Only Fools and Horses star Sir David Jason has revealed he turned down the chance to appear on hit BBC show Strictly Come Dancing.

Sir David is well-known for playing Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter in the hit British sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

He starred alongside Nick Lyndhurst who played Rodney Trotter, Del Boy's brother.

The hit UK series, which follows the Trotter brothers as they try a number of questionable get-rich-quick schemes to become millionaires, ran for 22 years from 1981 to 2003.

Only Fools and Horses has become one of the most loved shows in UK television history.

Sir David Jason turned down Strictly Come Dancing

Sir David has also starred in a range of other TV programmes including A Touch of Frost and Open All Hours.

But there is one BBC programme he turned down back in 2021 - reality show Strictly Come Dancing.

The Only Fools and Horses legend, speaking on the Plot Twist podcast, said: "I turned it down for a number of reasons. Mainly two left feet.

"Ah well, it was the viewing public’s loss, I’m sure.”

Sir David Jason says language on TV today is "vulgar"

Sir David also opened up about TV today while on the podcast, The Mirror reported, saying some of the language used is "vulgar".

He explained: "I found a book of rules in my house, from 1947, and what it was, was a rule book for writers, directors, actors, you name it, from the hierarchy of the BBC telling you what you’re not allowed to say because you might offend people.

“Blimey, if they were around today! The rationale is we’ve gone the other way. We’ve superseded it.

"In order to be a working class person in television today you use the expletives constantly, all the time. And some of them are pretty vulgar, in my opinion."

RECOMMENDED READING:

Sir David continued: "So everybody is using that, constantly, all the time. That’s filtered through to everyday language, so young people today are using all the language that we were banned from saying in everyday speak.

"The problem with that is, is that you’ve given up manners and you’ve given up respect for your fellow man, for your fellow woman, because the argument was ‘but it’s in common use, it’s been there in Shakespeare’s time’, well that’s not good enough.

“If you tried to follow the rule book today you wouldn’t have a show at all. I think we’ve gone too far away from that book of rules."