Nicholas Lyndhurst threw Only Fools and Horses crew 'into panic' while filming one episode
Only Fools and Horses was thrown into panic when Nicholas Lyndhurst fell ill and it was hit with filming delays, leaving the crew fearing it wouldn't be able to air in time.
Only Fools and Horses’ Christmas special, A Royal Flush, was thrown into disarray when Nicholas Lyndhurst fell ill and scheduling disruptions almost meant the 1986 episode wasn’t ready to air on Christmas Day.
The Rodney Trotter actor, 63, came down with the flu which meant he could not film, thus throwing production into a panic and putting the episode on a worryingly tight schedule.
This was made worse as David Jason had just lost his voice and needed three days off to get it back.
On top of this, the Only Fools and Horses crew had to take another break from filming when they were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance just one month before the episode was set to air.
The performance was recorded on November 24, midway through A Royal Flush’s six-week shooting schedule, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, a location also used in the episode.
In his book, Only Fools and Horses: The Official Inside Story, author Steve Clark wrote about the effect the disruption had on the episode.
He wrote: “A Royal Flush was far more complex than a normal Only Fools… episode. The script necessitated filming at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the Opera House in Buxton, plus shooting at a stately home in Wiltshire.”
Filming was so close to the deadline the crew reportedly considered filming Rodney’s famous outburst at Del live on Christmas Day.
However, in a stroke of luck, editing was completed by early Christmas morning and the episode aired that evening as planned, attracting 18 million viewers.
The complications meant it was impossible for A Royal Flush to be recorded in front of a studio audience. Therefore, the original version of the episode does not include a laughter track.
It was later re-edited into a shorter version with an added laughter track and released on DVD in 2004.
The episode sees Rodney strike up a friendship with a young artist named Vicky, who it turns out is actually Lady Victoria Marsham-Hales, whose dad is the fictional Duke of Maylebury, second cousin to the Queen.
The rest of the episode sees the Trotters rubbing shoulders with the upper classes as Del sees an opportunity to marry Rodney off into aristocracy and make them all rich.
