SIR DAVID JASON
A Life of Laughter
STAFFORD HILDRED AND TIM EWBANK
Stafford: To Janet, Claire and Rebecca. Tim: To my mother Joy, and my children Emma, Oliver and Carole Anne.
The authors would like to extend a huge personal thank you to all those who have helped in the preparation of this book. We are very grateful to the many people who shared their memories of David Jason but preferred to keep their identities confidential, and also to Perry Aghajanoff, Stuart Allen, Michael Aspel, Brian Babb, Paul Barber, Humphrey Barclay, Ronnie Barker, Lynda Baron, Sue Bond, Ray Butt, John Challis, Shane Chapman, Steve Clark, Vivienne Clore, Brian Cosgrove, Ann Croft, Barbara Dunks, Mark Eden, Terence Frisby, Bill Gelder, Cheryl Hall, Richard Harris, Julie Horton, Sue Holderness, Robert Knights, Vernon Lawrence, Hugh Lloyd, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Sydney Lotterby, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Ken MacDonald, Buster Merryfield, Bob Monkhouse, Margaret Morrison, Patrick Murray, Vera Neck, David Nobbs, Simon Oates, Garth Pearce, Vince Powell, Ernie Pressland, Dave Prowse, Jane Rossington, Enn Reitel, Anne Rutter, Ray Selfe, Virginia Stride, Gwyneth Strong, John Sullivan, Malcolm Taylor, Maureen Wanders, Christopher Webb, Douglas Wetherhead, Mike Weedon, Arthur White, Olwen White, Colin Williams and Joan Woodward. And most of all to David Jason for being Britain’s most popular actor. Whilst he has not authorised this biography, he has always been generous with his time and helpful to the authors.
For their support and practical help we would also like to thank Corinna, Chris, Charmian and Malcolm Cowie, Arethusa, Corinne, Henri and Isabelle Plouidy, Geoffrey and Norma Barrett, Sara Cywinski, Jackie Finch, Kathryn Holcombe, Moira Marr, Beth Gibson, Jane Ennis, Rod and Joy Gilchrist, Richard Johnston, Janet Johnstone, Yvonne Partridge, Jonathon Jagger. Ella and Nesta Blundell, Clare Dillon, Simon Kinnersley, Anne Landon, Alan Rawes, Rosie Riley, Rosalind Sack, Michale and Miles Shevrin, Jack White, Francis White, Jane White and the remarkable Walter Robson. And a big thank you to all the cheerful slaves at Blake Publishing for their co-operation and kindness.
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
PROLOGUE
CHILDHOOD
DRAMATICS
MOVIES
LUCKY
ONLY FOOLS
PORTERHOUSE
DARLING
FROST
FAME
MARCH
FINALE
FAREWELL, FROST
MOURNING FOR A GENIUS
DURING THE WAR…
HUBBLE AND STRIFE
TV CREDITS
Plates
Copyright
David Jason was absolutely delighted by the prospect of going to Buckingham Palace in June 2005 to be knighted by Her Majesty The Queen. He was certainly surprised by the award, but without any false modesty he recognised it as a reward for a long and successful career for which he was extremely grateful. But he also knew it was a personal award to him alone and quickly came up with a perfect way to transform the personal honour into a real family celebration – by getting married to long-time partner Gill Hinchcliffe, the mother of the couple’s adored five-year-old daughter Sophie Mae.
‘I’d been with Gill for eight or nine years so getting married wasn’t really an enormous change,’ said David afterwards, anxious as usual to play down any emotions, but the smiles on their faces told a different story. Because it meant devoted Gill and little Sophie were all the more part of his joy.
Close friends said later that finally taking the plunge into matrimony the day before going to the Palace pleased him every bit as much as being elevated to a knight of the realm.
‘It was all great fun,’ says David. ‘My daughter was very amusing as usual. She said to her teacher before the knighthood, “I’m going to the palace with my daddy because he is being reunited with the Queen”.’
David’s wife and daughter are far and away the two most important people in his life and he flatly refuses to get carried away by being ‘Sir David’.
Months after he was honoured, David said, ‘I still find it difficult to comprehend and get a handle on my title. If people want to use it they can, but I feel a bit guilty about it. I think that is because of my background.’
The actor remains fiercely proud of his working class roots in north London and still retains many friends from the days before he was famous.
And the knighthood certainly did not signal any let-up in Sir David Jason’s busy work schedule. He starred in ITV’s highly successful epic two-parter Ghostboat, screened in April 2006. It was a remarkable project that began when David found himself thumbing through a book he was handed as a prop while filming an episode of his detective series Frost. The 1972 novel, by George Simpson and Neal Burger, told a supernatural submarine story that was not like anything that had been seen on television before. David was intrigued by the originality of the tale and full of respect for all the brave, real-life wartime submariners. ‘The Germans called subs “Iron coffins,”’ noted the actor, ‘because so many people died down there.’ It was one of the most expensive dramas ever made by ITV and it took all of David Jason’s persuasive talents and popular appeal to get it made, but both ratings and reviews were excellent. David said quietly he was simply pleased to have provided a much-needed alternative to TV’s usual diet of soaps, reality shows and police and hospital dramas.
He was just as pleased to sign up to appear in the first live-action treatment of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. The writer has watched Harry Potter, Narnia and The Lord of the Rings films break box-office records but for a long time resisted all attempts to transform his own best-selling series into the promised goldmine. He agreed to turn Hogfather, the twentieth book in the series into one of the most expensive films made for TV, by starring as Albert, ‘Death’s two thousand-year-old manservant,’ in a £6million, four-hour film, for screening in two parts at Christmas 2006.
Pratchett’s ‘Discworld’ is a parallel universe that drifts through space, perched on top of four elephants which stand on the shell of a giant turtle. The Hogfather story takes place on the alternate universe’s version of Christmas, called Hogwatch. It’s a time when the Hogfather delivers gifts to children but, when he mysteriously disappears, it is Death and his manservant Albert who take over the duties.
Hogfather was premiered at the Curzon cinema in Mayfair in London towards the end of November 2006 and was greeted with general approval and critical acclaim. David said of his role: ‘It was a great opportunity to get back into doing funny characters, because I started my career playing mainly funny ones – and I thought I was missing that a bit. I’d been playing all sorts of serious roles, that I’d enjoyed – though you can’t say that Frost is totally serious. But when this came along I thought well here’s an opportunity to get back playing a funny character. I liked the idea of playing a silly loony really, that’s what attracted me.’
At the premiere David was at pains to congratulate the makers for ‘breaking down the barriers’ to produce Hogfather on a limited budget, adding: ‘I think you’ve achieved what the Americans would have thrown money at.’
The