Only Fools and Horses star Tessa Peake-Jones has reflected on why she feels the timeless BBC sitcom struggled to succeed in the US.
Her character Raquel played the love interest of iconic character Del Boy (played by Sir David Jason) following her introduction in the fifth series of the show.
Peake-Jones appeared regularly throughout the sitcom's final years on screens, all the way up to the final episode in 2003.
By the time she joined the cast, Del Boy and his hapless brother Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) had already cemented themselves as two of the most iconic comedy figures on British TV.
However, unlike several British shows that managed to resonate with audiences in America, Only Fools never took off to the heights it reached back home.
Despite it being over two decades since Only Fools ended, the likes of Peake-Jones are still asked about its cultural impact - and the actress's appearance on Loose Women this week was no different.
Del Boy and Rodney Trotter failed to win over US audiences while on the air
GETTY
After joining the panel to discuss her stint in the upcoming series of Grantchester, presenter Janet Street-Porter put to Peake-Jones: "And of course all around the world, your performance in Only Fools and Horses lives on because that series went absolutely global and it's still being shown now."
"It's being shown everywhere!" Peake-Jones concurred before reflecting on the one part of the world it failed to make a dent.
She continued during Tuesday's show: "The only place it didn't sort of - I suppose, not that surprising - didn't take off was America.
"And apparently that was because they didn't understand the cockney accents... and a different sense of humour as well, yeah."
Tessa Peake-Jones discussed Only Fools and Horses on Loose Women this week
ITV
"Do people still come up to you and call you Raquel?" Street-Porter probed, prompting Peake-Jones to reply: "Sometimes, yeah. Or they'll go, 'Are you like that one who played Raquel?' Because we're ageing!"
The subject of Only Fools' failure to pique the attention of US audiences isn't exactly a new one.
Back in 2012, it was reported that US network ABC had decided to give up on launching its own American version of the sitcom, titled Kings Of Van Nuys.
Actor John Leguizamo had been tasked with leading the project in the Del Boy-esque role but the adaptation never made it screens - something Sir David Jason addressed at the time.
Speaking in 2012 on his thoughts on whether the series could cut through to US audiences, Jason candidly admitted: "It might work but you've got to change it so much that, in the change, in order to Americanise it, do you lose the whole concept of the piece?
"The language will have to change so much and there will be so many parts of the storyline you have to change.
"It's so London and so British, [in] its humour, that you wonder. It's London based and it took quite a long time for the rest of the country to catch up with the phrases.
"I have no idea what the American equivalent of 'plonker' is, for example. Or 'dipstick'."
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Tessa Peake-Jones is currently starring in ITV's Grantchester
ITV
While Only Fools may have never cracked America, the same can't be said for actor Lyndhurst.
The Rodney Trotter actor is currently appearing opposite legendary American comic actor Kelsey Grammer as part of the cast of the Frasier reboot.
Speaking to Radio Times last year about whether this means he's ready to up sticks for Hollywood, Lyndhurst emphatically replied: "No, no, no. I’m just here for the duration of the show. I’ll go home to the UK afterwards, but it’s absolutely wonderful to be here for now.
"I’m in my mid-60s – at this stage of my career, I wasn’t expecting to be walking through the gates of Paramount Pictures every morning. I probably pinch myself every 20 minutes in this job, because working with Kelsey and working in this building is heart-stoppingly wonderful."
