David Jason
Encyclopedia
Sir David John White, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 2 February 1940), better known by his stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...

 David Jason, is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

  BAFTA  award-winning actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter
Del Boy
Derek Edward Trotter, better known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its prequel, Rock & Chips...

 on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 sit-com Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

 from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows
The Wind in the Willows (1983 film)
The Wind in the Willows is a 1983 79-minute film by the studio Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and aired on the ITV network. The movie is based on Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows. It won a BAFTA award and an international Emmy award...

 and as detective Jack Frost
Jack Frost (detective)
Detective Chief Inspector William Edward "Jack" Frost, GC is a fictional detective created by R. D. Wingfield - characterised as sloppy, untidy, hopeless with paperwork - but unmatched at solving mysteries...

 on the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 crime drama A Touch of Frost from 1992. Other high profile television roles were as Granville
Granville (Open All Hours)
Granville is a fictional character played by David Jason in the British sitcom Open All Hours. Granville is an errand boy to his uncle and employer, Arkwright, who is the proprietor of an old-fashioned Yorkshire corner shop....

 in the sitcom Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

, and Pop Larkin in the comedy drama The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama which was first broadcast between 1991 and 1993 produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV Network. It is set in an idyllic rural 1950s Kent, among a large, boisterous family. The three series were based on the novels by H. E. Bates. Originally...

. His last original appearance as Del Boy was in 2003, while Jason retired his role as Frost in 2010.

Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (OBE) in 1993, and knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

 in 2005, both for services to drama. Jason has won four British Academy Television Awards
British Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...

 (BAFTAs), (1988, 1991, 1997, 2003), four British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...

 (1990, 1992, 1997, 2001) and six National Television Awards
National Television Awards
The National Television Awards is a British television awards ceremony, broadcast by the ITV network and initiated in 1995. The National Television Awards are the most prominent ceremony for which the results are voted on by the general public. Because of the way the awards are decided, winners are...

 (1997, 2001, 2002 twice, 2003, 2011). These included the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award
BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award
The BAFTA Fellowship is lifetime achievement award presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 1971 "in recognition of outstanding achievement in the art forms of the moving image", and is the highest honour the Academy can bestow...

 in 2003. In 2006, Jason topped the poll to find TV's 50 Greatest Stars
TV's 50 Greatest Stars
TV's 50 Greatest Stars was a British awards show, broadcast as part of ITV's 50th birthday celebrations on 9 September 2006. The two 2 hour show was presented by Bradley Walsh.-Results:As voted for by ITV viewers.1. David Jason2. Morecambe and Wise...

, as part of ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

's 50th anniversary celebrations.

While his best-known roles have spanned three decades from 1981, he started his television career in 1963 as Bert Bradshaw in the soap-opera Crossroads, and after several appearances as Captain Fantastic
Captain Fantastic
Captain Fantastic was a regular feature of Do Not Adjust Your Set from 1967 to 1968 which appeared as a filmed insert between the videotaped sketches....

 on the children's television show Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....

, by the 1970s Jason was already an established screen comedy actor with recurring appearances in television series. In 1974 he starred in the title role in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life Of Edgar Briggs was a 30-minute British television comedy series created by Bernard McKenna & Richard Laing and produced by Humphrey Barclay for LWT...

 and in 1977 he played the main character of Peter Barnes in A Sharp Intake of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath was a British sitcom starring David Jason, Jacqueline Clarke, Richard Wilson and Alun Armstrong which ran from 1977 to 1981. It was made for the ITV network by ATV. The opening titles featured cartoons by Mel Calman....

. He had also debuted in the Granville role in 1976 for the first series of Open All Hours, before it resumed for three more from 1981. Later television roles have included two appearances in Sky One
Sky One
Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.The channel first launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the United Kingdom, behind BBC One , ITV and BBC Two...

's two-part adaptations of Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...

's fantasy novels, as Albert in Hogfather in 2006, and Rincewind
Rincewind
Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends just about all of his time...

 in The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic (TV film)
The Colour of Magic is a two-part television adaptation of the bestselling novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. The fantasy film was produced for Sky One by The Mob, a small British studio, starring David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry and Christopher Lee as the...

 in 2008. Jason has also appeared on several radio comedy shows, and had numerous voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...

 parts, notably in the long running animated series Danger Mouse, Count Duckula
Count Duckula
Count Duckula is a British animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall, and a spin-off from DangerMouse, a show in which the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series first aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television for 3 seasons and...

 and The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows (TV series)
The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames...

 of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Jason lived with his long term girlfriend, actress Myfanwy Talog
Myfanwy Talog
Myfanwy Talog was a Welsh actress, best known to the media as the long-term partner of Sir David Jason.-Personal life:...

 for eighteen years until her death from breast cancer in 1995. Jason became a father for the first time at age 61, after his girlfriend, 41 year old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl in 2001. In 2005, Jason and Hinchcliffe married. Jason's older brother, Arthur White
Arthur White (actor)
Arthur White is an English actor of stage and screen, best known for his occasional role as police archivist Ernie Trigg in the crime drama A Touch of Frost, alongside his real life younger brother Sir David Jason. His parents were Arthur R White and Olwen Jones...

