Only Fools and Horses

The Only Fools and Horses episode that had to be refilmed when one of the cast’s legendary actors died

Die hard fans of the Only Fools and Horses series will tell you that they remember every single episode, but there is some footage from the show that even the biggest fan has never laid eyes on.

During the production of one of the episodes, a beloved member of the cast tragically passed away.

Lennard Pearce appeared in 22 episodes of Only Fools and Horses as the quirky, but dearly beloved Edward Kitchener “Grandad” Trotter. Unfortunately, on December 15 1984, Lennard passed away after suffering a major heart attack (the second of his life) at his flat in London. He died at the age of 69.

However, before his death he had begun filming on the fourth series of the show. His untimely demise meant that he was unable to finish filming the episode named ‘Hole in One’.

The appropriately named episode left producers with a massive hole to fill in regards to how to go about completing the episode.

They took the decision to remove all of the footage from the episode which featured Grandad and reshoot the episode.

Once Buster Merryfield joined the cast as Uncle Albert, the ‘Hole in One’ scenes already filmed by Pearce were reshot and replaced with Buster’s character. The episode eventually aired on March 7 1985.

Although, an original shot of the character Mike looking up at Grandad from the Nag’s Head cellar was kept in.

Lennard Pearce played Grandad for three seasons (Image: BBC)

The cast were said to be “devastated” by the death of Lennard Pearce, but filming continued.

Only Fools and Horses went to run for another 7 years for a total of 64 episodes.

Lennard Pearce’s career may have been cut short but he still managed to build an incredible body of work. Including works likes of His other work includes Dixon of Dock Green (1965), Sykes (1972), Coronation Street in (1969 and 1977) and a number of theatre productions.

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