This is a real find – the trailer for the first ever episode of Only Fools and Horses. This was recorded off air straight after an episode of the hospital drama Angels. You’ll notice the theme music is different. This music was written by Ronnie Hazlehurst and it was replaced after the first series with the more familiar one, which was written and sung by the show’s creator John Sullivan.

More than ten million people were watching when a little boy met David Beckham in the Only Fools and Horses Sport Relief sketch on Friday March 21st. What they did not know was that the six-year-old is the grandson of the show’s creator John Sullivan.

Little Joe Sullivan was seen asking the superstar for his autograph in a market in the sketch and helped to set up one of Sport Relief’s funniest moments when Beckham fell over.

Only Fools and Horses writer John Sullivan died three years ago and his family thought it would be a fitting tribute to include young Joe in the scene.

Dan Sullivan, Joe’s father, said: “My brother Jim and I put the sketch together and Jim thought it would be nice to include Joe in it. We agreed that if Dad had been here to write it he would probably have tried to include one of his grandchildren in it.

“Joe was very nervous before filming. There are always lots of people on the set of a television programme so it would be daunting for anyone not used to it, let alone a six-year-old child, but everyone was really nice to him.

“Once he met David Beckham he was much more relaxed, David really put him at ease. David’s got children of his own and he’s got a really nice manner and is very natural and down to earth.

“Joe had lines to say with David and the scene had to be filmed quite a few times and his confidence grew as it went on. Joe did really well. We are very proud of him and I am sure my dad would have been too.

“My brother Jim and I put the sketch together and Jim thought it would be nice to include Joe in it. We agreed that if Dad had been here to write it he would probably have tried to include one of his grandchildren in it.

“In the scene David Beckham was seen signing a ball for Joe’s character and later Beckham presented Joe with another signed football after filming which he had brought for him.

“That was really nice of David and Joe will really treasure it,” said Dan.

Joe, an Arsenal fan like his father and grandfather, knew Beckham from television but his younger ­sister Mia, three, who also met the former England captain, did not have a clue that she was chatting to one of the world’s most famous men.

This year’s Sport Relief show raised a record £51million on the night with a star-studded line-up, including Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan reuniting to sing their hit duet Especially For You.

(c) Steve Clark 2014

The Only Fools and Horses sketch for Sport Relief was originally planned to include an appearance by Roger Lloyd Pack as Trigger. Unfortunately, by the time filming took place over the weekend of January 11-12th, Roger was too ill (and very sadly passed away a few days later.)

Obviously a script had been written to include Trigger and a slightly different version was drafted when Roger was unable to appear. Jim Sullivan has very kindly given me permission to reproduce here the original portion of the script which would have included Trigger.

“One of the first problems we faced [with writing the sketch] was the question of what characters to include,” Jim explains: “Only Fools had so many memorable and loveable characters, but we eventually decided not to try and cram them all in just for the sake of it.

“It’s a ten minute sketch so we wanted to keep it simple. Trigger appeared in the original script and Roger Lloyd Pack was very supportive of the project. We knew that he’d been unwell but had no idea how serious it was. Such was his eagerness to be involved we only found out he was too poorly to perform a couple of days before filming – a true testament to his character.”

It was essential for Jim and his brother Dan that the sketch was as close as possible to something their father might have written. “It was important that the characters felt familiar and true, so if there was any way at all of getting Dad’s voice into the script, we were going to do it,” he says.

“We wanted to make it as close as possible to being a John Sullivan script. Dad was always scribbling down thoughts, lines and gags, and once we knew where we were going with the sketch and had written a rough first draft, we went through his notes to see if we could work any of it into the script.

“It wasn’t easy because whatever we used had to blend and feel natural and unforced, and for that reason we couldn’t use too much. About 90% of the script we had to come up with ourselves. The gag about Rodney playing hide and seek and getting locked in the chest was from Dad’s notes, and we thought it would be a nice way to begin the cafe scene – having a bit of banter between Del and Rodney before David Beckham is introduced.

“Trigger’s gag (in the scene that wasn’t to be) about Monkey Harris getting hit by a car was also from Dad’s notes – we just changed Lenny Corby to Monkey Harris and added Trigger’s cousin Marilyn (who was mentioned in the ‘Wanted’ episode).

“How to end the sketch also became a bit of a problem. We originally had a different ending but when we met with David Beckham he wasn’t too keen on it. And he was right; it just wasn’t a big enough ending. I had been toying with the idea of having David Beckham do the famous fall, but was reluctant to go with it. It just seemed too obvious.

“Plus it’s such a funny scene I was worried we wouldn’t be able to pull it off. When Dad wrote the original scene he knew that for it to really work the fall had to be completely deadpan (screaming with arms flailing would not have been as effective).

“David Jason did it perfectly, but it’s not an easy thing to do. I mentioned recreating the scene to David (Beckham) and he was very up for it, and I think he did a bloody good job of it too. And one thing that came as a big relief was hearing that a lot of viewers didn’t see it coming.”

Here’s the portion of the script which includes Trigger:

Script written by John Sullivan, Jim Sullivan and Dan Sullivan (c) Shazam Productions Limited 2014 All rights reserved. No reproduction without prior written consent is permitted.

This article is copyright Steve Clark 2014. All rights reserved. No unauthorised reproduction. Legal notes here.