Sir David Jason, the actor once voted TV's greatest star in the U.K., turns 81 today (February 2). To celebrate, we're taking a look back at the iconic roles which have made him a bona fide British national treasure and four-time BAFTA Award winner.

Open All Hours / Still Open All Hours

Jason's role in Open All Hours, a gentle BBC sitcom set in northern England, made him a household name. He plays Granville, the put-upon nephew of Ronnie Barker's tight-fisted corner shop owner Arkwright. Only four seasons were made between 1976 and 1985, but the premise was revived in 2013 for sequel series Still Open All Hours. With Barker having passed away in 2005, Jason's Granville is now the shopkeeper serving a colorful cast of customers in a close-knit South Yorkshire suburb.

Only Fools and Horses

Jason's most beloved role has got to be Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, an ambitious south London market trader famed for saying: "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!" The enormously popular BBC sitcom originally ran for seven seasons between 1981 and 1991 before returning for occasional Christmas specials right up to 2003. The 1996 episode "Time on Our Hands" attracted an audience of 24.35 million, making it the U.K.'s most-watched sitcom episode ever. Though Del Boy is a perennial "wheeler-dealer" – meaning some of his business dealings are kind of shady – his heart is always in the right place, which is why viewers were always rooting for him. Even when, as you’ll see below, he made a “plonker” of himself.

Jason remains so synonymous with the role that when he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2005, the British press couldn't resist running with the headline "Arise, Sir Del Boy."

Danger Mouse / Count Duckula

Jason has always taken voice roles alongside his live-action work, and these British kids' series from the '80s and '90s are definitely fondly remembered. In spy spoof Danger Mouse he provides the voice of the world's greatest secret agent – sorry, James Bond! – and in spin-off series Count Duckula, he's a vampiric mallard who wants to break into showbiz. Both series also became popular in the U.S. after being broadcast on Nickelodeon back in the day.

Porterhouse Blue

Jason won a BAFTA award for his performance in this punchy Channel 4 adaptation of Tom Sharpe's satirical novel about a cash-strapped Cambridge college. He plays the college's scheming Head Porter, Skullion, a traditionalist who opposes the sweeping changes proposed by new Master Sir Godber Evans (Ian Richardson). It's a ruthless, darkly comic role that's a long way from the likeable Del Boy. A year after the miniseries premiered in 1987, Jason leant his voice to the audiobook edition of Sharpe's novel, which you can hear below.

The Darling Buds of May

Jason stars as bighearted patriarch Sidney "Pop" Larkin in this popular costume drama which aired on ITV between 1991 and 1993. Set in rural southern England in the '50s, it follows the trials and tribulations of a tight-knit family whose fun-loving lifestyle – the Larkins can never resist a feast – is funded by Pop's somewhat "inventive" business dealings. The apple of pop's eye is eldest daughter Mariette, who's played in an effervescent breakout performance by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Jason also oozes charm in a show that's as cozy and comforting as hot tea and scones on a winter afternoon.

A Touch of Frost

Great police procedurals tend to be built around a brilliant if flawed detective, and A Touch of Frost is no exception. Jason stars as DI William "Jack" Frost, a sensitive and empathetic detective who doesn't have much time for paperwork and isn't averse to planting evidence if it secures him a conviction. A Touch of Frost ran for 14 seasons between 1992 and 2010 on ITV in the U.K. and on A&E in the U.S., before Jason called time on the show because he felt his character was "getting a little long in the tooth." For his performance as Frost, Jason won Most Popular Actor at the U.K.'s National TV Awards no fewer than four times.

Terry Pratchett's The Color of Magic

Jason starred in Sky One's adaptation of Sir Terry Pratchett's Hogfather in 2006, then led another Pratchett two-parter for the network in 2008. In The Color of Magic, he plays endearingly inept wizard Rincewind, a character he'd first said he wanted to play 15 years earlier. He's on typically twinkly form presiding over a strong cast that includes Sean Astin, Tim Curry, and Jeremy Irons.

Do you have a favorite Sir David Jason role?