An episode of Only Fools And Horses has been branded so “dark and cruel” that the show’s creator banned its re-broadcast.

The BBC sitcom is known for being feel-good television, but an episode called A Royal Flush strayed away from comedy and became “difficult to watch”.

In Royal Flush, the 1986 Christmas special, sees Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) befriend a duke’s daughter, and Del Boy (David Jason) wants to help him make a good impression.

Yet as the group sits down to dinner, Del ends up drinking too much and cruelly mocks Rodney by implying that he is about to marry the Duke’s daughter and bringing up his conviction for cannabis possession .

While Del was known for his brazen criticism of Rodney in this episode, it was agreed that the scene crossed the line and that Del seemed like an “uncontrollable bully”.

An episode of Only Fools And Horses, titled A Royal Flush, was branded so “dark and cruel” that the show’s creator banned its re-broadcast.

The BBC sitcom is known for being feel-good television, but an episode called A Royal Flush strayed away from comedy and became “hard to watch” (LR Lennard Pearce as Grandad, David Jason as Del Boy and Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney).

In Royal Flush, the 1986 Christmas special, sees Rodney befriend a duke’s daughter, and Del Boy wants to help him make a good impression.

Series creator John Sullivan then decided to remove scenes from the final cut because it was “not a good episode.”

Speaking on Channel 5 documentary, Secrets and scandals of Only Fools and Horses, editor Chris Wadsworth shared: “This is a dark and cruel episode.

“About 20 years later, (John) said, ‘Can we do something to stop Del from being mean?’

“The episode was shown to the audience to get a laugh track, but I don’t think we completely succeeded.”

TV producer Richard Latto added: “The original where Del Boy is quite cruel to Rodney… it’s a tough watch.”

A Royal Flush was later released on DVD in 2005, but only after “editing on Sullivan’s orders”, which resulted in approximately 18 minutes of footage being cut.

Del star Sir David recently revealed his “real regret” for his Only Fools and Horses character and admitted he felt haunted by the role.

The actor, 84, revealed his true feelings in a candid interview on BBC Breakfast with Jon Kay this month.

Sir David, 84, recently revealed his “real regret” for the Only Fools and Horses character and admitted he felt haunted as he sat down for an interview with BBC Breakfast this month.

David told the show that he felt the “ghost” of Derek Trotter was following him and explained that he felt the character was weighing on him.

The Touch of Frost star explained that the character has overshadowed his other works.

David told the show that he felt the “ghost” of Derek Trotter was following him and explained that he felt the character was weighing on him.

He said: “This Derek Trotter thing, it’s a bit of a ghost coming up behind me like A Christmas Carol.”

The star expressed his frustration because, despite a decades-long career in film and television, he is best known for his role as Del Boy.

He said the character “only holds me back, bothers me slightly because it seems to be the only thing people remember me for.”

“I’m thrilled in a way that it touched so many people and that they appreciated what I did with the character, but I did so many other things that everyone seems to have forgotten. It’s like I only played Derek Trotter.

David revealed that while he wasn’t disappointed with his career, there were still so many goals he hadn’t achieved and he blamed that on being followed by the ghost of his most iconic character.

The star explained: “My real disappointment or regret, if you prefer, is that I always wanted to be a National Theater actor.

“I always wanted to be on the stage of the National Theater. It was just this romantic image of playing these big productions with all these great, wonderful actors. This never happened.

When host Jon suggested he still had time to realize his dream of going on stage, Jason responded that his time might be up, explaining that his memory isn’t what it used to be.

He said, “Well, you wonder if the old memory would be good enough. I could do this with auto cue items.

But seeming to shake off his melancholy, he then turned playfully to the camera and said, “Hey! Yes, National Theater, I am available!’.

David revealed that while he wasn’t disappointed with his career, there were still so many goals he hadn’t achieved and he attributed this to being followed by the ghost of his character the most emblematic.

His admission comes after the star revealed he would reprise his famous role.

Earlier this year, David said he would be happy to reprise the role of Del Boy, but added that a reboot would be unlikely following the tragic death of the hit TV series’ lead writer, John Sullivan, in 2011.

He spoke to The Sun about a potential reboot: “Well, to be honest with you, we would love to see it happen because not only did we enjoy it so much, but so did most of the British public. For this reason, we would be happy to do so.

But he added: “I don’t think we could do another episode of Only Fools And Horses because the mastermind behind it, Mr John Sullivan, is sadly no longer with us.”