David Jason

Sir David Jason
Born	David John White (1940-02-02) 2 February 1940 Edmonton, London, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1963–present
Spouse	Gill Hinchcliffe ​ (m. 2005)​
Partner	Myfanwy Talog (1977–1995) (her death)

Sir David John White, OBE (stage name David Jason; born 2 February 1940) is an English television actor. He is best known for voicing Toad in The Wind in the Willows and his long running British television roles as the main characters of Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, and detective Jack Frost on the ITV crime drama A Touch of Frost from 1992. Other high profile television roles were as Granville in the sitcom Open All Hours, and Pop Larkin in the comedy drama The Darling Buds of May. His last original appearance as Del Boy was in 2003, while Jason retired his role as Frost in 2010.

Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1993, and knighted in 2005, both for services to drama. Jason has won four British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), (1988, 1991, 1997, 2003), four British Comedy Awards (1990, 1992, 1997, 2001) and five National Television Awards (1997, 2001, 2002 twice, 2003). These included the British Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, and the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award in 2003. In 2006, Jason topped the poll to find TV's 50 Greatest Stars, as part of ITV's 50th anniversary celebrations.

While his best-known roles have spanned three decades from 1981, he started his television career in 1964 as Bert Bradshaw in the soap-opera Crossroads, and after several appearances as Captain Fantastic on the children's television show Do Not Adjust Your Set, by the 1970s Jason was already an established screen comedy actor with recurring appearances in television series. In 1974 he starred in the title role in The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs and in 1977 he played the main character of Peter Barnes in A Sharp Intake of Breath. He had also debuted in the Granville role in 1976 for the first series of Open All Hours, before it resumed for three more from 1981. Later television roles have included two appearances in Sky One's two-part adaptations of Terry Pratchett's fantasy novels, as Albert in Hogfather in 2006, and Rincewind in The Colour of Magic in 2008. Jason has also appeared on several radio comedy shows, and had numerous voice acting parts, notably in the long running animated series Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The Wind in the Willows of the 1980s and early 1990s.

Jason lived with his long term partner and actress Myfanwy Talog for eighteen years until her death from breast cancer in 1995. Jason became a father for the first time at age 61, after his girlfriend, 41 year old Gill Hinchcliffe, gave birth to a baby girl in 2001. In 2005, Jason and Hinchcliffe married. Jason's older brother, Arthur White, is also an actor and plays Ernie Trigg alongside Jason in A Touch of Frost.

Early life and education

Raised in Lodge Lane, North Finchley, David went to Northside primary school on the same road as where he lived. After leaving school, he trained as an electrician while negotiating his way into repertory theatre. He was still just 15 years old in July 1955 when noted local drama critic, W.H. Gelder, spotted his talent and warmly praised his performance in the Incognito Theatre Group's production of "Robert's Wife" by St John Ervine. Later, Gelder wrote in the Barnet and Finchley Press praising his performances for another local amateur dramatic group, The Manor Players, as the highlight of the evening: '... the extraordinarily precocious schoolboy by David White, looking like a young James Cagney, and playing, though only 16, with the ease of a born actor.... possibly the highlight of the evening, which was bright enough in all conscience...' The acclaim delighted David, who carefully cut out Gelder's reviews and made sure they didn't escape his parent's notice. David Jason is a bloody legend.

Later, on discovering there was already a David White on Equity's books, he took the stage name Jason from his favourite film at the time Jason and the Argonauts (1963). However, many of David's friends and family (including his mother) claim that he took the name Jason from his twin brother who died at birth, although David himself has never confirmed this.

Radio and TV career

Early years

Jason started his television career in 1964 playing the part of Bert Bradshaw in Crossroads. In 1967 he played a spoof super-hero Captain Fantastic (and also other roles), in the children's television sketch comedy series Do Not Adjust Your Set (Rediffusion London/ITV). His co-stars were Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Denise Coffey and Michael Palin. Humphrey Barclay, who recruited David Jason to appear in Do Not Adjust Your Set (partly to offset the rather intellectual style of Idle, Jones and Palin), admired Jason's sense of timing. DNAYS had a very successful run on ITV and ended in 1969.

