Only Fools And Horses' 'lost' episode would have seen Del Boy retire

Only Fools And Horses’ ‘lost episode’ would have seen Del Boy raise a glass to his retirement… but the hit show’s writer died before finishing the script

The finale of Only Fools And Horses would have seen millionaire Del Boy celebrate his retirement in the Nag’s Head. 

John Challis, 78, who played the wheeler dealer’s nemesis Boycie, explained that the ‘lost episode’ was supposed to mark the hit comedy show’s 30th anniversary.

However the sitcom’s writer John Sullivan sadly died in April 2011 before he could finish the script.

Lovely jubbly: The finale of Only Fools And Horses would have seen millionaire Del Boy (played by David Jason) celebrate his retirement in the Nag’s Head

John told The Sun: ‘The 30th anniversary was coming up and John [Sullivan] was in the process of getting together a Christmas special or something.

‘It was going to be Del Boy’s 65th birthday, he was going to retire and there was going to be a bit of a get-together in the Nag’s Head. 

‘But unfortunately [John] got ill and didn’t come out of it.’

John Sullivan, who also wrote hit shows Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends, died at the age of 64 in April 2011 after a battle with viral pneumonia.   

Tragic: The sitcom’s writer John Sullivan sadly died in April 2011 before he could finish the 30th anniversary script (pictured in 2002)

Only Fools And Horses started in 1981 and ran for seven series as well as 16 hilarious Christmas specials until 2003. It is thought that the 30th anniversary episode would have been the last one.

Del Boy (played by David Jason) and his brother Rodney Trotter (Nicholas Lyndhurst) became millionaires on the show after they found a pocket watch which made them a tidy £6.2million at an auction. 

And although now many years on since the show’s release, it was reported at the end of last year that David, 80, is allegedly still earning £1 million a year. 

In the last two years, it’s said that the TV star has bagged a whopping £2.3m thanks to his non-stop work schedule which has recently seen him wrap up the sixth series of Still Open All Hours.

Never happened: John Challis, 78, who played the wheeler dealer’s nemesis Boycie, explained that the ‘lost episode’ was supposed to mark the hit comedy show’s 30th anniversary

Finally made it: Del Boy  and his brother Rodney finally became millionaires on the show after they found a pocket watch which made them a tidy £6.2million at an auction

David has also done a plethora of documentaries of late, including David Jason’s Great British Inventions and David Jason: Planes, Trains & Automobiles. 

According to The Mirror, David’s firm Peglington Productions Ltd has amassed £789,582 in cash and investments, however, his tax bills give a further insight into his earnings. 

The publication reports that David paid £258,362 in Corporation Tax for 2019, which follows on from the £208,051 the previous year.   

It means his income over the last two years stands at an impressive £2.3m – and perhaps a touch more of travel, accountancy and other costs having no doubt been deducted.

Not too shabby: And although now many years on since the show’s release, it was reported at the end of last year that David, 80, is allegedly still earning £1 million a year

MailOnline contacted David’s representatives for comments at the time. 

The TV star recently revealed that he was never supposed to play the famous part of Derek Trotter, better known by his nickname Del Boy.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast last year, he explained that the director had originally assumed he was there to audition for Grandad due to his acting background.  

He explained: ‘When I went into the interview with the director and (writer) John Sullivan, because I’d played so many silly old fart parts, like Blanco in Porridge and the 100 year old gardener in Hark at Barker, they thought I’d come up for the grandad part.’

‘When I said no, I wanted to read Del Boy, that’s the part, that is the part that I want, and so they said, well go on see if you can read that and the rest I suppose is history.’ 

In David’s memoir A Del of a Life, published on October 29, he claimed he was fifth in line for the part, with Enn Reitel and Jim Broadbent first being offered the role.

He said that he was also told that both Robin Nedwell and Billy Murray were considered before the part was handed to him. 

Despite this, David still managed to grab the role of Del Boy and starred alongside Nicholas Lyndhurst, who played his impressionable younger brother Rodney. 

And Lennard Pearce instead starred as the hilarious Grandad, whose full name was Edward Kitchener Trotter, until his death in 1984. 

Triffic! The TV star recently revealed that he was never supposed to play the famous part of Derek Trotter, better known by his nickname Del Boy

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