Think about his journey for a sec. He started out in the 1960s, doing bits and bobs—even working as a carpet fitter and an electrician. Can you imagine Del Boy fixing your fuse box? Probably would’ve sold you a dodgy plug.
But then he landed the role of Derek Trotter in 1981, and the rest is comedy history. The show ran for over two decades, and David was already in his forties when it started. That’s mad, right? He was a middle-aged man playing a cockney wideboy, and he made it look effortless.
And let’s not forget A Touch of Frost—that brooding, grumpy detective. Completely different. He didn’t just act; he became those characters. The man is a chameleon with a PG Tips box.
Wait, Is He Really That Old?
It’s funny, because when you look at old episodes of Open All Hours—where he played the shy, stammering Granville—he looks like a young lad. But that was the 1970s. He was already in his thirties by then. He just had that boyish charm, the kind that makes time feel like a trick.
He even played a teenager in Porridge, believe it or not. A man in his mid-thirties pretending to be a young con. And he pulled it off! So, the question “How old is David Jason?” almost feels like a philosophical one. He’s 84 in human years, but about 65 in “legendary TV character years.”