, is also an actor and plays Ernie Trigg alongside Jason in A Touch of Frost.

Early life and education

Raised in Lodge Lane, North Finchley, David went to Northside primary school on the same road where he lived. After leaving school, he trained as a car mechanic (as revealed by Anne Diamond
Anne Diamond
Anne Margaret Diamond is an English radio and television presenter and journalist. She hosted Good Morning Britain for TV-am and the similarly titled Good Morning... with Anne and Nick for BBC1, both with Nick Owen as her co-presenter...

 in an interview with David Jason on TV AM in 1984) while negotiating his way into repertory theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

. He was just 15 years old in July 1955 when noted local drama critic, W.H. Gelder, spotted his talent and warmly praised his performance in the Incognito Theatre Group's production of "Robert's Wife" by St John Ervine. Later, Gelder wrote in the Barnet and Finchley Press praising his performances for another local amateur dramatic group, The Manor Players, as the highlight of the evening: '... the extraordinarily precocious schoolboy by David White, looking like a young James Cagney, and playing, though only 16, with the ease of a born actor.... possibly the highlight of the evening, which was bright enough in all conscience...' The acclaim delighted David, who carefully cut out Gelder's reviews and made sure they didn't escape his parents' notice.

Later, on discovering there was already a David White on Equity's books, he took the stage name Jason from his favourite film at the time Jason and the Argonauts (1963). However, many of David's friends and family (including his mother) claim that he took the name Jason from his twin brother who died at birth, although David himself has never commented on this.

Early years

Jason started his television career in 1964 playing the part of Bert Bradshaw in Crossroads. In 1967 he played a spoof super-hero Captain Fantastic
Captain Fantastic
Captain Fantastic was a regular feature of Do Not Adjust Your Set from 1967 to 1968 which appeared as a filmed insert between the videotaped sketches....

 (and also other roles), in the children's television sketch comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....

 (Rediffusion London/ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

). His co-stars were Eric Idle
Eric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

, Terry Jones
Terry Jones
Terence Graham Parry Jones is a Welsh comedian, screenwriter, actor, film director, children's author, popular historian, political commentator, and TV documentary host. He is best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team....

, Denise Coffey
Denise Coffey
Denise Coffey is an English actress, director, and playwright.After training at the Glasgow College of Dramatic Art, Coffey began a career in repertory at the Gateway Theatre in Edinburgh, then moved to the Palladium Theatre there...

 and Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....

. Humphrey Barclay
Humphrey Barclay
Humphrey Barclay is a comedy executive and producer.-Career:His first foray into show business was via Cambridge Footlights revues where he appeared alongside Tim Brooke-Taylor, Bill Oddie, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, David Hatch, Jonathan Lynn, Jo Kendall and Miriam Margolyes...

, who recruited David Jason to appear in Do Not Adjust Your Set (partly to offset the rather intellectual style of Idle, Jones and Palin), admired Jason's sense of timing. DNAYS had a very successful run on ITV and ended in 1969.

Jason was considered for the role of Lance-Corporal Jack Jones
Lance-Corporal Jack Jones
Lance Corporal Jack Jones is a fictional Home Guard platoon lance-corporal, veteran of the British Empire and butcher portrayed by Clive Dunn in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army...

 in the Jimmy Perry
Jimmy Perry
Jimmy Perry OBE is an English writer, scriptwriter, producer, author and actor, most famous for devising and co-writing the BBC sitcoms Dad's Army with David Croft.-Education:...

 and David Croft BBC comedy Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...

. Croft had been very impressed with the actor and knew that he had the ability to play a man much older than his real age. David Jason appeared in the BBC comedy series Hugh and I
Hugh and I
Hugh and I was a highly successful black-and-white British sitcom that aired from 1962 to 1967. It starred Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd as two friends who shared lodgings with Terry's mother and was followed by a sequel called Hugh and I Spy...

, which starred Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...

 and Terry Scott
Terry Scott
Owen John "Terry" Scott was an English actor and comedian who appeared in seven Carry On films. He also appeared in BBC1's popular domestic sitcom Terry and June with June Whitfield...

 as two friends who lived together in south London.

In the 1970s he also acted in radio comedies, including the weekly topical satire Week Ending
Week Ending
Week Ending... was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, usually on Friday evenings. It was devised by writer/producers Simon Brett and David Hatch, and was originally hosted by Nationwide presenter Michael Barratt.The show's title was always announced as...

 (in which he regularly played such figures as then UK Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen
David Owen
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FRCP is a British politician.Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post; he co-authored the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War...

) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...

 (as the "B Ark Captain" in the sixth episode, in an in-joking reference to his Week Ending role as Owen). Jason also appeared in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately
The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately
The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately was a cult BBC comedy of the 1970s, now almost completely forgotten.The programme starred Bill Wallis, David Jason, Denise Coffey, David Gooderson and Jonathan Cecil...

 and made appearances on panel games such as The Impressionists as well as his own series, The Jason Explanation. In the early 1970s he appeared in Mostly Monkhouse supporting Bob Monkhouse
Bob Monkhouse
Robert Alan "Bob" Monkhouse, OBE was an English entertainer. He was a successful comedy writer, comedian and actor and was also well known on British television as a presenter and game show host...

 with Josephine Tewson
Josephine Tewson
Josephine Tewson is an English actress. Tewson is perhaps best known for her roles as Elizabeth in the British television series Keeping Up Appearances and as Miss Davenport in the British television series Last of the Summer Wine.-Early life:Tewson was born in Hampstead, London. Her father was a...

