Only Fools and Horses’ Nicholas Lyndhurst warns his TV comeback ‘won’t be PC’
Only Fools and Horses legend Nicholas Lyndhurst has warned fans that his TV comeback on the reboot of US sitcom Frasier involves lots of boozing and won't be politically correct
Nicholas Lyndhurst is warning his TV comeback won’t be politically correct.
Years after playing Rodney Trotter in Only Fools And Horses, the comedy legend will be back on screens on the reboot of Frasier and it’s set to include plenty of near-the-knuckle gags. His character is a university professor called Alan who is very outspoken and loves boozing.
In his first interview for years, Nicholas, 62, said: “Alan is British, boozy… I thought, ‘Yeah, I can do that’. He’s very non-PC. He comes out with whatever he wants to say. He drinks too much. He doesn’t think enough. He’s very lazy. He’s a college lecturer, but he doesn’t really like any of his students at all.
“He’s a bit of a Mickey taker. He likes teasing people and there are some characters in this cast that are very easy for him to tease. So he just keeps himself amused by drinking scotch and teasing people.” Nicholas reckons a lot of comedy writers are too worried about offending people these days.
But he is thrilled at how fearless the team behind Frasier are. Speaking before the actors’ strike in the US, he said: “It’s a clever show. It’s not frightened of saying, ‘This is funny. Do that. That’s funny’.“Whereas nowadays, I think perhaps people are sort of going, ‘Oh, it’s funny, but it’s a bit divisive’. Or, ‘Somebody won’t like that’, or, ‘Part of society won’t like that’. I don’t want to sound like I’m on my soapbox here, but comedy’s got to have a victim, otherwise it’s not funny.
“Something’s got to happen, be it verbally or physically, to make it funny. And there are some shows now I think where they’ve gone, ‘No, we won’t do that. It’s funny, but we don’t do it’. I’m not saying we’re out here with all guns blazing or anything like that. But comedically, we’ve gone back a little bit now to say, ‘No, that is funny. That’s brave. Let’s do it. Let’s do it’.”
Kelsey Grammer, 68, has reprised his role as Frasier Crane for the sitcom, which last aired almost 20 years ago. Nicholas said: “It’s always been cleverly written. It’s always been hugely entertaining. And Kelsey is a genuinely charming performer.“People want to know what’s happened to Frasier, and now here’s 10 episodes telling them what’s happening to his life. And it’s a really lovely ride to be on.” The series starts on October 13 on streaming service Paramount+.