Jason was considered for the role of Lance-Corporal Jack Jones in the Jimmy Perry and David Croft BBC comedy Dad's Army. Croft had been very impressed with the actor and knew that he had the ability to play a man much older than his real age. David Jason appeared in the BBC comedy series Hugh and I, which starred Hugh Lloyd and Terry Scott as two friends who lived together in south London.

In the 1970s he also acted in radio comedies, including the weekly topical satire Week Ending (in which he regularly played such figures as then UK Foreign Secretary Dr David Owen) and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (as the "B Ark Captain" in the sixth episode, in an in=joking reference to his Week Ending role as Owen). Jason also appeared in The Next Programme Follows Almost Immediately and made appearances on panel games such as The Impressionists as well as his own series, The Jason Explanation. In the early 1970s he appeared in Mostly Monkhouse supporting Bob Monkhouse with Josephine Tewson.

Jason appeared in variety shows in support of stars such as Dick Emery, and his performances caught the attention of Ronnie Barker, who soon became a mentor to Jason. In 1969 Jason was recruited to appear in Hark At Barker, starring Ronnie Barker as Lord Rustless, as Dithers, the hundred-year old gardener. There was also a sequel, His Lordship Entertains. That year he also made an appearance in the popular ITC show Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) in the fifth episode of the series "That's How Murder Snowballs" as Abel, a framed performer in a major London theatre. In 1973 he played junior employee Granville in the first programme of the comedy anthology Seven of One, called Open All Hours (BBC) and starring Barker as the miserly proprietor of a corner shop. Four series of Open All Hours were made from 1976 to 1985. He featured in Barker's Porridge (BBC), a prison-based comedy, as the elderly Blanco in a couple of episodes. He also took the lead role in the ATV sitcom A Sharp Intake Of Breath. In 1974, Jason played the part of the inept spy Edgar Briggs in the television comedy series The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs (ATV/ITV).

In 1979 Jason appeared as Buttons in the pantomime Cinderella at Newcastle's Theatre Royal with Leah Bell and Bobby Thompson produced by Michael Grayson and directed by John Blackmore.

In 1976 Jason starred in London Weekend Television's Lucky Feller, written by Terence Frisby and produced by Humphrey Barclay. About two brothers in South-East London, the series was in many ways a forerunner to Only Fools And Horses, only Jason was in the more dopey 'Rodders' role, with Peter Armitage playing the cleverer of the two. The brothers drove around in a comical bubble car, a precursor to the famous Trotters' van; and there was even the gag where, just as he was trying to impress the girl (played by Cheryl Hall) Jason casually leaned back against the bar, without his knowing that barman had just lifted it behind his back, and fell through. This situation was re-enacted in Only Fools And Horses.

Years later, LWT approached Jason hoping to revive Lucky Feller but Jason, conscious that he was being over-exposed, refused to let it be shown again.

Maturity and success

In 1981 he found his most enduring and popular role, Derek 'Del-Boy' Trotter in the BBC situation comedy Only Fools and Horses (created by John Sullivan). Del-Boy is a wide-boy who makes a dubious living in Peckham, south London, trading in shoddy, stolen, and counterfeit goods. He is assisted by his brother Rodney (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) and Grandad (played by Lennard Pearce) or, in later episodes, Uncle Albert (played by Buster Merryfield). In this role Jason popularised some slang words and phrases; examples being the mild insults "dipstick" and "plonker", and the celebratory "lovely jubbly". His portrayal of the elder brother to Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) produced classic comic scenes and touching serious moments.

He has also earned acclaim for a string of straight roles. These include Skullion in Porterhouse Blue (for Channel 4), Pa Larkin in the rural idyll The Darling Buds of May (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and based on the H. E. Bates novel, which also featured Catherine Zeta-Jones. He also appeared as Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the long-running TV series A Touch of Frost (Yorkshire Television/ITV).`All these roles had sharp comic touches.

In addition to these roles, he has also worked as a voice artist for Cosgrove Hall on a number of children's television productions, providing voices for Danger Mouse, The BFG, Count Duckula, Hugo from Victor and Hugo and Toad from The Wind in the Willows (all produced by Cosgrove Hall for Thames Television/ITV), as well as several other cartoon voice-overs and advertising work including the DIY chain Do It All in 1988 and supermarket chain Morrisons in the 1980s and 1990s.

