David Jason finds it very hard to believe that Del Boy is so loved

David Jason has said he finds it hard to believe that Del Boy is so popular.

The 82-year-old actor is best known for playing the lead man in the hugely popular sitcom Only Fools and Horses, which ran from 1981 until the final Christmas special in 2003.

Two decades on, and families across the country will be enjoying the classic comedy over the festive period.

Reflecting on his career in a 'Letter To My Younger Self' for the Big Issue, Jason said he finds it hard to grasp the scope of its popularity.

"I find it difficult to believe it that Del Boy and Only Fools and Horses are so beloved," he wrote.

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"One gets a bit humbled by it because one has affected so many people and so many people's lives. But I was very fortunate with a great team around me and loved every minute of it.

"That enjoyment, that love of doing what I love doing, the joy I had from being an amateur on stage is still there – and I just think some of it spilled out onto the television screens and into the homes of so many people. I'm delighted to be able to say that."

He continued: "If I'd told my younger self that he would be part of so many people's Christmas, with millions watching me on Christmas Day, he would be terrified.

"First of all, he wouldn’t believe it. And second, I seriously think I would be terrified at the responsibility and the enormity of such a thing.

"Imagine that as a 16-year-old? But then, I would say to him, chin up, get on and enjoy it. Which I have. I loved it and I still do."

In total, 64 episodes of Only Fools and Horses were made, and fans often have a hard time deciding which is their all-time favourite.

PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

In his memoir The Twelve Dels Of Christmas, Jason admitted that attempting to choose a favourite episode was 'a question too knotty to be resolved'.

If he could 'only keep one', however, he named season 6 episode 7 – The Jolly Boys' Outing.

The episode sees Del and the gang go on a road trip to Margate, but naturally things don't quite go to plan.

Jason said the 'enormous comic moment' that is the exploding coach was 'partly' the reason for his choice, but he also drew attention to the sequence in which Harry Nilsson's song 'Everybody’s Talkin’' is playing while the characters board the bus.

"For me, the magic of Only Fools is compressed into this single sequence... the gang of friends that the cast had become, and the sheer fun of it all. And so many of those faces no longer with us, of course," Jason said.

Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey