He’s had an impressive career spanning 60 years with roles in Only Fools And Horses, Open All Hours, A Touch Of Frost and The Darling Buds Of May.
But while David Jason, 84, has entertained legions of fans with a variety of comedic, gritty and heartwarming parts, the star recently revealed the a heartbreaking health update which means he has changed the roles he now accepts.
Speaking in a new interview, the self-confessed work addict told how he prefers to take on voiceover parts in animated projects because he struggles to learn lines now due to his advanced years.
When asked if he had any further acting dreams, he told the Full Disclosure podcast: ‘No, there isn’t really, as long as I can work. One of the great things that I would like to do more of is making characters out of cartoons I think. I really enjoy that.
‘It’s characters like that I really would like to play because at my time of life it’s not as easy to learn the lines as it used to be.’
Only Fools star David Jason, 854, has revealed a heartbreaking health update which had led to major change to his career
Speaking in a new interview, the self-confessed work addict told how he prefers animated voiceover work now because he struggles to learn lines due to his advanced years
While roles in films and TV shows require an actor to learn their lines prior to performing them in front of a camera, a voice actor can have their script in front of them while recording their lines in a studio.
Seeing the positives in this career choice, Jason – who has voiced the likes of Danger Mouse and Count Duckula – added: ‘But I can still invent the characters and I enjoy that process.
‘So if you’re out there and wanting to employ a senior citizen, I’m with you.’
David voiced the titular character of Danger Mouse between 1981-1992, while he took on the role of Count Duckula for four seasons from 1988-1993.
The TV star has also lent his voice to other cartoon characters including Mr Toad from the 1983 stop animation film The Wind In The Willows and The BFG from the 1989 film of the same name.
The actor has voiced several additional characters in a variety of animations including Little Einsteins, Doraemon and Anglemouse, with his most recent animated role being Skipper and Patsy in Pip Ahoy! between 2014-2020.
The acting veteran further emphasised his struggle to recall long scripts and lines during a candid interview on BBC Breakfast with Jon Kay on Tuesday.
David revealed that while he isn’t disappointed with his career, there are still so many goals he hasn’t achieved, with one of them being treading the boards at the National Theatre – but his memory hinders this dream.
He’s had an impressive career spanning a whopping 60 years and is one of Britain’s most loved actors with roles in Only Fools And Horses and Open All Hours
‘One of the great things that I would like to do more of is making characters out of cartoons I think. It’s characters like that I really would like to play because at my time of life it’s not as easy to learn the lines as it used to be’
The star explained: ‘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.’
When host Jon suggested he still had time to realise his dream of taking to the stage, Jason replied that his time may have run out, explaining that his memory is not what it was.
He said: ‘Well you wonder whether the old memory would be quite good enough. I could do it with the autocue things.’
While David is these days more selective in the work he does due to health reasons, the octogenarian told how he has no plans to throw in the towel any time soon as he’s ‘addicted to work’.
The actor, whose last notable acting role was in 2021’s A Cold Supper Behind Harrods, noted that he can’t get enough of being in front of an audience.
He added to the Full Disclosure podcast: ‘I’m just addicted to work. And some people get addicted to alcohol, some stupid devils get addicted to drugs, and I’m addicted I suppose to an audience and want to make people laugh and enjoy themselves.’
Despite some setbacks, Jason does indeed continue to work, with the thespian earlier this year reprising his iconic role of Del Boy for a special episode of the motoring series Car SOS.
While he also joined the Repair Shop’s Jay Blades for the BBC show David and Jay’s Touring Toolshed.
But though he’s dominated the British TV and film industry, David recently spoke out on his missed chance of cracking Hollywood, placing the blame with two fellow actors.
David – who is best known for playing Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter on Only Fools And Horses – explained he had also hoped to make an impact on the big screen.
However, after having meetings to discuss two big parts he was being considered for last year, he later discovered these roles were given to Michael Caine, 91, and Jim Broadbent, 75.
Writing about his big screen ambitions in his new memoir This Time Next Year, he said: ‘I would love to be able to declare that my collected film work on DVD would make an elegant shelf of high-class cinematic experiences to browse among an evening.
‘I fear, however, that it may look more like the contents of a box pulled out from under a table at a car boot sale’.
David explained he was up for roles in two films released in 2023 – being beaten out by Jim for the titular role in The Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry.
While Michael securing the part of a Dunkirk war veteran who breaks out of his nursing home to attend the 70th anniversary commemorations in France in The Great Escaper.
David admitted: ‘I thought it was going to be me escaping from the care home and going to look for my Dunkirk chums. It’s the hope that kills you.’
In an ironic twist of fate, Jim had originally been offered the role of Del Boy but ended up turning it down due to theatre commitments.
