If it wasn’t for Cockney duo Chas & Dave, one of the most iconic episodes of one of the best-loved British comedies of all time may have been very different.

Today is the 35th anniversary of the first airing of the Only Fools & Horses’ 1989 Christmas special - the Jolly Boys’ Outing. But the original plan was to have the Peckham pals heading not to Margate - but Essex.

The show’s creator and writer, the late John Sullivan, explained: “The setting started off as Southend but I opted for Margate because by then I’d got to know the singers Chas & Dave, who’d written that great song ‘Margate’, and I hoped they could record the closing music for it.”

The musical duo had, it should also be pointed out, originally been approached to record the original theme song for the show years earlier, but work commitments ruled it out, with Sullivan himself ultimately singing the famous tune about “a mush in Shepherds Bush”.

But fate would be Southend’s loss and Kent’s gain. Because that episode has become perhaps the standout from the show’s 22-year history.

Even David Jason - who breathed life into Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter - admitted it was his favourite.

He said: “It’s the sequence where Harry Nilsson’s Everybody’s Talkin’ plays as we see the cast on board the coach to Margate, and the day’s high jinks starting to unfold.

“The magic of Only Fools is compressed into this single sequence - the gang of friends that the cast had become, and the sheer fun of it all.”

Today it stands not only as a highlight of the show - a rare all-cast location outing - and a year-round family favourite, but a time capsule of Margate in the 1980s.

Director Tony Gow said: “The whole lot were there. It caused all sorts of problems on the basis that they never shut up between takes. Everyone was just having a ball.”

Filming took place over three weeks in May 1989 - more than six months before the show aired and was watched by 20.12 million people, a third of the entire UK population.

Shot almost entirely on location around Thanet, even the opening scenes of Del Boy flogging dodgy car stereos (made in Albania and with a free Kylie Minogue LP on vinyl thrown in, not to mention being “recommended by Nigel Mansell”) were in the car park of the old Dumpton Park greyhound track, near Ramsgate (long since demolished and now the Ramsgate Garden Centre).

Much of the production team - including John Sullivan - stayed at a hotel in Ramsgate for the duration.

Legend has it on a shower cap, due to the number of French tourists at the hotel, was the French translation ‘bonnet de douche’. It sounded very Del Boy so Sullivan included it in the script as one of Del’s many misuses of French phrases.

The storyline will be familiar. The Nag’s Head, Del and Rodney’s local, is organising a Jolly Boys’ Outing - a coach trip down to Margate for the day.

Show creator Sullivan had gained inspiration from a trip his sister-in-law’s father used to go on.

“They used to have an event called the Jolly Boys’ Outing,” he said. “It seemed a silly name for a beano, but I just loved it. I also remember going on outings when I was younger, but I’d never written about them, so I thought it would be good to do something about Southend or Margate.”

Typically, there are problems en route. The coach is seen heading down the Thanet Way - when it was single lane - and stopping off at a pub. Operating for years as the Roman Galley, it has long since been turned into residential accommodation - but is still visible for those heading to and from the coast.

Rodney manages to get himself arrested after accidentally throwing a football which hits a police officer. The external scenes of him exiting the police station were filmed outside the former Broadstairs Police Station in Gladstone Road, now the administrative headquarters of pub operator Thorley Taverns.

Meanwhile, the bus driver has a few drinks too many and is in no fit state to continue driving, with lorry driver Denzil taking over.

As the gang reach Margate, they paddle on the beach, Del and Rodney have a heart-to-heart at the end of the harbour arm, and, memorably, they take to the rides at Dreamland - or Bembom Brothers as it was then.

But when they head to the coach - parked in Cliftonville next to where today the Bethesda Medical Surgery is sited - one of Del’s body car stereos fitted to it catches fire and the coach blows up.

Rather than hire a coach, as was the traditional practice on TV shoots, the production team had to buy an old coach and make it roadworthy for the travel sequences, given its explosive end. They paid £2,000.

Such was the scale of the blast, while local fire crews were on the scene, those in neighbouring areas were also summoned by concerned onlookers.

The cast then head to Margate railway station where they realise a train strike means there are no services back to London - and, as it’s a bank holiday, the last bus has left for the night.

Given the town’s popularity, the cast scatter in a bid to find a B&B for the night. Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert find the Villa Bella, which was on Dalby Square but has been replaced by flats today.

Del and Rodney then head to a nightclub. The Mardi Gras club scenes weren’t filmed in Thanet. Instead, it was shot at the Top Hat Club in Ealing - today a Christian centre.

It’s at the club, Del meets Raquel again - she would eventually end up his wife.

By the time the outing is over and they return to Peckham, Rodney is dropped off at the flat he shares with Cassandra - this, too, was actually Thanet, down Lower Northdown Avenue in Cliftonville.

Meanwhile, there is one final tale to tell. The cast had been shortlisted in 1989 for a TV award. Not expecting to win, they carried on with the shoot, but when told they’d won, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney) and Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert) were told to catch a helicopter from Thanet to attend the award ceremony.

While many of the main cast are no longer with us - Roger Lloyd-Pack (Trigger), John Challis (Boycie), Buster Merryfield, Kenneth MacDonald (Nag’s Head landlord Mike) were all in Margate for filming - the show will, inevitably, continue to entertainment audiences for many years to come.

Lovely jubbly, as Del would say.