.

Jason appeared in variety shows in support of stars such as Dick Emery
Dick Emery
Richard Gilbert "Dick" Emery was an English comedian and actor. Beginning on radio in the 1950s, an eponymous television series ran from 1963 to 1981. He was the brother of Ann Emery.-Life and career:...

, and his performances caught the attention of Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

, who soon became a mentor to Jason. In 1969 Jason was recruited to appear in Hark At Barker
Hark at Barker
Hark at Barker was a 1969 British comedy series combining elements of sitcom and sketch show, which starred Ronnie Barker. It was made for the ITV network by LWT.Each show began with a spoof news item read by Barker as a continuity announcer...

, starring Ronnie Barker as Lord Rustless, as Dithers, the hundred-year old gardener. There was also a sequel, His Lordship Entertains. That year he also made an appearance in the popular ITC
ITC Entertainment
The Incorporated Television Company was a British television company largely involved in production and distribution. It was founded by Lew Grade.-History:...

 show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk , first transmitted during 1969-70, is a British private detective television series starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, respectively. The series was originally created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman...

 in the fifth episode of the series "That's How Murder Snowballs
That's How Murder Snowballs
"That's How Murder Snowballs" is the fifth episode of the 1969 ITC British television series Randall and Hopkirk starring Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre...

" as Abel, a framed performer in a major London theatre. In 1973 he played junior employee Granville
Granville (Open All Hours)
Granville is a fictional character played by David Jason in the British sitcom Open All Hours. Granville is an errand boy to his uncle and employer, Arkwright, who is the proprietor of an old-fashioned Yorkshire corner shop....

 in the first programme of the comedy anthology Seven of One
Seven of One
Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half...

, called Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

 (BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

) and starring Barker as the miser
Miser
A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...

ly proprietor of a corner shop. Four series of Open All Hours were made from 1976 to 1985. He featured in Barker's Porridge
Porridge (TV series)
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

 (BBC), a prison-based comedy, as the elderly Blanco
Blanco Webb
Blanco Webb was a character in the BBC sitcom Porridge played by David Jason.Unusually for Jason, who was, at the time, in his thirties, Blanco is a very old man. Blanco is also a close friend of Fletcher...

 in three episodes. He also appeared with Ronnie Barker in various disguises in the Two Ronnies Show with the ain characher being the Voice of The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town. He also took the lead role in the ATV sitcom A Sharp Intake Of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath was a British sitcom starring David Jason, Jacqueline Clarke, Richard Wilson and Alun Armstrong which ran from 1977 to 1981. It was made for the ITV network by ATV. The opening titles featured cartoons by Mel Calman....

. In 1974, Jason played the part of the inept spy Edgar Briggs in the television comedy series The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life Of Edgar Briggs was a 30-minute British television comedy series created by Bernard McKenna & Richard Laing and produced by Humphrey Barclay for LWT...

 (ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...

/ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

).

In 1979 Jason appeared as Buttons in the pantomime Cinderella at Newcastle's Theatre Royal with Leah Bell and Bobby Thompson produced by Michael Grayson and directed by John Blackmore.

In 1976 Jason starred in London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...

's Lucky Feller, written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay. About two brothers in South-East London, the series was in many ways a forerunner to Only Fools And Horses, only Jason was in the more dopey 'Rodders' role, with Peter Armitage playing the cleverer of the two. The brothers drove around in a comical bubble car, a precursor to the famous Trotters' van; and there was even the gag where, just as he was trying to impress the girl (played by Cheryl Hall
Cheryl Hall
Cheryl Hall is a British actress.She is best known for playing the role of Shirley, the girlfriend of Wolfie Smith in the British sitcom Citizen Smith....

) Jason casually leaned back against the bar, without his knowing that barman had just lifted it behind his back, and fell through. This situation was re-enacted in Only Fools And Horses.

Years later, LWT approached Jason hoping to revive Lucky Feller but Jason, conscious that he was being over-exposed, refused to let it be shown again.

Maturity and success as a leading man

In 1981 he found his most enduring and popular role, Derek 'Del-Boy' Trotter in the BBC situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

 (created by John Sullivan
John Sullivan (writer)
John Richard Thomas Sullivan OBE was an English television scriptwriter responsible for several popular British sitcoms, including Only Fools and Horses, Citizen Smith and Just Good Friends....

). Del-Boy is a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

, south London, trading in shoddy, stolen, and counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...

 goods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst
Nicholas Lyndhurst
Nicholas Simon Lyndhurst is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses, Gary Sparrow in Goodnight Sweetheart, and as Adam Parkinson in Carla Lane's series Butterflies...

) and Grandad
Grandad (Only Fools and Horses)
Edward Kitchener "Ted" Trotter better known simply as Grandad, was a character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1981-1984...

