Sir David Jason shares truth behind Only Fools and Horses 'feud' with Nicholas Lyndhurst

Sir David Jason has spoken out to clarify the reality of the 'fake news' circulating about a supposed 'feud' with his Only Fools and Horses co-star Nicholas Lyndhurst.

As the iconic Del Boy, he captivated UK viewers in the beloved BBC sitcom, which chronicled the ups and downs of a working-class family from Peckham aiming for prosperity.

Penning his thoughts in his autobiography, 'My Life', Sir David put to rest the speculation of bad blood with Lyndhurst, whilst also shedding light on the potential origins of such gossip.

In his words: "With Nick, I feel slightly to blame for some of this fake 'feud' news, because what's often used as supporting evidence in these stories is a tale I told in an earlier volume of these memoirs, about Nick and me having an enormous fight during a location shoot for Only Fools."

"And we did have a huge row that day - a truly spectacular one. The kind of all-out, shouting, swearing, object-throwing barney that relationships often don't come back from."

"The only thing being, it was a play-fight - a wind-up, a practical joke we played on the rest of the cast and crew. It was raining, the cameras hadn't turned over all morning - it was one of those frustrating days. Nick and I had already exhausted the wide variety of entertainment opportunities available to us at such times - which is to say, we'd read the papers and then we'd used those papers to have a paper-plane-building competition and seen who could fly their plane the furthest. We were bored stiff, frankly, and the devil famously makes work for idle actors."

Sir David continued his tale by describing how they were sat in the 'deluxe trailer' provided by the BBC, which was actually a 'small caravan with grubby soft furnishings'.

In order to amuse themselves, the actors decided to 'stage a flaming row' in an attempt to 'convince everyone on set we'd had a massive falling out'.

Crew members attempted to intervene following the pair's mock argument, hoping to diffuse the tension. However, Sir David stated that "Nick and I sullenly refused their diplomacy".

He added: "Eventually somebody went off and summoned the producer to come and see if he could work his personal magic, at which point Nick and I realised we had probably pushed it as far as we could."

Providing further insight into his off-screen antics with Only Fools co-star Nick, Sir David shared another anecdote in his memoir about the day they jokingly threatened to quit the show.

Sir David shared a memorable moment from the set of Only Fools and Horses that almost led him to jokingly consider retirement.

He recalled: "There's a moment in series three of Only Fools and Horses where Del and Rodney are squabbling about the viability of Rodney's plans to go it alone in business and invest his £200 of start-up capital in the self-catering holiday trade."

"Lennard [Pearce] as Grandad, has had almost no lines in this scene - he's just been a silent presence in his armchair in the sitting room. But now, at the mention of Rodney's proposed £200 holiday property investment, he suddenly pipes up and says, 'What you got, Rodney - a Wendy house? '".

"It's hard, even now, to summon words that adequately account for the volume of the laughter this line got from the studio audience. The laugh went on so long, it threatened to run into the next episode - and all Nick and I could do was stand there and ride it, while trying not to join in."

"When we had completed the filming, I stepped forward to say a few words of thanks to the audience, which I always liked to do. This time, just to tease Lennard, I said, 'That's it. I'm resigning. Nick Lyndhurst and myself have worked our socks off all evening for this show. Lennard Pearce hasn't said a bloody word - and then he just says 'Wendy house' and he gets the biggest laugh I've ever heard in my entire life'."

Sir David unveiled that a peculiar on-set event led to the cast and crew devising a 'laughter ratings system' during filming, which became an inside joke for evaluating the humour in their scenes.

He elaborated: "Laughs would be ranked according to their perceived Wendy-ness. A decent line might be scored as a 'mini-Wendy'. A good line would get a 'sub-Wendy'. What you were hoping for, of course, was an 'all-out Wendy' or a 'full-blown Wendy'. The 'full-blown Wendy' was the holy grail."

During a revealing conversation on BBC Breakfast with host Jon Kay, Sir David discussed the persistent "ghost" of his character Derek Trotter, admitting it seems to loom over his other accomplishments.

Sir David reflected on his time in Only Fools and Horses, stating: "My only regret" is that he often feels overshadowed by Del Boy, reminiscent of the haunting spectres in A Christmas Carol.

Despite a diverse acting career, Sir David lamented that most people chiefly recall him for Derek Trotter: "Which only hangs me back, only upsets me slightly is because that seems to be the only thing that people remember me for."

"I'm delighted in one way that it's reached so many people and they've enjoyed what I've done with the character, but I've done so many other things that everybody seems to have forgotten about. It's like I've only ever played Derek Trotter."

The star expressed his deep-seated regrets by saying, "My real disappointment or regret, if you like, is I always wanted to be a National Theatre player. I always wanted to be on the stage of the national theatre. It was just that romantic image of playing those big productions with all those big, wonderful actors. That never happened."