Nicholas Lyndhurst admits he almost got fired while filming iconic Only Fools and Horses scene

Only Fools and Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst once admitted to nearly being fired from his role as he filmed an iconic scene for the BBC show.

The actor, 63, portrayed Rodney Trotter in the 1980s sitcom, which also starred Sir David Jason as Del Boy.

Decades after Only Fools and Horses finished airing, the BBC commissioned a special documentary, titled The Story of Only Fools and Horses, which saw the cast look back on their time on the show, along with those who had written some of the iconic scenes.

BBC

Nicholas was among those taking a trip down memory lane in the documentary, which aired in 2021, and he selected one of the series' most memorable scenes as his biggest moment, but admitted that filming it nearly caused him to lose his job.

The actor discussed an episode titled 'A Touch of Glass', which was the second season finale.

As it was the final episode of the season, tension was continuing to mount between Rodney and Del Boy, who found themselves in a tricky situation when tasked with cleaning a grand chandelier.

Unsurprisingly, it goes completely wrong and the chandelier falls and smashes to the ground, as Rodney and Del Boy hadn't taken care of the light fixture before it fell.

As he took a look back at the scene, Nicholas explained that he and David had been instructed not to laugh when the chandelier dropped at the end of the scene.

"Ray, he was only a little guy but fierce with it, came up to me and said this to me, ‘This chandelier that we are about to drop costs £6,000 and if you laugh when it’s dropped we’ve lost the end scene.

If we’ve lost the end scene, we’ve lost the episode. If we’ve lost the episode, we’ve lost the series because the BBC will only transmit six - so if you laugh when that drops, I will fire you'," Nicholas recalled.

He said that Ray was 'looking daggers' at him and David as the cameras began rolling, but in a shock turn of events, it was Ray who burst out laughing.

Del Boy and Rodney attempted to clean a chandelier in the second season finale. (BBC)

"About 10 seconds went past and I could see his shoulders going," Nicholas said.

He recalled Ray trying to stop his giggles, adding: "I see him out of the corner of my eye, reach into his parker and pull out a handkerchief. He just stuffed the whole thing into his mouth."

Nicholas and David were able to breathe a sigh of relief once the final scene had been filmed and could then laugh about the mess that had been made.

Nicholas said: "I came down that ladder and the air went blue."