Only Fools and Horses

The Only Fools and Horses classic episode that almost never happened due to behind the scenes politics

Politics and fallings out led the episode to be delayed, nearly running out of time for filming

The history of Only Fools and Horses is so long that there are countless moments of behind the scenes drama and little known facts in every season, with the show on air from 1981 to 2003 across nine seasons.

But usually with backstage drama the stakes aren’t quite so high – but one Only Fools episode nearly ended up getting cancelled altogether as the clock ticked down for it to be filmed in time.

Part of the problem here was that the episode in question was a Christmas special, the first Only Fools Christmas special in fact, back in 1981 called Christmas Crackers.

This immediately meant that unlike other episodes there was more pressure with a precise and fixed deadline the filming had to be completed by, whereas in a normal season you could push things back if needs be.

Problems with the episode started with Ray Butt, the show’s normal producer, not being available after being reassigned by the BBC to boxing sitcom Seconds Out.

This would be the only Only Fools and Horses episode between 1981 and 1987 that he did not produce, such was his importance to the show.

His replacement for the Christmas Crackers episode was Martin Shardlow, who had directed the rest of series one, with the plan for him to take on production duties for the special, and then the entire second season too.

But Shardwell and creator and writer of the iconic sitcom John Sullivan had a falling out and couldn’t come to an agreement on the direction they wanted the next series to go in.

Disastrously this led to Shardwell not only giving up production duties but also his director spot, leaving the show altogether.

By this point it wasn’t long ’til Christmas and the episode was still not filmed, with a real likelihood the special would never come out.

Luckily Butt, who worked closely with Sullivan in getting the show off the ground with the BBC, managed to get his close friend and BBC producer Bernard Thomas to take over the producing and directing roles for the special before he himself returned to both produce and direct season two.

The Trotters' Christmas wasn't going to plan with a burned Turkey
The Trotters’ Christmas wasn’t going to plan with a burned Turkey (Image: BBC)

The actual episode in question, Christmas Crackers, was the first to go over the usual half hour running time, at 34 minutes. It saw Rodney fed up with Christmas and burnt turkey, with a book on body language being the best gift he received.

The Trotters head to the Monte Carlo club where Rodney tries to apply his new skills on the body language of love, but Del thinks he knows better and as they quarrel other men swoop in to steal the objects of their affections.

The special ended up with 7.5 million views at the time and started the tradition of the Only Fools Christmas specials, which went on to be some of the most successful and most-watched episodes of the whole show – so it’s a pretty good job it wasn’t cancelled in the end!

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