10 Times TV Actors Thought They Would Be Fired For Sure
1. Nicholas Lyndhurst - Only Fools & Horses
Though it's impossible to imagine anyone but Nicholas Lyndhurst portraying Rodney Trotter on legendary sitcom Only Fools and Horses, Lyndhurst fully expected to be let go from the job while shooting a classic episode from the second series.
"A Touch of Glass" features an iconic closing gag in which a priceless chandelier falls to the floor and smashes, and during a recent BBC retrospective of the show, Lyndhurst recalled that it nearly cost him his job.
Though the production obviously didn't use a real irreplaceable chandelier for the scene, the replica nevertheless cost around £6,000, and as a result the production had just a single one made.
And so, director Ray Butt gave Lyndhurst a stern warning:
"If you laugh when it's dropped we've lost the end scene. If we've lost the end scene, we've lost the episode. If we've lost the episode, we've lost the series because the BBC will only transmit six. So, if you laugh when that drops I will fire you."
Lyndhurst added that Butt was "looking daggers" at him during the shoot, which required him and co-star David Jason to stare at each other in stern silence for 30 seconds after the chandelier dropped.
Yet as it turned out, it was director Butt who struggled to maintain his composure, resorting to stuffing a handkerchief in his own mouth in order to prevent himself from laughing.
Understandably, Lyndhurst was incredibly relieved when the 30 seconds were up and he didn't blow the take.
But little did they know, they'd just created what would become one of the most unforgettable moments in British sitcom history.