Only Fools and Horses star (and bona fide national treasure) Sir David Jason says he tried to remain modest about his many achievements, only rarely mentioning the knighthood he was awarded in 2005.
But, the actor adds, he “had it out” with a TV executive who he claims buried some of his finest work with erratic scheduling.
Over Christmas 2001 David, then riding high on the back of A Touch of Frost and the perennial Only Fools and Horses, was cast in Micawber – a prequel to Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, centring on the penniless but optimistic character who is believed to have been based on the author's father.
Sir David told podcaster James O’Brien that the ITV show didn’t achieve the success he thought it deserved, and blamed that failure on the way it was scheduled.
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“It would have been much more successful than it was,” David said.
“And the reason being that man who ran the company at the time decided to put Micawber out at different times to try and encourage a viewing audience, because at the time I was winning such big audiences with Fools and Horses”
David explains that he eventually understood the TV executive’s thinking after a somewhat heated discussion: “I had it out with him, that’s how I know. And he did apologise eventually.”
He adds that a new sitcom needs to be “nursed,” and given a clear schedule, so that fans know when and where to watch it.
Lost in the somewhat unstructured period between Christmas and New Year, Sir David says, Micawber never found the audience it deserved.
Micawber, like Only Fools and Horses, was written by John Sullivan, but Sir David says a lot of that show’s iconic Del Boy character came from an electrician that he worked with before finding fame as an actor.
He met Derek Hockley back in the 1950s, but says as he read the very first scripts for Only Fools and Horses, the exuberant character came straight back to him.
In his autobiography My Life, Sir David wrote: “Right there in my flat as I read it, I was spun back to the days going round to builders’ yards and literally knocking on the door in search of electrical work."
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“In the East End of London we had happened on a contractor called Derek Hockley," he added, "a real East End player in a camel-hair coat, with immaculately greased hair and sharp clothing.
“He had a cockney accent you could have rolled up and beaten someone over the head with, and a habit of bringing his top lip slightly forward and flexing his neck as if trying to get the collar of his shirt to settle down.”
That memory helped Sir David shape a character that has earned him a place in British comedy history.
