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Only Fools and Horses is one of the funniest sitcoms of all time – but you might not have known it if you saw the actors on set.
Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Raquel, the wife of Sir David Jason’s Del Boy Trotter, has reflected on the filming experience ahead of the show’s 45th anniversary.
While the cast members, including Nicholas Lyndhurst and Gwyneth Strong (Rodney and Cassandra), all got on together, they found themselves overcome with pressure before shooting scenes in front of a live audience.
“If people had seen us backstage before the show, they’d have seen people pacing up and down the corridors with nerves, including David and Nick,” Peake-Jones said.
“We cared so much, and we wanted to get it right, but one slip-up of a word could ruin that laugh.”
She also admitted that the many jokes that have endured as classics lost their magic by the time it came to recording the show, telling The Express that the actors had “usually seen it all in rehearsals so many times, it’s not that funny anymore anyway”.
Peake-Jones, 68, will appear on a forthcoming special, titled Only Fools and Horses: The Lost Archive, alongside Jason, 85, Strong, 66, and Marlene actor Sue Holderness, 76, which will air on U&A Gold.
The special will feature 66 previously unseen clips and scenes, digitally restored from 16mm negatives, that were filmed but never broadcast. It’ll also pay tribute to the show’s late creator, John Sullivan.
Only Fools and Horses’ interior scenes were shot in front of an audience, but the sitcom, which launched in 1981, incorporated several on-location scenes as it went on.
The series followed the escapades of the Trotter family, including the entrepreneurial market trader Del Boy and his often hapless brother Rodney. It was one of the BBC’s biggest ratings successes, and ran until 1991 before returning for multiple Christmas specials. The last episode aired in 2003.
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Only Fools is often ranked as one of the funniest comedy shows of all time alongside Fawlty Towers and The Office.
Speaking about the forthcoming two-part special, Jason said: “The love for Only Fools has never faded. It’s incredible to see how many people still hold it close to their hearts. Revisiting these rediscovered moments reminded me just how special the show was – and still is. It’s incredible to be able to share them now.”
In 2022, it was revealed that Sullivan once edited an episode of the show becayse he believed it was too cruel.
The creator disliked the episode “A Royal Flush” so much that he allegedly stopped it from being broadcast for almost 20 years.
Peake-Jones will next be seen performing Invisible Me at Southwark Playhouse Borough from 8 April until 2 May.
