You plonker! David Jason gets into wrong car after premiere

After climbing into the back of a stranger's car as he left a film premiere, the 68-year-old actor drew on the repertoire of Peckham's finest to turn embarrassment to laughter.

Having been hauled out of the backseat by his wife, Sir David trotted out his Only Fools and Horses catchphrase "Rodney, you plonker!" - this time directed at himself.

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The comic flashback, which raised a cheer from onlookers, came after the London premiere of Terry Pratchett's The Colour Of Magic in which he stars as the failed wizard Rincewind.

Sir David was mobbed by autograph hunters and photographers as he emerged into the darkness in Mayfair on Monday night.

Clearly disorientated behind his dark glasses, he headed for the first car he could find and leapt into the back, alarming the stranger behind the wheel.

As the crowd jostled around, his wife, actress Gill Hinchcliffe, grabbed him. Then, as fans cheered his Del Boy remark, the couple and their seven-year-old daughter Sophie Mae crossed the square looking for their own driver and car.

When asked why he was wearing dark glasses at night, Sir David's agent Meg Poole said he needed them because 'he has a problem with his eyes and camera flashes really disorientate him when he has just come out of a darkened room'.

She added: "It's just an age thing, I suppose."

Following the premiere in London, Sir David sat alongside Pratchett and said to the author: "On behalf of millions of people all over the world you have brought true pleasure to us."

Sir David said the film, to be shown in two parts, was the opposite of a Rambo-style movie, containing no scenes of gratuitous violence.

The film was made by the Mob Film Company and Sir David joked: "This was the first time I was made an offer I could not refuse by the mob."

Sir David recently signed a £3million three-year "golden handcuffs" deal with ITV which saw him return to A Touch of Frost.

Despite suggestions that he would never again play Detective Jack Frost, the 67-year-old star has agreed to reprise the role for two more episodes.

The deal, which started last October, was a rarity because ITV had stopped signing "golden handcuffs" contracts when it struggled to find enough work for the actors involved.

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Although Sir David's last series, a comedy called Diamond Geezer - which followed the capers of a former gem thief during his life after prison - disappointed in the ratings, he is still seen as one of the most bankable performers on British television.

The Colour of Magic will be shown on Sky over Easter.