Only Fools and Horses

Only Fools and Horses: How Del Boy very nearly appeared in rare crossover with an iconic ITV show

What could have been!

As such a cultural phenomenon, it’s almost surprising that Only Fools and Horses never enjoyed more crossover episodes or moments than it did, the show’s success perhaps coming too early the 20th Century before things like crossovers became a more common feature of TV.

There was famously an appearance of two characters from John Cleese’s iconic Fawlty Towers who appeared in the season three Only Fools episode Homesick. As permanent residents of Basil Fawlty’s chaotic hotel in Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby rocked up briefly in the Peckham sitcom.

But other than that there have been no other appearances of other TV shows within Only Fools and Horses, the Trotters based show’s success coming purely from the quality of its writing and acting over any other gimmicks. There was very nearly another crossover though, which would have no doubt provided some absolutely unforgettable entertainment.

Chris Tarrant hosted the show for a decade and a half
The scenes would have seen Del grilled by Chris Tarrant on the iconic gameshow (Image: ITV)

In 2003 when the Only Fools cast came together for their last hurrah in Sleepless in Peckham, plans were put in place for a hilarious scene in which Del would appear in the iconic ITV gameshow Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Funnily enough a season five episode of Only Fools, aired in 1986 had actually been called Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and nearly 20 years later the saying had become a famous gameshow that looked set to actually appear on Only Fools.

It would no doubt have produced some instantly classic gags, the high stakes setting providing the perfect setting for David Jason to shine as Del. Sadly though, the BBC and ITV, eternal rivals on terrestrial TV, failed to come to an agreement on the terms of including the ITV show, so the idea was shelved.

What could have been!

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