 (played by Lennard Pearce
Lennard Pearce
Lennard Pearce was an English actor who worked mostly in the theatre, but also appeared in a number of British television programmes. He landed his most notable TV role during the final few years of his life, starring as Edward "Grandad" Trotter in the popular sitcom, Only Fools and Horses from...

) and, in later episodes, Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield
Buster Merryfield
Harry "Buster" Merryfield was an English actor best known for starring in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses.-Early life:...

). In this role Jason popularised some slang words and phrases; examples being the mild insults "dipstick" and "plonker", and the celebratory "lovely jubbly". His portrayal of the elder brother to Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) produced classic comic scenes and touching serious moments.

He has also earned acclaim for a string of straight roles. These include Skullion
Skullion
Skullion is a central character in Porterhouse Blue and Grantchester Grind , two novels about life in the fictitious Porterhouse College at Cambridge by British novelist Tom Sharpe. For centuries, Porterhouse College has been renowned for its cuisine, the prowess of its rowers and the low level of...

 in Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. There was a Channel 4 TV series in 1987 based on the novel, adapted by Malcolm Bradbury...

 (for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

), Sidney "Pop" Larkin in the rural idyll The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama which was first broadcast between 1991 and 1993 produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV Network. It is set in an idyllic rural 1950s Kent, among a large, boisterous family. The three series were based on the novels by H. E. Bates. Originally...

 (Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

/ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

) and based on the H. E. Bates
H. E. Bates
Herbert Ernest Bates, CBE , better known as H. E. Bates, was an English writer and author. His best-known works include Love for Lydia, The Darling Buds of May, and My Uncle Silas.-Early life:...

 novel, which also featured the then unknown Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones
Catherine Zeta-Jones, CBE, is a British actress. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of United Kingdom and United States television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as the 1998 action film The Mask of...

. He also appeared as Detective Inspector Jack Frost
Jack Frost (detective)
Detective Chief Inspector William Edward "Jack" Frost, GC is a fictional detective created by R. D. Wingfield - characterised as sloppy, untidy, hopeless with paperwork - but unmatched at solving mysteries...

 in the long-running TV series A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

 (Yorkshire Television/ITV).`All these roles had sharp comic touches.

In addition to these roles, he has also worked as a voice artist for Cosgrove Hall on a number of children's television productions, providing voices for Danger Mouse, The BFG
The BFG
The BFG is a children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in 1982. The book was an expansion of a story told in Danny, the Champion of the World, an earlier Dahl book...

, Count Duckula
Count Duckula
Count Duckula is a British animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall, and a spin-off from DangerMouse, a show in which the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series first aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television for 3 seasons and...

, Hugo from Victor and Hugo
Victor and Hugo
Victor and Hugo, Bunglers in Crime is an animated series made by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and screened on CITV from 6 September 1991 to 29 December 1992 and is a spin off from Count Duckula....

 and Toad from The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a classic of children's literature by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. Alternately slow moving and fast paced, it focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters in a pastoral version of England...

 (all produced by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

/ITV), as well as several other cartoon voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...

s and advertising work including the DIY chain Do It All
Do It All
- History :Do It All was originally created by WH Smith in 1979 when the company acquired a DIY chain.Fierce competition in the 1980s saw the chain struggle, and in 1990 it was merged with the rival Payless DIY chain, owned by the Boots Group. The combined group - in which WH Smith and Boots both...

 in 1988 and supermarket chain Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...

 in the 1980s and 1990s.

He also did the voice of Father Christmas in Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer and Rola Polar in The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey and did voices in animated films including Wombling Free
Wombling Free
Wombling Free was a 1977 film adaption of the children's television series The Wombles.-Humans:*David Tomlinson: Roland Frogmorton*Frances de la Tour: Julia Frogmorton*Bonnie Langford: Felicity 'Kim' Frogmorton*Bernard Spear: Arnold Takahashi...

 and The Water Babies
The Water Babies (film)
The Water Babies is a 1978 animated feature film based on the book The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley.-Plot:When a 12-year-old chimney sweep is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it, he jumps into a violent river. There he encounters a wondrous civilization of anthropomorphic...

.

In 1999 he starred as Captain Frank Beck in BBC's feature-length drama All the King's Men about the Sandringham regiment lost in World War I.

David Jason more recently starred in the two part ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

 drama Ghostboat (Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...

/ITV) and presented a special programme celebrating the work of Cosgrove Hall Films `Cartoon Kings' for ITV1.

In September 2006, he was voted by the general public as number 1 in ITV's poll of TV's Greatest Stars
TV's 50 Greatest Stars
TV's 50 Greatest Stars was a British awards show, broadcast as part of ITV's 50th birthday celebrations on 9 September 2006. The two 2 hour show was presented by Bradley Walsh.-Results:As voted for by ITV viewers.1. David Jason2. Morecambe and Wise...

.

In December 2006, he starred in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on Sky1 as Albert. In early 2007, he starred in Diamond Geezer
Diamond Geezer
Diamond Geezer is a British television comedy drama written by Caleb Ranson which stars David Jason as a jewel thief and professional con man.-Background:...

