Politics
Only Fools and Horses’ David Jason complains comedy is in ‘downward spiral’ and blasts modern censorship
ONLY Fools and Horses frontman Sir David Jason insists TV comedy is in a “downward spiral” because of swearing.
The acting legend, 81, gave his no-holds-barred views in a chat about the watershed, and bad language creeping into shows earlier than the 9pm mark.
Sir David Jason has called out censorship and swearing on modern TV[/caption]
The Del Boy Trotter star also called out the issue of censorship, and while he believes TV bosses and producers have more freedom in the form of cuss words, he believes political correctness presents a barrier.
David insisted while swearing has “become acceptable”, telly bosses had “lost censorship.”
A Touch of Frost star Sir David told Bucks Free Press of his time on sitcoms, and said: “You couldn’t say certain things, you couldn’t show certain things because it was disrespectful or bad manners.
“You needed to be clever with your dialogue in order to get around things – now you just say it and we are going further in a downward spiral.”
The Del Boy Trotter actor believes cuss words have become ‘acceptable’ on telly[/caption]
The Only Fools and Horses star believes show producers have ‘lost censorship’ amid a climate of political correctness[/caption]
He added: “When we did Frost, we refused to swear in that, and not one person in my entire time of playing the role ever came up to me and said, ‘You know what, I didn’t enjoy that programme because you didn’t swear’.
The dad of one insisted if a show is “good enough” fans wouldn’t even realise swearing is not included as part of it.
Only Fools and Horses was a sitcom based in Peckham which ran from 1981 to 1996 – with specials in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
It followed the lives of a wheeler dealer family – The Trotters – with Del Boy having delusions of grandeur as he tried to become a millionaire.
He said he was never quizzed about why he didn’t swear in his shows[/caption]
Only Fools and Horses was a sitcom based in Peckham which ran from 1981 to 1996[/caption]
Nicholas Lyndhurst played his brother, Rodney, with Buster Merryfield playing Uncle Albert, and Lennard Pearce playing their granddad.
They lived in a council flat and would frequently try dodgy dealings in their quest to make it to the big time.
Meanwhile, David recently revealed the main regrets on his time on the BBC show.
Writing in his book A Del of a Life, he went on: “Maybe we did go back to the well a couple more times than we should have done.
Sir David recently opened up on his main Only Fools and Horses regrets[/caption]
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“Maybe being rich, as they were, briefly, in 2001, didn’t suit the Trotters as well as being poor.”
The star went on to suggest the series should have ended in 1996 when the Time on Our Hands episode was aired, showing the brothers finally achieving their dream of becoming millionaires.
He added: “With hindsight, it would have been the perfect get-out point, the neatest of tie-ups.
He also opened up on his secret actor brother, who starred with him on A Touch Of Frost.