He ended up starring in three episodes of the beloved show as bent copper Roy Slater and later admitted: ‘As it turned out David Jason was perfect and he played Del Boy far better than I could have done.’
Aside from the regrets over his career, David has an ever bigger regret in his personal life – his long-lost daughter.
David recently reflected on his regret and sadness over not being in his daughter Abi Harris’ life for 52 years.
The Only Fools And Horses alum said he received the ‘most astonishing’ letter from the secret daughter he never knew he had.
In his new memoir This Time Next Year, David has recalled the overwhelming cascade of emotions he felt upon seeing the life-changing letter.
Abi is the daughter of actress Jennifer Hill – who starred in James Bond film Octopussy – after her mother and David had a brief relationship was born in 1970.
Opening up on the extraordinary moment in his life and how he wishes he knew Abi sooner, David said there is ‘the pang of sadness for those missing years, all that lost time’.
When he discovered the letter, David sat down in his kitchen and recalled how his hands shook as he started reading it.
David said he felt ‘wonder and amazement, through anxiety and heartache, to fear and outright panic’, when he knew the possibility that he had a second daughter.
In the letter, Abi wanted David to take an anonymous paternity test because she was uncertain – but insisted she didn’t want any financial support.
David was ‘delighted’ to discover he had a 52-year-old daughter named Abi Harris (pictured) and a 10-year-old grandson he had no idea existed
Abi is the daughter of actress Jennifer Hill – who starred in James Bond film Octopussy – after her mother and David had a brief relationship was born in 1970 (Jennifer pictured)
In The Mirror’s exclusive look at his book, he says: ‘You will be unsurprised to learn that my hands were shaking by now. What had I just read? I had to go back and read the whole thing again. And then I had to read it again. And then again after that.
‘I have to say it really hadn’t crossed my mind that Abi Harris was my daughter – that my relationship with Jennifer Hill while we were in that production of Under Milk Wood in 1970 could have produced a child without me knowing about it.
‘At no point in the nearly fifty years that had gone by since then had that thought had cause to enter my head.’
David credits his wife Gill Hinchcliffe, whom he shares a daughter Sophie with, for being ‘so supportive and understanding’ about it all, despite the shock they were both in.
When he met Abi for the first time, David said they both felt an ‘inevitable sense of distance’ due to the lost time they had.
David added that it was ‘such a complicated thing to process, for us both’, after their first encounter.
When he found out about Abi, he also discovered he had a 10-year-old grandson, Abi’s son Charlie.
Abi says while she had no idea who her father was – she had her suspicions after hearing about Jason’s relationship with her mother while they both starred in a stage adaptation of the Dylan Thomas radio play Under Milk Wood in 1970.
Her belief grew stronger after realising she shared the same shaped nose as him, and her parentage has now been confirmed.
She had previously thought her father was Geoffrey Davion, who was married to her mother, until his death in 1996.
Since the surprise discovery was made, Abi and Charlie have been to visit him and spent a period over Christmas with him and his family at his home in Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire.
She also seems to have inherited some of his famed acting ability, having appeared in an episode of Doctor Who and remarkably a revival performance of Under Milk Wood in 2008 where Sir David and her mother also took part.
Friends who saw the legendary actor and Abi stood next to each other remarked on their similar facial profiles, and as the years went past, she worked up the courage to find out the truth.
The TV star believed he became a father for the first time at the age of 61, and after Sophie was was born he said it had been ‘thrust upon him’ as most of his life was focused only on being a success.
David was knighted for his services to acting and comedy in 2005. He married Ms Hinchcliffe in November of that year.
David started dating his wife Gill after his long-term partner of 20 years, Welsh actress Myfanwy Talog, died from breast cancer aged 45 in 1995 (pictured together in January 2023)
David and Gill welcomed their daughter Sophie in 2001 when she was 41 and he was 61 (pictured in 2020)
He started dating Gill after his long-term partner of 20 years, Welsh actress Myfanwy Talog, died from breast cancer aged 45 in 1995.
Gill is also in the entertainment industry, working behind the scenes as an assistant director and producer with ITV.
The couple – who lead a largely private life – welcomed their daughter Sophie in 2001 when Gill was 41 and David was 61.
Speaking about their nuptials, David previously told The Guardian: ‘Gill and I were married at the Dorchester Hotel in 2005 on the eve of my knighthood.
‘We’d often spoken about it, but could never come up with a plan that wouldn’t create a fuss.
‘It was the happiest time. Next morning, I arose a married man and went straight off to become a bachelor. Or, at any rate, a knight bachelor. Amazing. A married man, a Sir, and all inside 24 blissful hours.’