 (Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

/ITV). This series ran for 3 episodes of 90 minutes each. There was a pilot in 2005. In March 2008, he starred as Rincewind
Rincewind
Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends just about all of his time...

 in The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic (TV film)
The Colour of Magic is a two-part television adaptation of the bestselling novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. The fantasy film was produced for Sky One by The Mob, a small British studio, starring David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry and Christopher Lee as the...

.

On 16 September 2008, Jason announced that he would retire his role as Det Insp Jack Frost after 16 years. Three new episodes of the show were shown in autumn 2008, and were followed by a two-part finale in 2010.

Honours

In 1993, David Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (OBE), and twelve years later, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2005, he was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...

 for services to acting and comedy. The granting of the knighthood was well received by the public. On the day his knighthood was announced, many British newspapers used the headline "Arise Sir Del Boy" or similar, in reference to his most famous role. The Daily Mirror ran the headline "It's Sir Del and Sir Tel" (popular BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

 DJ Terry Wogan
Terry Wogan
Sir Michael Terence Wogan, KBE, DL , or also known as Terry Wogan, is a veteran Irish radio and television broadcaster who holds dual Irish and British citizenship. Wogan has worked for the BBC in the United Kingdom for most of his career...

 was also knighted on the same day). Upon receiving the knighthood from the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 on 1 December 2005, he said he was "humbled" by the "fantastic tribute".

Personal life

Jason lived with long-term girlfriend Welsh
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 actress Myfanwy Talog
Myfanwy Talog
Myfanwy Talog was a Welsh actress, best known to the media as the long-term partner of Sir David Jason.-Personal life:...

, for eighteen years, and nursed her through breast cancer
Breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer originating from breast tissue, most commonly from the inner lining of milk ducts or the lobules that supply the ducts with milk. Cancers originating from ducts are known as ductal carcinomas; those originating from lobules are known as lobular carcinomas...

 until her death from the disease in 1995. This experience inspired him to organise his own charity, The David Jason Trust, for terminally ill
Terminal illness
Terminal illness is a medical term popularized in the 20th century to describe a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as...

 children.

In 2001 Jason's girlfriend, 41 year old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl, Sophie Mae. It was Jason's first child and he was 61 at the time. Jason and Hinchcliffe married on 30 November 2005, in a private ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel
Dorchester Hotel
The Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...

.

Jason's elder brother is the actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 Arthur White (actor)
Arthur White (actor)
Arthur White is an English actor of stage and screen, best known for his occasional role as police archivist Ernie Trigg in the crime drama A Touch of Frost, alongside his real life younger brother Sir David Jason. His parents were Arthur R White and Olwen Jones...

, born in 1933. The two have appeared together in the crime drama A Touch of Frost, Arthur playing police archivist Ernie Trigg. He also appeared briefly with his brother in an episode of a Touch of Frost and again in 2008, on the comic fantasy
Comic fantasy
Comic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is primarily humorous in intent and tone. Usually set in imaginary worlds, comic fantasy often includes puns on and parodies of other works of fantasy. It is sometimes known as Low fantasy in contrast to High fantasy, which is primarily serious in intent...

 The Colour of Magic
The Colour of Magic (TV film)
The Colour of Magic is a two-part television adaptation of the bestselling novels The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett. The fantasy film was produced for Sky One by The Mob, a small British studio, starring David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry and Christopher Lee as the...

, where Arthur starred as a character called "Rerpf".

Radio

Year Title Role Other notes
- Mostly Monkhouse Various
1970–1998 Week Ending
Week Ending
Week Ending... was a satirical radio current affairs sketch show, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4, usually on Friday evenings. It was devised by writer/producers Simon Brett and David Hatch, and was originally hosted by Nationwide presenter Michael Barratt.The show's title was always announced as...

 
Various
1977–1981 The Jason Explanation Various
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy radio series written by Douglas Adams . It was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom by BBC Radio 4 in 1978, and afterwards on global short wave radio on the BBC World Service, National Public Radio in the U.S. and CBC Radio in...

 
Captain of the 'B' Ark/Caveman
2008 Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime is a long-running radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast each weekday evening at 10.45–11.00 pm.Book at Bedtime offers fiction including modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world. Books are usually abridged and serialised each evening for...

 
Reader A 10 part abridged reading of A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...

 for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

's Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime
Book at Bedtime is a long-running radio programme on BBC Radio 4, broadcast each weekday evening at 10.45–11.00 pm.Book at Bedtime offers fiction including modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world. Books are usually abridged and serialised each evening for...

.

Television

Year Title Role Other notes
1964 Crossroads  Bert Bradshaw Unknown character duration.
1966 Softly, Softly
Softly, Softly (TV series)
Softly, Softly is a British television drama series, produced by the BBC and screened on BBC 1 from January 1966. It centred around the work of regional crime squads, plain-clothes CID officers based in the fictional region of Wyvern - supposedly in the Bristol and Chepstow area of the UK...

 
Smith Episode ‘Overtake’
1967–1969 Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set was a children's television series produced originally by Rediffusion, London, then by the fledgling Thames Television for British commercial television channel ITV from 26 December 1967 to 14 May 1969....

