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Frasier reboot: Kelsey Grammer praises 'magnificent' co-star Nicholas Lyndhurst

Getty Images Nicholas Lyndhurst, Cassidy Janson, Danielle De Niese and Kelsey Grammer attend a photocall for "Man Of La Mancha" at London Coliseum on February 19, 2019Getty Images
Nicholas Lyndhurst and Kelsey Grammer starred on stage in 2019 alongside Cassidy Janson and Danielle De Niese

Kelsey Grammer has praised Nicholas Lyndhurst as "one of the funniest people I've ever worked with" after casting him in the Frasier reboot.

"He's a very, very gifted man," the US actor said of Lyndhurst, who's known for British sitcoms like Only Fools and Horses and Goodnight Sweetheart.

Lyndhurst will play "an old friend", Grammer told BBC Radio Bristol.

The Frasier revival will start rehearsals in "a couple of weeks" and could be on air in July, he revealed.

Grammer explained that he met the "magnificent" Lyndhurst when they appeared together in Man Of La Mancha at the London Coliseum in 2019.

"I fell in love," Grammer said. "I adore him and he's one of the funniest people I've ever worked with, and I accuse him of being a bit of a sandbagger because you don't see him coming and all of a sudden he's getting all the laughs."

Nicholas Lyndhurst and David Jason in Only Fools and Horses
Lyndhurst made his name opposite David Jason in Only Fools and Horses

The new Frasier will be Lyndhurst's first screen role since his son Archie died at the age of 19 in 2020.

Speaking of the British star's new character, Grammer said: "It suddenly occurred to me when we were putting the show together, we've never really seen Frasier in a relationship where he has a great friend.

"He had Niles, of course, but he was his brother and there was a competition underscoring everything they did, and a family connection that got them through some difficulties.

"But this real friendship thing is something we've not seen Frasier in... So we're discovering a man who is still discovering himself, and that is what I find interesting to play."

Getty Images Kelsey Grammar, famous for his role as Frasier photographed June 9, 2005 in the Lucy Bungalow, his office on the Paramount Studios lot, Los Angeles, CaliforniaGetty Images
Frasier originally ran from 1993 to 2004

Frasier remains one of the US's most successful TV sitcoms. It ran for 11 seasons - between 1993 and 2004 - and won 37 Emmy Awards, including five for best comedy series.

Grammer also revealed he is working on a new TV show, possibly for Channel 4, in which he will "check out restaurants and gastronomy around the provinces of England, rather than London".

He is married to Kate Walsh, the daughter of former Bristol City footballer and Bristol Rovers coach Alan Walsh, and they have bought a house in Portishead in North Somerset.