Sir David Jason health update after Only Fools and Horses star appeared at 2025 British Soap Awards
Fans were delighted to see a TV legend make a surprise appearance at the 2025 British Soap Awards this weekend.
The award for best soap, which was picked up by the BBC for EastEnders, was presented by Only Fools and Horses actor Sir David Jason. It was a rare public outing for the 85-year-old, who underwent hip-replacement surgery in 2023.
Since his surgery, he has noted that he is “increasingly uncomfortable” and struggles with his memory. As a result, he has stepped back from the public eye and even given up on some of his hobbies, including flying his Robinson R44 light helicopter.
“Flying that helicopter was a big part of my life,” he said in an interview with the Daily Express. “You need your hips, legs and knees to be in pretty tip-top condition for helicopter flying.
“Also your arms and shoulders. It's rather like playing a drum kit in that regard, although the consequences of getting out of time during the second verse are quite a bit graver.
“I realised I was getting increasingly uncomfortable up there in the air. Having to push the physical part of the task was taking some of the joy out of it. Clearly it was time to step away while I was still capable of stepping.”
More recently, Sir David has opened up about discovering that he had a long-lost daughter. A brief romance with Jennifer Hill in 1970 - during the production of Under Milk Wood, led to the birth of Abi Harris, his biological daughter.
Speaking about it on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, he said: “We [Jennifer and I] parted our ways and we drifted apart and she got involved with someone else and married him and that was it.”
In his memoir, This Time Next Year, he added: “There is the pang of sadness for those missing years, all that lost time.” Abi and her son, Charlie, joined Sir David for Christmas at his home in Buckinghamshire.