Frasier: Who Plays Alan Cornwall On The Reboot?

Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) began his humble television journey in 1984 when he joined the cast of "Cheers." There, he buddies up with fellow barflys Norm (George Wendt) and Cliff (John Ratzenberger) before decamping to Seattle, where he sips coffee with Roz (Peri Gilpin) and Niles (David Hyde Pierce) on "Frasier."

One of the challenges of the "Frasier" reboot, which premiered on October 12, is creating the same atmosphere as its predecessor with essentially none of the original cast. Peri Gilpin and Bebe Neuwirth are making guest appearances; David Hyde Pierce and Janes Leeves opted out of the reboot; and of course, John Mahoney passed away in 2018.

"You can't do the original," "Frasier" director James Burrows told Variety. "You have to come up with a new family for him. So you try to get a cast as good as the previous 'Frasier' show cast. And I think we came pretty close."

Nicholas Lyndhurst is an indispensable addition to that family. He plays Frasier's old Oxford buddy, Alan Cornwall, a Harvard professor who lures Frasier to Boston with a guest lecture gig, which eventually leads to Frasier's full-time employment at the university.

Grammar and Lyndhurst first struck up a friendship while performing in a stage production of "Man of La Mancha" in 2019. "I adore him, and he's one of the funniest people I've ever worked with," Grammer told the BBC, "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 may be a new face to "Frasier" fans, but he should look quite familiar to British audiences. Dubbed "the Peter Pan of British TV" by The Guardian's Stuart Jeffries, Lyndhurst first rose to prominence as a child actor in the 1970s when he played the teenage son of Wendy Craig and Geoffrey Palmer in "Butterflies."

Other comedic TV roles followed, including "The Two of Us," "Goodnight Sweetheart," and "After You've Gone." Elsewhere, Lyndhurst has shown off his dramatic chops in the crime procedural "New Tricks" and a 1999 adaptation of "David Copperfield" alongside Maggie Smith and Daniel Radcliffe.

Lyndhurst is perhaps best known as Rodney Trotter in the BBC One sitcom "Only Fools and Horses." The series ran from 1981 to 2003. Raised by his smooth-talking brother, Derek "Del Boy" Trotter (David Jason), Rodney is less confident and acts as the de facto sidekick. For his performance, Lyndhurst was nominated for three BAFTA Awards and one British Comedy Award.

"Frasier" sees Lyndhurst return to his sidekick roots, although this time, he has plenty of his own sharp wit to dole out. Above all, Alan Cornwall relishes his status as a tenured professor. Perhaps he's too comfortable; he frequently skips his classes and can't recognize his students.