The first series of 'Open All Hours' came and went without much fanfare because the BBC, in its almighty wisdom, put it out on BBC2, reasoning that it was 'a gentle comedy', better suited to the calms of the second channel than to the noisier, choppier waters of the first.

David Jason

Categorized in : Better Without Wisdom Comedy

Working with Ronnie Barker was always a joy and were without doubt some of the best years of my career

David Jason

careers joy years

I'm getting fed up of living away from home so much. They look after you very well but it doesn't matter how well you're looked after, how nice the hotel is, if you're away from home constantly, the bloody dog savages you, thinks you're a stranger, the kid cries and the wife's stuck to your face!

David Jason

nice dog home

Congratulations to all the members of the wonderful Treorchy Male Choir past and present. In moments of grief or joy, the sound of the Choir can move and uplift and restore spirits like no other sound. Masters of their craft, each and every singer plays a vital role in helping maintain such a fantastic musical tradition. Long may the Choir prosper and continue to the delight of audiences around the world.

David Jason

congratulations uplifting moving

Anybody who wants to make television has a tremendous problem because it's a financially restrictive media in this day and age.

David Jason

media age television

My mum, Olwen, was a bright and talkative woman who loved a gossip and a story and was given slightly to malapropisms. And she was Welsh, so, of course, she sang.

David Jason

loved woman story gossip

I was very shy and had low self-esteem; the only way to stop yourself getting beaten up was to turn your hand to being an idiot. At the beginning, it was survival, and after that, it became second nature.

David Jason

yourself beginning nature way

There are certain values that, in my opinion, television has lost - various moral lines. How far you go in, say, revealing what people get up to on reality TV, and also graphic violence and swearing - the taboo of various swear-words is no longer there. It's worrying.

David Jason

you violence reality people

I have no interest in Twitter or Twotter or Twatter. It would never occur to me to use it. People who Tweet during programmes are always asking, 'What happened then?' If you're bloody Twittering away all the time, you miss what is actually going on.

David Jason

me you time people

Working on 'Open All Hours' had some unexpected perks, not least the attractions of the canteen at the BBC's rehearsal studios in West London.

David Jason

open some unexpected london

After leaving school, I worked as an electrician before becoming an actor.

David Jason

actor before leaving school

Driving a Model T Ford was extremely difficult. The pedals are reversed from the way they are now. It's so crude, but that was the motorcar that started it all. It's an incredible part of history.

David Jason

difficult driving history way

I enjoy life so much I don't want it to end, and dying does worry me. If you've got faith, you believe that you're going to go to a magic land, but unfortunately, I don't have faith.

David Jason

me enjoy-life faith life

I would like 'Frost' to go on forever, but you don't want people in the press hammering you, saying you've outstayed your welcome or that it's not believable anymore.

David Jason

saying you welcome people

While I'm hale and hearty, I've no thought in my mind to retire.

David Jason

retire while thought mind

My father used to say, 'What the hell are you listening to? Put that bloody rubbish off.' And it was The Beatles.

David Jason

you hell listening father

How do I feel about being called a national treasure? I think it's marvellous if that's people's opinion. But I'd rather have the money than the label.

David Jason

feel think money people

A lot of TV has moved away from family viewing. But with 'The Royal Bodyguard,' we have tried to make a show when no one will be worried about sitting there with their kids or their grandma.

David Jason

will royal family sitting

I've met a lot of military men in my time. After they retire, they are still extremely game. They dress perfectly and have impeccable manners. They always end up as secretaries of golf clubs. I have great admiration for them.

David Jason

dress game time men

I'm a twin, but only I emerged live from the womb. The fact that I was originally one half of a duo gave rise to a theory, much propounded in newspaper profiles, that my life has been one desperate effort to compensate for that stillborn brother.

David Jason

my-life effort brother life

My father, Arthur, was a fishmonger, first at Billingsgate market and later in Camden Town and Golders Green.

David Jason

market first green father