David Jason: My daughter misses out a bit, having a dad of 73

Sir David Jason says his daughter gets the 'short end of the stick' because he's an older dad.

The actor, 73, who shot to fame in Only Fools And Horses, is father to 12-year-old Sophie.

He told the Daily Mirror that a trip to Disneyland with his daughter had left him too exhausted to contemplate another trip to the resort in Paris.

"She's off to Eurodisney soon, but I won't be going," he told the newspaper. "So, bless her socks, she does miss out a little bit with a father of senior years.

"She does get the short end of the stick."

He said that he'd not been happy giving his daughter a mobile phone, but felt that he had to because of peer pressure.

The actor also said he was delighted that 'everybody has been so positive' about the Open All Hours Christmas special.

The idea snowballed when he happened to ask the BBC's head of comedy 'whatever happened to Granville?' when they met up, he said.

Sir David said he wanted to make shows that all the family could watch.

"Programmes like EastEnders might not show sexual scenes, but they're full of aggression, with people shouting and being unkind to one another and that's all shown well before the watershed," he told the newspaper.

"I believe the audience need to know that they can watch TV safely without being suddenly surprised."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.