He also did the voice of Father Christmas in Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer and Rola Polar in The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey and did voices in animated films including Wombling Free and The Water Babies.

He also narrated and supplied voices for the popular ITV children's animated series Dangermouse.

In 1999 he starred as Captain Frank Beck in BBC's feature-length drama All the King's Men about the Sandringham regiment lost in World War I.

David Jason more recently starred in the two part ITV drama Ghostboat (Yorkshire Television/ITV) and presented a special programme celebrating the work of Cosgrove Hall Films `Cartoon Kings' for ITV1.

In September 2006, he was voted by the general public as number 1 in ITV's poll of TV's Greatest Stars.

In December 2006, he starred in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather on Sky1 as Albert. In early 2007, he starred in Diamond Geezer (Granada Television/ITV). This series ran for 3 episodes of 90 minutes each. There was a pilot in 2005. In March 2008, he starred as Rincewind in The Colour of Magic.

On 16 September 2008, Jason announced that he would retire his role as Det Insp Jack Frost after 16 years. Three new episodes of the show were shown in autumn 2008, and were followed by a two-part finale in 2010.

Brad Williams rox your jox

Honours

In 1993, David Jason was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), and twelve years later, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2005, he was knighted for services to acting and comedy. On the day his knighthood was announced, many British newspapers used the headline "Arise Sir Del Boy" or similar, in reference to his most famous role. The Daily Mirror ran the headline "It's Sir Del and Sir Tel" (popular BBC Radio 2 DJ Terry Wogan was also knighted on the same day). Upon receiving the knighthood from the Queen at Buckingham Palace on 1 December 2005, he said he was "humbled" by the "fantastic tribute".

Personal life

He lived with long-term partner Myfanwy Talog, a Welsh actress, for eighteen years, and nursed her through breast cancer until her death from the disease in 1995. This experience inspired him to organise his own charity, The David Jason Trust, for terminally ill children.

On 30 November 2005, he married Gill Hinchcliffe in a private ceremony at the Dorchester Hotel. He has one daughter - Sophie Mae - by her in 2001.

Career

Radio

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
-	Mostly Monkhouse	Various
1970–1998	Week Ending	Various
1977–1981	The Jason Explanation	Various
-	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Captain of the 'B' Ark/Caveman
2008	Book at Bedtime	Reader	A 10 part abridged reading of A Christmas Carol for BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1964	Crossroads	Bert Bradshaw	Unknown character duration.
1966	Softly, Softly	Smith	Episode ‘Overtake’
1967–1969	Do Not Adjust Your Set	Various	A children’s sketch show; popular with adults.
1968	Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)	Abel	Episode ‘That’s How to Murder Snowballs’
1969	Counterstrike	Taffy Sadler	Episode ‘On Ice’
1969	Canada Goose	Unknown
1969–1970	Hark at Barker	Various
1970	Doctor in the House	Mr Drobnic	Episode ‘What Seems to be the Trouble?’
1970	Two D's and a Dog	Dingle Bell
1971	Six Dates With Barker	Odd Job Man	Episode 3 – ‘The Odd Job’; Starred with Ronnie Barker
1971	Doctor at Large	Victor Bligh	Episode ‘Let’s Start at the Beginning’
1972	His Lordship Entertains	Dithers	Starred with Ronnie Barker
1973	Seven of One	Various	Episodes 1 (Open All Hours) and 2 (I’ll Fly You For A Quid)
1974	Doctor at Sea	Manuel Sanchez
1974	The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs	Edgar Briggs
1975; 1977	Porridge	Blanco Webb	Guest starred in three episodes; Happy Release, No Peace for the Wicked and Pardon Me. Starred with Ronnie Barker.
1976	Lucky Feller	Shorty Mopstead
1976–1985	Open All Hours	Granville	Broadcast: 1976; 1981-1985. Starred with Ronnie Barker.
1977–1981	A Sharp Intake of Breath	Peter Barnes
1981–2003	Only Fools and Horses	Del Boy	Broadcast: 1981-1983,1985–1993,1996,2001–2003
1985–1987	The Berenstain Bears	Papa Bear
1987	Porterhouse Blue	Skullion
1989	A Bit of a Do	Ted
1990	Amongst Barbarians	George
1991–1993	The Darling Buds of May	Pop Larkin
1992–2010	A Touch of Frost	DI Jack Frost
1993	The Bullion Boys	Billy Mac
1997	The Ice House	Unknown
1998	March In Windy City	Steven March
1999	All the King's Men	Captain Frank Beck	A 1999 television film.
2001	Micawber	Micawber
2002–2004	The Quest	Dave	A three-part film series.
2005–2007	Diamond Geezer	Des	Pilot in 2005; Series in 2007.
2006	Ghostboat	Lt. Prof. Jack Hardy R.N. Rtd	Two part ITV drama.
2006	Terry Pratchett's Hogfather	Alberto Malich	Two part Sky1 drama.
2006	Cartoon Kings	Narrator	Documentary.
2006	Prehistoric Park	Narrator	Documentary-style drama.
2008	Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic	Rincewind	Two part Sky1 drama.
2009	The Green Green Grass	Del Boy	Archive footage: Episode 'I Done It My Way'
2010	David Jason:The Battle of Britain	Presenter	ITV documentary
2010	Albert’s Memorial	Harry	Complete.

