Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses: The reason John Sullivan didn’t think David Jason could play Del Boy

The legendary writer had reservations about casting the now iconic actor

David Jason and Del Boy are such an iconic pairing, so much so that it’s actually hard to imagine the actor out of character.

David played the role for a whopping 22 years, making his one of the most recognisable faces on TV.

So it may be hard to believe that writer of the show John Sullivan had serious reservations about casting David in the role of Del Boy when the show was in its early production.

It’s well known that David wasn’t the first choice for the role of Del Boy with a number of actors approached for the role before him, including Jim Broadbent and Enn Reitel.

But even after these initial choices for the part turned down John Sullivan and Ray Butt’s advances, John still needed convincing about Ray’s fifth choice of David Jason.

Ray and John have spoken about their thoughts at the time in Only Fools and Horses: The Official Inside Story, written by Steve Clark.

Ray remembered thinking: “Christ, we start filming in a couple of weeks and we’re still missing a main character.”

Only Fools and Horses producer Ray Butt alongside Del Boy star David Jason on set
Only Fools and Horses producer Ray Butt alongside Del Boy star David Jason on set (Image: BBC)

But after happening across a repeat of Open All Hours and seeing David Jason playing Granville deliver a masterclass of a solo scene something clicked for Ray.

He said: “The penny dropped, I thought ‘David could be just right for Del’.”

But when he approached John to suggest him, he certainly wasn’t as keen.

“John was a bit tepid to put it mildly,” Ray recalled.

“He wasn’t that keen because his first impression was that David wasn’t right for the role.

“He wasn’t dead against him and was willing to listen but he wanted time to think about the idea.”

John added: “It wasn’t that I was against the idea of David for the role as such, it was more that I couldn’t actually see him in the part.

“I was terrified that he couldn’t play that sharp edge that we needed for Del.”

David Jason himself also recalled John’s apprehension: “John had it fixed in his mind what sort of character Del Boy was.

“He didn’t think I could play that.”

Fortunately though, as we now all well know, John had very little to worry about, as David in the character of Del Boy became one of British TV’s biggest personalities that is as loved now as he was nearly 40 years ago.

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