Sir David Jason Rules Out ‘Only Fools and Horses’ Reboot: ‘The Answer is No’

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Sir David Jason has dismissed the idea of rebooting beloved British sitcom Only Fools and Horses as "very dangerous."

Jason starred as ambitious south London businessman Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the enormously popular series, which ran for 64 episodes between 1981 and 2003. The concluding installment of the show's 1996 Christmas trilogy, "Time on Our Hands," attracted an audience of 24.35 million in the U.K. – still a record for a comedy program. Check out a clip from the series below:

 

Asked whether a remake could work, Jason told Digital Spy: "The answer there is no."

Though Only Fools and Horses ended in 2003, creator John Sullivan went on to write the three-part prequel series Rock & Chips and spin-off sitcom The Green Green Grass. Sullivan died in 2011, but his son Jim Sullivan co-created a stage musical adaptation of Only Fools and Horses that launched in London's West End in 2019.

However, Jason warned that the screen chemistry shared by original cast members including Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney Trotter), John Challis (Boycie), Sue Holderness (Marlene), and the late Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert) would be difficult to beat. “No, no, no, the writing would be the same, but also don’t forget, one of my flags that I like to wave, is that it’s a team effort, and it’s not just the character of Del and Rodney, and Uncle Albert, or Grandad, as it were," he said.

“But it was all the other peripheral characters, you know, Boycie, Marlene, and all of those, how beautifully played they all were. You’re hard-pressed to replace all those characters who have endeared themselves into the hearts of your audience today. So it would be a very dangerous journey to take, so my answer to that is, don’t try.”

D0 you think a reboot of Only Fools and Horses could work?