 
Various A children’s sketch show; popular with adults.
1968 Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)
Randall and Hopkirk , first transmitted during 1969-70, is a British private detective television series starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk, respectively. The series was originally created by Dennis Spooner and produced by Monty Berman...

 
Abel Episode ‘That’s How Murder Snowballs’
1969 Counterstrike
Counterstrike (TV series)
Counterstrike is a British science fiction television series produced by the BBC in 1969.The series starred Jon Finch as an alien living on Earth as a human named Simon King. He was assigned to live there to prevent an alien invasion of the planet....

 
Taffy Sadler Episode ‘On Ice’
1969 Canada Goose Unknown
1969–1970 Hark at Barker
Hark at Barker
Hark at Barker was a 1969 British comedy series combining elements of sitcom and sketch show, which starred Ronnie Barker. It was made for the ITV network by LWT.Each show began with a spoof news item read by Barker as a continuity announcer...

 
Various
1970 Doctor in the House
Doctor in the House (TV series)
Doctor in the House is the syndicated title given, by the United States, to a British television comedy series , based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures of a group of medical students — and their later misadventures as doctors.The first...

 
Mr Drobnic Episode ‘What Seems to be the Trouble?’
1970 Two D's and a Dog Dingle Bell
1971 Six Dates With Barker
Six Dates With Barker
Six Dates with Barker is a series of six one-off, half hour situation comedies showcasing the talents of Ronnie Barker. All were broadcast by London Weekend Television early in 1971.Writers on the series included John Cleese and Spike Milligan...

 
Odd Job Man Episode 3 – ‘The Odd Job’; Starred with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

1971 Doctor at Large  Victor Bligh Episode ‘Let’s Start at the Beginning’
1972 His Lordship Entertains
His Lordship Entertains
His Lordship Entertains was Ronnie Barker's second sitcom vehicle for his Lord Rustless character, first seen three years earlier in Hark at Barker on ITV. This time though, Rustless had switched channels and was now appearing on BBC2...

 
Dithers Starred with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

1973 Seven of One
Seven of One
Seven of One was a British comedy series that aired on BBC2 in 1973. Starring Ronnie Barker, 7 of One is a series of seven separate comedies that would serve as possible pilots for sitcoms. Originally it was to be called Six of One, which Barker planned to follow up with another series called Half...

 
Various Episodes 1 (Open All Hours) and 2 (I’ll Fly You For A Quid)
1974 Doctor at Sea Manuel Sanchez
1974 The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs
The Top Secret Life Of Edgar Briggs was a 30-minute British television comedy series created by Bernard McKenna & Richard Laing and produced by Humphrey Barclay for LWT...

 
Edgar Briggs
1975; 1977 Porridge  Blanco Webb Guest starred in three episodes; Happy Release, No Peace for the Wicked and Pardon Me. Starred with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

.
1976 Lucky Feller
Lucky Feller
Lucky Feller was a 1976 ITV sitcom written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay.It featured David Jason and ran for just one series of 13 episodes...

 
Shorty Mopstead
1976–1985 Open All Hours
Open All Hours
Open All Hours is a BBC sitcom written by Roy Clarke which ran for four series a first run in 1976, a second run in 1981, third in 1982 and finally with a fourth run in 1985, with a pilot episode from the Seven of One series in 1973...

 
Granville Broadcast: 1976; 1981-1985. Starred with Ronnie Barker
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE was a British actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman...

.
1977–1981 A Sharp Intake of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath
A Sharp Intake of Breath was a British sitcom starring David Jason, Jacqueline Clarke, Richard Wilson and Alun Armstrong which ran from 1977 to 1981. It was made for the ITV network by ATV. The opening titles featured cartoons by Mel Calman....

 
Peter Barnes
1981–2003 Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

 
Del Boy
Del Boy
Derek Edward Trotter, better known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its prequel, Rock & Chips...

 
Broadcast: 1981-1983,1985–1993,1996,2001–2003
1985–1987 The Berenstain Bears
The Berenstain Bears (1985 TV series)
The Berenstain Bears is an Australian-American co-produced animated television series based on Stan and Jan Berenstain's Berenstain Bears children's book series, produced by Hanna-Barbera and Southern Star Productions....

 
Papa Bear
1987 Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. There was a Channel 4 TV series in 1987 based on the novel, adapted by Malcolm Bradbury...

 
Skullion
1989 A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do was a British comedy drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and was aired on ITV in 1989. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television.The show was set in a fictional Yorkshire town...

 
Ted
1990 Amongst Barbarians
Amongst Barbarians
Amongst Barbarians is* a play by British playwright Michael Wall first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester prior to a transfer to the Hampstead Theatre in London ; and...

 
George
1991–1993 The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama which was first broadcast between 1991 and 1993 produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV Network. It is set in an idyllic rural 1950s Kent, among a large, boisterous family. The three series were based on the novels by H. E. Bates. Originally...

 
Pop Larkin
1992–2010 A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

 
DI Jack Frost
1993 The Bullion Boys
The Bullion Boys
The Bullion Boys is a film based on the true story of how Britain's gold reserve was secretly transferred to Liverpool at the start of the Second World War. It was produced by the BBC as part of their Screen One series and it won the 1994 Emmy Award for drama....

