Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Raquel in the iconic BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, has admitted that the cast were riddled with backstage nerves during filming. Speaking ahead of the show's 45th anniversary, the 68-year-old actress revealed that the scripts were 'not that funny anymore' by the time cameras rolled because all the jokes had been exhausted in rehearsals.
Peake-Jones, who starred alongside Sir David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Del Boy and Rodney, said the cast were focused on 'getting it right' but feared that a single slip-up could ruin a laugh. 'If people had seen us backstage before the show, they'd have seen people pacing up and down the corridors with nerves, including David and Nick,' she told The Sun.
The revelations come ahead of the U&Gold documentary Only Fools and Horses: The Lost Archive, which features previously unseen footage unearthed at the BBC. Peake-Jones described watching the rediscovered clips as 'peculiar' and noted that Sir David Jason found the experience 'quite depressing', remarking: 'We were so young and successful back then.'
The documentary, which airs on UKTV, includes 66 unseen clips and scenes that were filmed but never broadcast. Series producer Sean Doherty said: 'The archive has uncovered some extraordinary material... We've truly been spoilt for choice.'
Only Fools and Horses originally ran from 1981 to 1991, with seven series and 16 specials. The Lost Archive celebrates the show's enduring legacy, with UKTV's Helen Nightingale calling it 'British comedy at its very best'.
