Vera viewers clock Only Fools and Horses legend in latest episode of ITV drama

Fans of iconic British comedy Only Fools and Horses were left in shock when watching Vera at the weekend as they clocked an actor who once played a very famous part alongside David Jason.

After an audience close to five million tuned in to witness Vera series 11 resuming a week earlier, fans flocked to ITV once again on Sunday to watch fourth episode As The Crow Flies.

The feature length instalment saw Brenda Blethyn ‘s famous on screen alias try to get to the bottom of the death of a school teacher whose lifeless body was found at the foot of cliffs.

The investigation into her death took Vera and her team all over the North East and one of the people who featured in the episode, joining the likes of ex Line of Duty star Craig Parkinson and ex Bad Girls actress Simone Lahbib, was Nabil Elouahabi, in the role of Mo Hassan.

And it didn’t take long for plenty of viewers to place exactly where they knew him from.

Nabil starred in Only Fools and Horses 20 years ago, at the end of 2002 in the much loved episode Strangers on the Shore.

The actor played the part of Rashid Mamoon, who was found was found in the back of Denzil’s lorry by David Jason’s Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst in the role of Del’s brother Rodney.

Del came up with the nickname Gary for Rashid, prompting Nabil’s character to shout out “Gary,” whenever he was spoken to throughout the episode.

Clocking him in Vera, one viewers tweeted: “Gary’ from Only Fools and Horses is in Vera! Yes, I watch Vera. She’s class pet.”

Also recognising him, another fan replied: “glad I wasnt the only one……as soon as he turned round i shouted GARY,” and a third commented: “Holy sh*t gary is in vera!!”