'Only Fools and Horses' stars delight fans as they reunite for Loose Women appearance

Only Fools and Horses stars Gwyneth Strong and Tessa Peake-Jones delighted Loose Women viewers as they reunited on Monday's show to promote a new project.

The actors, who played Cassandra and Racquel on the iconic BBC series, made a surprise appearance to reflect on the sitcom 30 years on and discuss their new play, Ladies of Letters.

During a discussion with panellists Frankie Bridge, Kelle Bryan, Christine Lampard and Carol McGiffin, the actors explained that they had originally believed they would only feature in one episode of the comedy.

Strong stated: "We never saw that coming at all. And when we went into it we didn't it would be for a full series.

"We were both booked for an episode, it was all a bit last minute so that helped in a way. We thought it was exciting to do one episode and it went from there."

Indeed, the pair went on to become series regulars as viewers watched the hilarious antics of wheeler-dealer Del Boy Trotter (played by Sir David Jason) and his brother, Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst).

Despite their long run on the show, the pair revealed that they never filmed a scene on their own.

"We spent our lives talking to each other because we made a friendship very quickly," Strong explained.

"It feels like we worked together but only in group scenes so we were never really alone together as that wasn't the push of the storyline."

The Cassandra Trotter actor added: "It was about being their partners, I think we spoke on the phone in a few episodes."

The pair will now be seen working together in a touring stage adaption of Ladies of Letters. Directed by Joanna Read, it follows characters two suburban women in their sixties.

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'Frenemies' Irene Spencer and Vera Small battle the big issues of the 21st century, from climate change protest and accidental imprisonment to handy recipes for tasty petit fours and how to get stains out of slacks.

Using the long lost art form of letter writing, they freely vent their views on their ungrateful children, how to find love at 60, and, on each other.

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