Sir David Jason sacked by BBC just hours after landing iconic role
dailyrecord.co.ukSir David Jason was once sacked by the BBC just hours after being cast for Dad's Army. The 84-year-old faced a major setback after he nailed an audition for Lance Corporal Jones.The veteran star was told just hours after being given the part by show creators Jimmy Perry and David Croft but BBC boss Bill Cotton decided to replace him with Clive Dunn.Reflecting on the abrupt change, David recounted: "I was cast at 12 o'clock and sacked by three." Adding to his challenges, Sir David also missed out on becoming Frank Spencer in Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, with BBC chiefs questioning his "star quality." However, Sir David's career took off after he landed the role of Del Boy, following earlier successes in Open All Hours and Porridge alongside greats like Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, reports Leicestershire Live.
Before his rise to stardom, the comedy star was an electrician, a job quite removed from the glitz of showbiz. The esteemed actor shared: "When I first started work I was an apprentice electrician.""When you are an apprentice to any trade, you have to absorb all sorts of traits you're bumping into people who are bricklayers, plasterers, pipe benders, plumbers.
And if you're interested in making things, it leaves its mark. You get interested in how a plumber bends a piece of pipe, and that sort of thing is still with me, I still love bending pipes."He also revealed how he bagged his role in Open All Hours after forming a close bond with co-star Ronnie Barker on set.
Sir David said: "The reason I got to work with Ronnie on Open All Hours was because of the little bits that I had done in his other series.""He played this wonderful, bumbling character, and I was playing this hundred-year-old gardener.
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