 
Billy Mac
1997 The Ice House
The Ice House
The Ice House Comedy Club is located at 24 Mentor Avenue in Pasadena, California. Opened in 1960 when folk music was in its prime, The Ice House was one of America's top folk clubs with acts coming from around the country to perform. In the 1970s the club's emphasis switched to comedy, providing...

Unknown
1998 March In Windy City Steven March
1999 All the King's Men  Captain Frank Beck A 1999 television film.
2001 Micawber  Micawber
2002–2004 The Quest Dave A three-part film series.
2005–2007 Diamond Geezer
Diamond Geezer
Diamond Geezer is a British television comedy drama written by Caleb Ranson which stars David Jason as a jewel thief and professional con man.-Background:...

 
Des Pilot in 2005; Series in 2007.
2006 Ghostboat  Lt. Prof. Jack Hardy R.N. Rtd Two part ITV drama.
2006 Terry Pratchett's Hogfather  Alberto Malich  Two part Sky1 drama.
2006 Cartoon Kings Narrator Documentary.
2006 Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park
Prehistoric Park is a six-episode mockumentary television mini-series that premiered on ITV on 22 July 2006 and on Animal Planet on 29 October 2006. The program was produced by Impossible Pictures, who also created Walking with Dinosaurs. In 2007, ITV cancelled Prehistoric Park, but introduced the...

 
Narrator Documentary-style drama.
2008 Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic  Rincewind
Rincewind
Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends just about all of his time...

 
Two part Sky1 drama.
2009 The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass
The Green Green Grass is a British sitcom, created and initially written by John Sullivan, produced by Shazam Productions for the BBC. It is a spin-off of the long running sitcom Only Fools and Horses and stars John Challis, Sue Holderness and Jack Doolan...

 
Del Boy
Del Boy
Derek Edward Trotter, better known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its prequel, Rock & Chips...

 
Archive footage: Episode 'I Done It My Way
I Done It My Way
I Done It My Way is an episode of the BBC Sit-com, The Green Green Grass. It aired on 19 February 2009, as the seventh episode of the fourth series. This episode acted as a ‘clip show’ for both Only Fools and Horses and The Green Green Grass...

'
2010 David Jason:The Battle of Britain
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain is the name given to the World War II air campaign waged by the German Air Force against the United Kingdom during the summer and autumn of 1940...

 
Presenter ITV documentary
2010 Albert’s Memorial Harry ITV1 feature length drama.
2010 Come Rain Come Shine Don ITV1 feature length drama, starring alongside Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman
Alison Steadman OBE is an English actress. She established her career with roles such as Beverley in Abigail's Party and Candice Marie in Nuts in May for the director Mike Leigh, to whom she was once married. In addition to her stage and radio work, she has had lead roles in The Singing Detective,...

2011 David Jason's Great Escapes Himself Documentary
2011 The Royal Bodyguard Captain Guy Hubble BBC Comedy. Production begins in July 2011.

Films

Year Title Role Other notes
1972 Under Milk Wood
Under Milk Wood (film)
Under Milk Wood is a 1972 British film directed by Andrew Sinclair and based on the radio play Under Milk Wood by the Welsh writer Dylan Thomas. It starred Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole. Like the book it portrays the inhabitants of a small Welsh village Llareggub....

 
Nogood Boyo Originally offered to Jason's brother, Arthur, however Jason was cast in the role.
1973 White Cargo  Albert Toddey
1975 Royal Flash
Royal Flash (film)
Royal Flash is a 1975 film based on George MacDonald Fraser's second Flashman novel, Royal Flash. It starred Malcolm McDowell as Flashman. Oliver Reed appeared in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan played Lola Montez...

 
The Mayor
1977 Wombling Free
Wombling Free
Wombling Free was a 1977 film adaption of the children's television series The Wombles.-Humans:*David Tomlinson: Roland Frogmorton*Frances de la Tour: Julia Frogmorton*Bonnie Langford: Felicity 'Kim' Frogmorton*Bernard Spear: Arnold Takahashi...

 
Womble Voice
1978 The Odd Job
The Odd Job
The Odd Job is a 1978 British comedy film starring Graham Chapman . It tells the story of a man named Arthur Harris who is recently abandoned by his wife. He becomes so depressed that he hires an "odd job man" to kill him...

 
Odd Job Man
1983 The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows (1983 film)
The Wind in the Willows is a 1983 79-minute film by the studio Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and aired on the ITV network. The movie is based on Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows. It won a BAFTA award and an international Emmy award...

 
Toad Spawned a 52-part series.
2010 All the Way Up
All the Way Up
All the Way Up is a 1970 British comedy film directed by James MacTaggart based on Semi-Detached, a 1962 play by Midlands dramatist David Turner. It stars Richard Briers, Warren Mitchell, Pat Heywood, Kenneth Cranham, Adrienne Posta and Elaine Taylor....

 
Director

Animation

Year Title Role Other notes
1978 The Water Babies
The Water Babies (film)
The Water Babies is a 1978 animated feature film based on the book The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley.-Plot:When a 12-year-old chimney sweep is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it, he jumps into a violent river. There he encounters a wondrous civilization of anthropomorphic...

