Sir David Jason has expressed his delight after finding he had a 52-year-old daughter and a ten-year-old grandchild he was unaware of.
The Only Fools and Horses legend has warmly welcomed daughter Abi Harris and grandson Charlie into his family.
Sir David, 83, had a brief affair with Abi’s mother decades ago, and Abi was born in 1970.
After learning that Sir David had briefly been connected with her mother and that she and David had a’similar shaped nose,’ Abi suspected she was Sir David’s daughter.
Sir David gushed over the incredible reunion, saying, ‘To say it was a surprise is an understatement.’
He added to the Mirror: ‘I am delighted that I am now able to get to know Abi and so we meet up when we can.
‘My wife, Gill, and daughter, Sophie, have been very supportive and understanding and have embraced Abi and welcomed her and her young son into her now wider family.’
Sir David is married to Lady Gill White, 62, and has a 22-year-old daughter Sophie.
Abi is claimed to have spent Christmas with Sir David at his house in Ellesborough, where the family played board games.
Sir David has a long television and film career, but he is best known for his role as Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter in the BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses from 1981 until 2003, with Nicholas Lyndhurst as Rodney Trotter.
Sir David admitted last year that he still can’t believe how popular the show is, stating, ‘I find it difficult to believe it that Del Boy and Only Fools and Horses are so beloved.’
He added to Big Issue: ‘One gets a bit humbled by it because one has affected so many people and so many people’s lives.
‘But I was very fortunate with a great team around me and loved every minute of it.
‘That enjoyment, that love of doing what I love doing, the joy I had from being an amateur on stage is still there – and I just think some of it spilled out onto the television screens and into the homes of so many people.’
‘I’m delighted to be able to say that,’ he exclaimed.