Co-star role in reboot of US sitcom completes actor’s ascent from plonker to éminence grise
On Peep Show, Super Hans once asked a question from a quiz book. “I have a mouth, but do not speak. I have a bed, but never sleep. What am I?” “A river,” said Mark. “Nicholas Lyndhurst,” corrected Super Hans. Mark was doubtful: “I think that’s the wrong answer section.”
Such, you might think, is Lyndhurst’s fate – to be the punchline to another’s joke, the foil in someone else’s comedy. His most celebrated role was wide-boy Derek Trotter’s sidekick of brother Rodney from 1981 to 2003 in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. “Sit down, Rodney, and keep your brains warm,” said David Jason’s Del Boy to Lyndhurst’s Rodney Charlton Trotter. In another episode, Rodney, worried about his complexion, asked his brother Del how he looked. Del Boy, looking the dozy twonk up and down, finally replied: “You look like a blood donor who couldn’t say no.”
