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Only Fools and Horses star's 'really frightening' experience filming iconic show

Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Del Boys partner Raquel Turner, reveals that the reality for the cast and crew preparing for live audience studio scenes was no laughing matter and was 'really frightening'

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Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Del Boys partner Raquel Turner, reveals filming the show was "really frightening"(Image: Getty Images)

In 1981, the first family of Peckham drove into our lives in a yellow three- wheeler van, with a dream that this time next year well be millionaires. Only Fools and Horses, the BBC sitcom that became a national institution, is still entertaining generations more than 45 years after Derek Del Boy Trotter, younger brother Rodney and Grandad welcomed us to Nelson Mandela House.

But speaking today, Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Del Boys partner Raquel Turner, reveals that the reality for the cast and crew preparing for live audience studio scenes was no laughing matter. Its really frightening because you have got several hundred people watching you, admits Tessa, 68, who has just filmed Only Fools and Horses: The Lost Archive for comedy channel U&GOLD to mark the shows milestone 45th anniversary.

Its a very peculiar thing that I never quite got used to. If people had seen us backstage before the show, theyd have seen people pacing up and down the corridors with nerves, including David and Nick. We cared so much, and we wanted to get it right, but one slip-up of a word could ruin that laugh.

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Tessa Peake-Jones admitted that it was a strange experience to reunite with her Only Fools co-stars(Image: PA)

Before the Bafta-winning cast stepped into the studio, they spent countless hours in rehearsals, often leaving them struggling to see the funny side of things. "If youre doing comedy, you find you dont want to laugh because then you break the reality of it, remembers the actress.

Usually, weve seen it all in rehearsals so many times, its not that funny anymore anyway. The two-part special, out later this year, will feature interviews with cast and crew, and includes archive material from more than 10 classic episodes, including Christmas specials The Jolly Boys Outing, from 1989 and 1992s Mother Natures Son.

Although the reunion is sure to be a hit with viewers, filming was quite uncomfortable for returning cast members Sir David, now 86, Tessa, Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra), 66, and Sue Holderness (Marlene), 76. Youre looking back at something 30 years ago and were all a lot older now, so you just look so different, reflects Tessa.

It was harder for David because some of that stuff for him is looking back 40 years, which I know he finds quite odd. It was nice spending the day with him because we dont get to meet up that often, but he said, Isnt it odd to see yourself looking so much younger?

[Raquel (Tessa Peake-Jones), Del (David Jason), Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Cassandra (Gwyneth Strong) on Only Fools and Horses]

She admitted filming the reunion show was quite uncomfortable for returning cast members(Image: BBC)

She says the experience was even quite depressing and not something she would wish to repeat. You think, Oh, we were in our prime! which is quite a weird thing to be witnessing decades later.

"Its a very odd experience. It was a bit like torture to be forced to sit on the sofa and watch this stuff back from 30 years ago, it really was, but its part of the job."

Away from Only Fools and Horses, Tessa is busy preparing to tread the boards for new stage comedy-drama Invisible Me at Londons Southwark Playhouse written by Bren Gosling. She plays Lynn, a hotel cleaner and domestic abuse survivor who is about to embrace romance in later life.

The subject of finding love in your 60s resonated with Tessa. When you get to a certain age in your 50s and 60s, people stop noticing you, she says. And thats for men and women youre just not noticed as much.

So to look at that age group and say, How about we try to get them back dating is fascinating. How do you do that at 60 when youre not very good on the internet, and youre not great online? What do people do? All of that is really fun.

A staggering 24.5 million viewers tuned in to the final Christmas special, Sleepless in Peckham, in 2003; she says the show is still reaching new audiences thanks to its repeats on multiple television networks. We get letters from youngsters all the time saying, Oh, my granddad watched this show, or My parents watched this, and they loved it, so it passes down the generations, she says. So I think leave it like that because its a bit like a jewel you dont want to fiddle about with it.

Tessa Peake-Jones stars in Invisible Me at Southwark Playhouse Borough from April 8 to May 2. For tickets, visit southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

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