Late bloomer

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 15

Late bloomer

David Jason, the cherubic Granville in “Open All Hours” and Del in the recently finished “Only Fools and Horses,”. has had success come to him late in his career. Jason gives the lie to stories of overnight success, for he has been around as a bit player on television for more than 15 years. He might well have been successful earlier had it not been for his ch'oice of material. Earlier series such as “The Secret Life of Edgar Briggs,” “Lucky Feller” and “A Sharp Intake of Breath” were only mildly popular and left him with an image of a three-time loser. It was not until

“Only Fools and Horses” came along that Jason was seen as a comic actor in his own right and not as a foil for others like Ronnie Barker.

Jason comes from a working-class background and before getting into acting professionally he had his own little electrical firm. He spent all his spare time in amateur theatricals and it was his brother, a professional actor, who engineered his first professional job. It all seems a long time ago now for the 44-year-old, who gets a stack of fan mail each and every week, mainly, he bemoans, ? “from the motherly types. People seem to think of me as the little fella who makes them laugh.” “Open All Hours” screens on Two on Fridays at 8.30 p.m.