Only Fools And Horses star Gwyneth Strong revealed she received "so many letters" from women after the broadcast of the sitcom’s emotional miscarriage storyline.
First broadcast in 1981, the show proved to be a ratings success for the BBC, establishing career-defining roles for Sir David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as his hapless half-brother Rodney.
The series detailed the exploits of the brothers as a succession of failed schemes disrupted their hopes of "making a million".
Strong played Cassandra Trotter, whose miscarriage in a 1996 episode left both her character and Rodney heartbroken.
The actress praised writer and creator John Sullivan for introducing such a hard-hitting story into a traditionally light-hearted sitcom.
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She said: “I got so many letters, it was really moving. That made me think that women weren’t seeing that kind of thing on television.
“It was amazing feedback, and it was very sad because people could relate to it.
“John Sullivan was a very sensitive writer and very brave to put that into what is essentially a sitcom. I think that helped other sitcoms move along after that.”
Members of the cast reunited for Only Fools And Horses: The Lost Archive – which features never-before-seen footage from the show to mark its 45th anniversary.
The unearthed material is a mixture of extended and entirely new scenes, gleaned from 10 episodes, that were never used in the original transmission due to timing or structural constraints.
Among the previously unseen material is new footage from the 1989 Christmas special, “The Jolly Boys’ Outing”, a new scene from the 1991 episode “The Class Of ’62” and another of Uncle Albert’s “during the war” stories from the 1986 episode “A Royal Flush”.
Summing up the experience of watching the archive footage, actress Tessa Peake-Jones, who played Raquel Turner, said: “The public are going to be fascinated by this new material.
“To still feel part of a programme that provides that sort of pleasure is the greatest honour and privilege.”
Looking back on the show, Peake-Jones was asked if she would have liked to have seen Del Boy and Raquel tie the knot.
She said: “I think Raquel would’ve liked that to happen. I don’t know if it was a conscious choice from John that Del didn’t finally seal the deal, but I’m not sure it was ever discussed.
“Perhaps John felt he’d done the big family wedding with Rodney and Cassandra.
“Before John passed away I believe he was thinking of doing another Only Fools And Horses special, so who knows, perhaps that would’ve been Del and Raquel’s wedding.
“The audience has to make up their own minds about that.”
Asked why the show has continued to be so popular years after it ended, Strong said: “John was a genius writer who wrote a genius set of characters and wove them all together.
“Ultimately, the longevity is that it isn’t offensive, the whole family can watch it and all get something out of it.
“It captures people’s imagination and humour across the board.”
Only Fools And Horses: The Lost Archive airs on 20 October at 9pm on U&GOLD.
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