Lennard Pearce, who portrayed Grandad in Only Fools and Horses, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 69 due to a heart attack while filming the fourth series of the well-loved sitcom in 1988. His sudden death left the entire cast and crew devastated. Pearce died on December 15, 1984, and his passing was even written into the show, with Del Boy Trotter (played by Sir David Jason) and Rodney Trotter (played by Nicholas Lyndhurst) attending his character's funeral.

According to The Sun, probate documents revealed that his estate was "not exceeding" £40,000. Lennard played Grandad for three seasons and was a beloved character often quoted by fans today. His untimely death was a topic of discussion in a recent Channel 5 documentary titled Only Fools and Horses: Secrets and Scandals.

In the programme, editor Chris Wadsworth recalled: "It was terrible; it wasn't just the character who had died; we were saying goodbye to a really nice gentleman and a great character."

Lennard reportedly was in bad health when filming Only Fools and Horses, as he suffered from critical hypertension and was apparently reliant on alcohol.

"He became more frail because of his health as time went on," Graham McCann told Channel 5 viewers. "Sometimes, he would have someone help him come to work. It was a tough life for him in the final couple of years or so."

Scripts had already been written for season four when Lennard died, which posed a serious problem for the crew. Graham explained that the tragic situation forced them to deal with Grandpa's death in the "best way" possible.

"The [director] really wanted Only Fools and Horses to be something with more depth in it than conventional sitcoms," he said.

"With others, you might either write the character out or recast them, [the director] wanted the character to die and the other characters to react to the death."