 
Principal Characters
1981–1992 Danger Mouse  Danger Mouse/Narrator/Buggles Pigeon/Count Duckula/Numerous others
1983–1990 The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows (TV series)
The Wind in the Willows is a 52-episode TV series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1987, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's classic story The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 film The Wind in the Willows. It was made by animation company Cosgrove Hall for Thames...

 
Toad/Chief Weasel/Billy Rabbit
1988–1993 Count Duckula
Count Duckula
Count Duckula is a British animated television series created by British studio Cosgrove Hall, and a spin-off from DangerMouse, a show in which the Count Duckula character was a recurring villain. The series first aired on September 6, 1988 and was produced by Thames Television for 3 seasons and...

 
Count Duckula/Numerous Others Spin-off from hit series Danger Mouse starring David Jason as the lead voice.
1989 The BFG
The BFG
The BFG is a children's book written by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in 1982. The book was an expansion of a story told in Danny, the Champion of the World, an earlier Dahl book...

 
The BFG
1991–1992 Victor and Hugo
Victor and Hugo
Victor and Hugo, Bunglers in Crime is an animated series made by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television and screened on CITV from 6 September 1991 to 29 December 1992 and is a spin off from Count Duckula....

 
Hugo
1993 The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey  Rola Polar
1994 Felidae
Felidae (film)
Felidae is a 1994 German animated mystery directed by Michael Schaack, written by Martin Kluger, Stefaan Schieder and Akif Pirinçci based on the novel Felidae, produced by Trickompany, and starring Ulrich Tukur, Mario Adorf and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The famed nightmare sequence was directed,...

 
Jesaja (English dub)
1995 The Snow Queen
The Snow Queen (1995 film)
The Snow Queen is a British animated film directed by Martin Gates and inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen, featuring Helen Mirren in the titular role...

 
Eric
1998 Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer Father Christmas
1999 Angelmouse
Angelmouse
Angelmouse is a children's television programme which was produced and broadcast by the BBC. It was aired on CBeebies . It has also been broadcast on ABC Kids. It started from September 27 1999 and ended on March 31 2000.The title character is a mouse who is an angel...

 
Narrator 22 parts.
2010 Muddle Earth
Muddle Earth
"Muddle Earth" is also the title of a 1993 novel by John Brunner.Muddle Earth is a children's book by Paul Stewart, published in 2003, and illustrated by Chris Riddell. It is largely a parody of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien...

 
Randalf 26 parts.

Awards and nominations

David Jason has won a total of twenty-three awards between 1986 and 2003. His hit comedy show, Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

 won many of these awards, and was also nominated many times. His crime drama, A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

, has also won and been nominated numerous times. Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. There was a Channel 4 TV series in 1987 based on the novel, adapted by Malcolm Bradbury...

, The Second Quest, All the King's Men and A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do was a British comedy drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and was aired on ITV in 1989. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television.The show was set in a fictional Yorkshire town...

 have won David Jason one award each.
Year Group Award Film/Show Result
1985 BAFTA TV Award Best Light Entertainment Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1986 BAFTA TV Award Best Light Entertainment Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1987 BAFTA TV Award Best Actor Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue
Porterhouse Blue is a novel written by Tom Sharpe, first published in 1974. There was a Channel 4 TV series in 1987 based on the novel, adapted by Malcolm Bradbury...

1988 BAFTA TV Award Best Light Entertainment Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1989 BAFTA TV Award Best Light Entertainment Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1990 British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actor A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do
A Bit of a Do was a British comedy drama series based on the books by David Nobbs. The show starred David Jason and was aired on ITV in 1989. It was made for the ITV network by Yorkshire Television.The show was set in a fictional Yorkshire town...

1990 BAFTA TV Award Best Light Entertainment Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1992 British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actor The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May
The Darling Buds of May is a British comedy drama which was first broadcast between 1991 and 1993 produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV Network. It is set in an idyllic rural 1950s Kent, among a large, boisterous family. The three series were based on the novels by H. E. Bates. Originally...

1996 National Television Award Most Popular Comedy Performer Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1996 National Television Award Special Recognition Award N/a
1996 BAFTA TV Award Best Comedy Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1997 British Comedy Award Best TV Comedy Actor Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1997 National Television Award Most Popular Actor Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

1999 National Television Award Most Popular Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2000 National Television Award Most Popular Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2000 TV Quick Award Best Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....


All the King's Men
2001 British Comedy Award Lifetime Achievement Award N/a
2001 TV Quick Award Best Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2001 National Television Award Most Popular Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2001 National Television Award Most Popular Comedy Performer Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

2002 National Television Award Most Popular Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2002 National Television Award Most Popular Comedy Performance Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses
Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003...

2002 TV Quick Award Best Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2003 National Television Award Most Popular Actor A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2003 BAFTA TV Award BAFTA Academy Fellowship N/a
2003 National Television Award Most Popular Actor The Second Quest
A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....

2011 National Television Award Outstanding Drama Performance A Touch of Frost
A Touch of Frost (TV series)
A Touch of Frost is a television detective series produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV from 1992 until 2010, initially based on the Frost novels by R. D. Wingfield....


External links

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