Sir David Jason's intervention made Only Fools and Horses bar scene even funnier
Only Fools and Horses star Sir David Jason has recalled how he overruled the BBC sitcom's writer John Sullivan's original idea for the show's iconic bar scene.
Sir David Jason rejected Only Fools and Horses boss John Sullivan's idea for the iconic bar scene to make it funnier.
The legendary scene in the 1989 episode Yuppy Love saw David's character Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter fall over after a barman lifts the counter hatch before he goes to lean on it.
Sullivan - who died aged 64 in 2011 - initially wanted Del Boy to stumble but David insisted that he went further, resulting in a moment that is regarded as one of the funniest scenes in the history of the beloved BBC comedy.
David recalled, as quoted by the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: "John told me he'd seen a bloke who went to lean on the bar and got embarrassed.
"I said to John, 'I'll do it ... but I'll fall right the way through.'
"He said, 'No, this bloke didn't do that.'
"I said, 'I know, but I will do the fall."
"When I was doing farces on stage, I always went to lean on the settee and after a couple of gos, I would fall.
"I said, 'We'd got to do it that way.'
"I said that to John, and he said, 'OK, if you think that's better, let's do it your way.'"
The scene in the series six episode saw Del Boy and Trigger (Roger Lloyd Pack) trying to impress two girls in a posh wine bar before Del Boy falls through the hatch.
However, a script for the scene found in 2024 suggests that Trigger was not originally meant to be in the sequence.
Andy Stowe, the valuer, told The Mirror in 2024: "The rumour goes that the scene didn't originally feature Roger Lloyd Pack as Trigger."
Andy claimed that Roger - who died of pancreatic cancer in January 2014, aged 69 - turned up unannounced on the shooting day, and John decided to include him in the scene.
And late actor John Challis - who played Boycie in Only Fools and Horses - backed up the claims.
The star - who died of cancer in September 2021 aged 79 - told The Telegraph in 2023: "Roger happened to be at the BBC at the time and he had a break, so they found Trigger's blue suit and stuck him in this scene, which was almost improvised.
"When I saw it, I thought it was just so brilliant.
"The timing of it and Roger's take him circling around, looking for Del Boy, by which time Del Boy's got up again.
"But I always say it wasn't very funny because I wasn't in it."
