David Jason axed from movie role: Del Boy actor says he is 'desperate' for more work

Famed for his performances as dodgy market trader Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter, David Jason, has revealed he had been dreaming of conquering the big screen. In his new memoir, This Time Next Year, the 84-year-old tells of how his Hollywood dream started to come true - before being snatched away by the pandemic.

“Still Open All Hours wasn't the only project of mine that got wiped out by the pandemic. Something much bigger also went down the pan,” he wrote. “A feature film I was all lined up for. Oh yes indeed: the movies. Hollywood! Well, actually I'm not sure. Maybe Borehamwood.”

He said he and the filmmakers were “deep into discussions” over the project, which was “kind of a ghost story, if I understood the pitch properly”.

“Glittering all-star cast, definitely - subject to confirmation, of course, as these things inevitably are. Bound for Netflix, don't you know,” he went on.

However, after agreeing to appear in the film, destined to be the “most enormous smash at the box office”, the project was brought to an end by Boris Johnson - who stood at a podium before the nation and declared "everything was cancelled" - the Covid-19 lockdown.

“And once again my prospects for that big breakthrough on the silver screen were on ice, along with the plans for my Malibu beach house. (Nothing too flash; 15,000 square feet or so, ocean views, motorised glass windows - you know the kind of thing.)," Jason wrote.

He goes on to joke about producers "dangling film roles under my nose" but said often, it is "only the talk that takes place and nobody ends up filming anything at all. Or not with me in it".

As the lockdowns came to an end, David didn’t hear back about the movie he had agreed to be part of - until a visit to the dentist. “Please now imagine some years going by. Whole years. Moons wax and wane. A global pandemic comes and goes. The prime minister changes, many times. Love Island happens again and again and again," he said.

But in 2023, he was browsing a newspaper in a dentist's waiting room when he noticed an advert for a new cinema release - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, starring Jim Broadbent and realised this was the film he'd had meetings about.

“Lowering the paper slowly to my lap and equally slowly raising my head, I stare across the room and enter a state of what I can only describe as mournful reverie, broken eventually by a woman's voice. 'The dentist will see you now, sir.'," he added.

Praising Broadband as a "superb actor with a major background in film", Jason did, however, save some ire for the film’s producers in the book, saying: "It's just that... well, what about that meeting? Didn't we have an arrangement here? Anyway, I retreat and quietly nurse my bruises - from this development and also, of course, from the dentistry. (Installation of a crown: never fun.)"

Now, after that disappointment, the much-loved actor has vowed his time in acting is not over. Despite turning 85 in February, he told the Radio Times he intends to keep working for as long as his mind and body allow. "I’m trying desperately to convince producers and directors that I’ve got many characters still left to play. Senior actors have got a tremendous amount to offer," he said.

His most recent TV gig was co-presenting the 15-part BBC series Jay and David’s Touring Tool Shed, with Jay Blades, which will end after one series after Blades was charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against his estranged wife.

So what next? "I’m open to offers!" he beams.