Sir David Jason has slammed modern-day television for including ‘too much swearing and vulgar language.’
The veteran actor, 84, is best known for his iconic roles in the series Only Fools And Horses and A Touch Of Frost, but in a new interview, has called into question the inclusion of more lewd phrases in shows currently on-screen.
Speaking on the Plot Twist podcast, David shared that when he was starring as his famous character Del Boy, writer John Sullivan created a string of his character’s famous insults, to bypass decency rules in the BBC’s Green Book.
Del Boy’s insults, including ‘plonker’, ‘wally’ and ‘dipstick’ are now synonymous with the show, and David went onto say that shows need a return to these rules to reduce the amount of swearing on shows.
He said: ‘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.
Sir David Jason has slammed modern-day television for including ‘too much swearing and vulgar language’
‘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 We’ve superseded it.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. 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.
‘In order to offend the audience you were given this set of rules that you had to abide by, writers, actors, directors. You weren’t allowed to say anything about religion or religious people, it’s all there.’
During the interview, David also revealed that he turned down the opportunity to appear on Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, saying: ‘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.’
The actor shared that when he was starring as his famous character Del Boy, writer John Sullivan created a string of his character’s famous insults, to bypass BBC’s decency rules
Del Boy’s insults, including ‘plonker’, ‘wally’ and ‘dipstick’ are now synonymous with the show, and David went onto say that shows need a return to these rules to reduce crude language
In a recent interview, David threw shade at self-obsessed members of the showbiz industry who don’t respect their teams around them.
Appearing on This Morning, he called out fellow stars who were ‘selfish and rude’ and refused to share the spotlight, though he remained tight-lipped on exactly who he was referring.
He said: ‘And the reason that has imprinted itself in my mind, is that I do hear stories – no names – of certain members of our entertainment industry who are very selfish and rude and can be selfish, rude, to the point of being vulgar.
‘In other words they don’t respect the team. They say that, “Oh, it’s me. I’m famous, you stay there I’ll have my close-up, don’t cut to them!”‘
He also recently called out Hollywood stars that are ‘extremely difficult’ to work with, as he revealed the touching gift he was given by his late friend Ronnie Barker.
Appearing on The Chris Moyles Show, David gushed that Ronnie had been the ‘nicest guy’ and revealed that the late star had once given him a heartwarming gift when he retired.
He gushed: ‘But the great thing about Ronnie B was, which I learned, which was so generous with the whole team.
‘He knew that the only way you can get a successful show is to incorporate and encourage the team that you have. So, he had time for everybody, and he was generous of spirit and of time.
‘And because you do hear – no names, no pack drill – mainly some of the big names coming out of Hollywood who can be extremely difficult and a pain.’
