Sir David Jason admitted he had been left disappointed by Only Fools and Horseswriter John Sullivan after he made a key change to the show in the later series.

The 1996 Christmas Special, Time On Our Hands saw the Trotter brothers, Derek and Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) become millionaires after selling an 18th Century Harrison marine watch at Sotheby's for £6.2 million, marking the fulfilment of Del's promise that "this time next year we'll be millionaires.

However, Sir David, who portrayed Del Boy, feels that this development was a misstep by writer John Sullivan, as Del's struggle to make ends meet was a key element, and it was hard to keep the show going once it had been achieved.

John Sullivan brought back the sitcom for three more Christmas specials between 2001 and 2003. The later episodes saw Del and Rodney lose their fortune due to poor investments and return to their flat in Mandela House in Peckham, these episodes failed to recapture the original series' magic.

David shared at a fan convention: "It wasn't that John had run out of steam so much, but he was so used to working mentally with all of the characters, the style of the cut and thrust of learning to survive on the edge of disaster, as it were."

At a fan convention, he stated: "There was nowhere to go after the Trotters became millionaires and it all worked out.

"It was the end of a journey and the journey was that struggle for survival.

"The struggle for the family, the way that they behaved, that interaction and all of that stuff that made the Trotters ceased to exist once they had become millionaires, if you like."

The iconic British sitcom Only Fools and Horses hit the screens on BBC One in September 1981 and captivated audiences for seven series and sixteen Christmas specials.

The sitcom's final episode aired on 25 December 2003 and drew in a whopping 24.3 million viewers, marking it the highest recorded viewing figure for a comedy in the United Kingdom, at the time.