Only Fools and Horses fans will soon see previously unbroadcast scenes from The Jolly Boys' Outing in a new show, The Lost Archive, marking the sitcom's 45th anniversary. The special airs on U&GOLD on Tuesday, 20 October, with a second episode following on Tuesday, 27 October.
Unseen footage from a beloved episode
The Jolly Boys' Outing, broadcast on Christmas Day in 1989, follows Derek Trotter (David Jason), Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst), Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield) and their Peckham Pals on a disastrous coach trip to Margate on the Kent coast. Del Boy's annual 'beano' offered the group a chance to escape Peckham for the Bank Holiday and enjoy sea air, drinks and fairground attractions, but things go wrong.
The Lost Archive includes additional unseen footage from the episode, including a fully improvised football match between the boys that causes problems for Rodney. The recovered material also features a blend of extended and entirely fresh scenes from 10 legendary episodes, left unused during initial broadcasts due to time constraints or structural considerations.
Archive treasures and a young Jake Wood
The show follows an extensive search through the archives, uncovering 66 previously unseen clips and nearly 100 additional treasures, from rehearsal and filming photographs to backstage footage and bloopers.
One recovered sequence from The Jolly Boys' Outing showcases actor Jake Wood, who now plays Max Branning in EastEnders. In the broadcast episode, Jake appears as a spiky-haired youngster named Elvis, Rodney's apprentice at a printing company. In the scene, Rodney erased all the information from his computer onto his colleagues' machines.
In an unbroadcast extended sequence at Rodney's workplace, the scene explores in fuller detail his struggles with the office computer system, with Jake appearing as Elvis. The footage never appeared in the final cut of the Christmas special, which attracted 20 million viewers when it was first shown.
More never-before-seen moments
In other unaired scenes, fans will see Del Boy and Marlene Boyce (Sue Holderness) chatting at the market about an unseen character who later becomes crucial to the storyline, while Boycie (John Challis) mocks Rodney about his romantic endeavours in front of the lads aboard the coach.
For the first time, viewers will also witness Del Boy explaining to Raquel why he stood her up in the 1988 festive special Dates, a scene in which he squirmed his way out of an awkward encounter with a female police officer.
Speaking about the footage, Sir David Jason reflects: "The great talent of John Sullivan, he knew he must explain certain things, but what was lost was the truth of the scene. But when you're pushed against time, something has to give."
