TV’s greatest star David Jason at 75

IT’S fitting that David Jason has recently been back on our screens in one of his most famous roles.

Because Sir David John White OBE, as he’s properly known, turned 75 on February 2.

He’ll always be Del Boy to some but it was as hapless shop boy Granville in Open All Hours that he set out on the road to being voted TV’s greatest star.

In Still Open All Hours, stuttering shopkeeper Arkwright, played by the late Ronnie Barker, has long since passed on and his nephew is in charge of the tiny Yorkshire grocery shop.

“It all came about from a meeting with the BBC’s Head of Comedy,” reveals David.

“I just happened to say: ‘Whatever happened to Granville?’ and it snowballed from there.

“It genuinely was a question that’s always been on my mind but I always thought that if Granville came back, he should have Arkwright’s stutter because I do a very good impersonation of Ronnie!”

In fact, Mr Barker was instrumental in setting David along the path to being voted our greatest TV star in 2006.

Barker spotted him acting as support to Dick Emery and recruited him for his 1969 series Hark At Barker, then cast him in the first episode of his comedy anthology called, wait for it, Open All Hours.

That turned into four series, by which time Jason had already appeared alongside Barker in Porridge as the elderly prisoner Blanco, while he also cropped up in several sketches on The Two Ronnies.

The enthusiasm that has greeted Granville’s return delights David, who says: “Everybody has been so positive.

“They smile and laugh as soon as you mention it. Nobody says: ‘Why are you doing that? It’s been and gone.’ There are generations nostalgic for some of the old shows.

“You can sit there with a two year-old or a 92-year-old and not have to worry about what might happen or what might be said.

“I’ve been caught out many a time watching TV with my daughter Sophie, who’s 13.

“Before I know it, people have taken their clothes off or are swearing and I’ve been unable to get to the remote or cover her eyes.

“Programmes like EastEnders might not show sexual scenes but they’re full of aggression, with people shouting and being unkind to one another and that’s all shown well before the watershed.

“I believe the audience need to know that they can watch TV safely without being suddenly surprised.”

Fatherhood came late to David. He was 61 when his partner Gill Hinchcliffe, 20 years his junior, gave birth to their daughter.

“They say having a child makes you young at heart,” he says. “But Sophie makes me feel old! She shouldn’t, but she does.

“We went to Disney a few years back and it nearly killed me. She wanted me to go on all the rides up and down the rollercoasters. Never again!

“As soon as I got there, I just thought: ‘Oh, Gordon Bennett!’.

“I was soon exhausted! We went on this ride where you go on a boat and there’s these monsters and dinosaurs that come out. We were all enjoying ourselves, saying: ‘Oh look at that.’

“Then we came round and suddenly there was this huge ramp going up and I thought: ‘Oh, Gawd, we’re going up on that, are we?’ And of course, you can’t get out the boat.

“So up we go, then suddenly we go round this bend and there was this huge dinosaur going ‘Raaah!’.

“The boat’s going towards it, and Sophie absolutely pooped herself and threw herself on to me, screaming.

“We went underneath the dinosaur and it went ‘Raaah!’ again.

“Well, that cured me. I got out of that boat soaking wet, with a tearful child, who then said: ‘Argh, argh, argh, can we go again?’ and I said: ‘No, we can’t!’.

“She went off to EuroDisney a couple of years later but I didn’t.

“Bless her socks, she does miss out a little bit with a father of senior years. She does get the short end of the stick.

“Between three and seven are the best years. Sophie made me laugh so much.

“I remember reading Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and I asked her the next night: ‘What do you want me to read?’.

“She said: ‘I want Snow White and the Seven ‘Warfs’. So now her nickname is The Warf!”

By the way, don’t believe the urban myth David that chose the stage name Jason in tribute to his twin brother who sadly died in childbirth.

When he found there was already a David White registered with Equity, he took inspiration from his favourite film, Jason And The Argonauts!