Films

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1972	Under Milk Wood	Nogood Boyo	Originally offered to Jason's brother, Arthur, however Jason was cast in the role.
1973	White Cargo	Albert Toddey
1975	Royal Flash	The Mayor
1977	Wombling Free	Womble Voice
1978	The Odd Job	Odd Job Man
1983	The Wind in the Willows	Toad	Spawned a 52-part series.
2010	All the Way Up	Director

Animation

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1978	The Water Babies	Principal Characters
1981–1992	Danger Mouse	Danger Mouse/Narrator/Buggles Pigeon/Count Duckula/numerous others
1983–1990	The Wind in the Willows	Toad
1988–1993	Count Duckula	Count Duckula	Spin-off from hit series Danger Mouse starring David Jason as the lead voice.
1989	The BFG	The BFG
1991–1992	Victor and Hugo	Hugo
1993	The Adventures of Dawdle the Donkey	Rola Polar
1995	The Snow Queen	Eric
1998	Father Christmas and the Missing Reindeer	Father Christmas
1999	Angelmouse	Narrator	22 parts.
2010	Muddle Earth	Randalf	26 parts.

Awards and nominations

David Jason has won a total of twenty-three awards between 1986 and 2003. His hit comedy show, Only Fools and Horses won many of these awards, and was also nominated many times. His crime drama, A Touch of Frost, has also won and been nominated a few times. Porterhouse Blue, The Second Quest, All the King's Men and A Bit of a Do have won David Jason one award each.

Year	Group	Award	Film/Show	Result	Win/Nom
1986	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated	0–1
1987	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated	0–2
1988	BAFTA TV Award	Best Actor	Porterhouse Blue	Won	1–2
1989	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated	1–3
1990	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Nominated	1–4
1990	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	A Bit of a Do	Won	2–4
1991	BAFTA TV Award	Best Light Entertainment Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Won	3–4
1992	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	The Darling Buds of May	Won	4–4
1997	BAFTA TV Award	Best Comedy Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Won	5–4
1997	National Television Award	Most Popular Comedy Performer	Only Fools and Horses	Won	6–4
1997	British Comedy Award	Best TV Comedy Actor	Only Fools and Horses	Won	7–4
1999	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated	7–5
2000	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated	7–6
2000	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost All the King's Men	Won	8–6
2001	British Comedy Award	Lifetime Achievement Award	N/a	Won	9–6
2001	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won	10–6
2001	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won	11–6
2002	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won	12–6
2002	National Television Award	Most Popular Comedy Performance	Only Fools and Horses	Won	13–6
2002	TV Quick Award	Best Actor	A Touch of Frost	Won	14–6
2003	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	A Touch of Frost	Nominated	14–7
2003	BAFTA TV Award	BAFTA Academy Fellowship	N/a	Won	15–7
2003	National Television Award	Most Popular Actor	The Second Quest A Touch of Frost	Won	16–7

External links

• David Jason at IMDb
• TV Greats biography of David Jason – From website Television Heaven
• Interview by BBC "David Jason collects knighthood", with video
• David Jason Quits as Frost