for six wonderful series, which are all available to view on BBC iPlayer.
"There are currently no plans for new episodes of Still Open All Hours."
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During a Channel 5 special celebrating the original sitcom, David believed he was initially “too old” to return to portray Granville.
"I wasn't quite as young as I once used to be, let's put it that way," he remarked.
"I thought I was too old to play it, meaning, if Granville was delivering groceries at that age, would he be not as bright maybe?
"That was the thing that held me back and I explained this to the director and to Ronnie and they both understood.
"[They] said it will work, it will be alright and those fears were to rest and I just, well we just all loved it."
Episodes of Still Open All Hours are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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