Only Fools and Horses fans praise The Lost Archive documentary as they take a trip down memory lane and reminisce on the 'genius' show

Only Fools and Horses fans have praised The Lost Archive documentary which aired on Tuesday night as they enjoyed a trip down memory lane and reminisced on the 'genius' show.  

The documentary features never-before-seen footage from the archives to celebrate the sitcom's 45th anniversary. 

After trawling through the vaults, 66 unseen clips were discovered, along with almost 100 other gems including rushes, behind the scenes footage and outtakes – with the cast and crew reuniting to dissect it on the U&GOLD doc.

The two-part series shows interviews with Sir David Jason (Del Boy), Tessa Peake-Jones (Raquel), Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra), Sue Holderness (Marlene), Steven Woodcock (Jevon) and Denis Lill (Alan), as well as director Tony Dow, editor Chris Wadsworth, and other members of the crew. 

Viewers were loving it as they penned on X: 'It was such a treat watching Only Fools & Horses: The Lost Archive, watching all those scenes that didn't make the final cut. Can't wait for next Tuesday!'

'watching only fools and horses the lost archives and I still find John Sullivan an absolute genius!'

'Watching Only fools and horses: the lost archive. Best sitcom of all time.',

'Only fools and horses lost archives was [chef's kiss emoji].',

It was one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, with audiences frequently in excess of 16 million.

Yet, incredibly, there were significant parts of Only Fools And Horses, featuring Del Boy Trotter and his circle of colourful friends including businessman Boycie, that were simply never shown. 

Filmed and enjoyed by a studio audience, whole scenes were then edited out and left on the cutting room floor.

There's the one from the 1989 Christmas special, Jolly Boys' Outing, in which a completely new character Kenny, brother of Boycie's wife Marlene, is revealed. 

From the same episode, we find out why the coach Del Boy had hired to transport him and his mates to Margate for a day of fun blew up: a dodgy, smouldering in-vehicle radio, supplied by D B Trotter himself.

A scene from the 1986 Christmas special, A Royal Flush, in which former Royal Navy sailor Uncle Albert reveals how he narrowly escaped the attentions of a shark after a wartime sinking, receives its premiere.

Albert, famously known for boring others with his wartime tales, is shown regaling a member of serving staff with his stories after Derek and Rodney are invited to spend the weekend at a luxurious country estate.

Raquel's failed attempt to become a nightclub singer, in the 1991 episode Class Of '62, is also broadcast for the first time.

An impromptu football match in Jolly Boys' Outing and a scene in which Del Boy explains how he avoided jail, after mistaking a real policewoman for a stripogram and ripping off her blouse in the 1988 Christmas special Dates, are among the other hidden gems.

Sir David, 86, who became a household name thanks to his BAFTA-winning performance as Del Boy, admits that watching the missing scenes alongside fellow cast members such as Tessa Peake-Jones, was sometimes a frustrating experience.

'I understand why scenes had to be cut - when you're pushed for time something has to give,' he says. 

'We'd have someone with a stopwatch, at the read throughs for each episode and if the read through ran for 35 minutes and the episode was supposed to be 30, we knew that five minutes of John Sullivan's brilliant script was going to be trimmed.

'But I thought it was a real shame that certain scenes were cut. The one with Uncle Albert, for example, where he's talking about torpedoes and sharks. 

'It's a nice piece of characterisation of him and his war effort and I would have wanted that to be kept in and see something else cut instead.'

Tessa Peake-Jones, who plays Del Boy's wife Raquel, said she found the experience of viewing Lost Archive unnerving. 

'I don't like watching myself, at the best of times,' she said, `but seeing myself from 25 years ago was odd – it was almost like watching a different person.

'However, much of it was a lovely surprise. Because I don't often watch myself on screen, I never realised what had been cut or even that things overran and had to be edited. 

'When I watched the archive material, I didn't even remember recording some of those scenes!`

The documentaries also include outtakes - Tessa seemed to find filming romantic moments with David Jason a particular source of amusement - and she reckons that audiences will find all this new material irresistible.

'I imagine they are going to go mad for it: hats off to whoever made it possible!'

That person is former BBC producer and comedy archivist Richard Latto.

He explained: 'I was able to source the original recordings of Only Fools And Horses, the 16-millimetre film that was in the cameras when they shot these shows, and that obviously included everything: cut scenes, outtakes as well as the material that did make it on to screen. 

'Although, frankly, it's a miracle any of the original recordings have survived. Film like this was supposed to be wiped and reused because the BBC was always looking to save money. 

'They famously recorded over the moon landing coverage with horse racing and it's a wonder Only Fools And Horses didn't suffer the same, sorry fate!'