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Michael Emerson has given his verdict on the divisive final episode of Lost.

The actor, 70, played villainous island native Benjamin Linus in the esoteric plane crash drama, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The series is now finding a new lease of life on streaming platform Netflix, onto which all six seasons were added in August.

Emerson claimed Lost ended in a “perfect” way, despite the long-running series having one of the most misunderstood series finales in television history.

*Spoilers follow – you have been warned*

Speaking to Radio Times, Emerson said: “I adored it when we shot it, and I like it even better with the passage of time. I think it’s a wonderful conclusion.”

Season six of the show presented the concept that the island was a metaphorical cork bottling up some very bad things that, if unleashed into civilisation, would cause all kinds of destruction.

Emerson continued: “I always say, every show dictates its own ending by the form of its narrative, by the way it was constructed. So a show like Lost can’t have the same ending as something more linear or conventional.

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“It was a fantasy and an allegory exploding out from the centre,” he explained. “So to end it, you must bring all the parts back to the centre, I think. At least, it seems to me, that that was what they were attempting to do.

“To me, it was really satisfying – particularly if you’re playing Benjamin Linus and you’re left outside the gates of the hereafter on a cold stone bench because you haven’t earned it yet. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s perfect.’ It really was perfect. And sad too, in a way.”

The actor added: “The work mirrored the social ending of the family. All my friends in the cast were trooping by to go off to some golden paradise, and I’m there saying goodbye as they pass. And it was the end of things. It was the end of that golden adventure, in addition to the show.”

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Emmy award-winning series Lost originally aired in 2004 and drew to a close in 2010. Its ensemble cast included Evangeline Lilly, Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Holloway.

Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told EW in 2017 that they’d planned to end the show with a huge volcano eruption but the idea was scuppered by budget reasons. “We were always looking to cannibalise anything on Hawaii to aid in the visual storytelling of the show,“ Cuse said.

“We also thought of the island as a character on the show, so we were always looking for things that would give it more personality.”

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Sir David Jason has recalled the errant plot decision that precipitated the end of Only Fools and Horses.

The actor, 84, played cockney wheeler-dealer Del Boy across seven seasons and sixteen Christmas specials between 1981 and 2003.

Speaking at a fan convention, Jason singled out the 1996 Christmas special “Time On Our Hands” as the moment that ultimately stifled the long-running sitcom – by making Del Boy and Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) millionaires.

“There was nowhere to go after the Trotters became millionaires and it all worked out,” Jason said (per The Mirror). “It was the end of a journey and the journey was that struggle for survival, the struggle for the family, the way that they behaved, that interaction and all of that stuff that made the Trotters ceased to exist once they had become millionaires, if you like.”

After Del Boy and Rodney were given their happy ending, Only Fools and Horses nonetheless returned for three further Christmas specials.

In the 2001-2003 episodes, written by John Sullivan, the duo were sent back to their flat in Peckham after losing their fortune.

“It wasn’t that John had run out of steam so much, but he was so used to working mentally with all of the characters, the style of the cut and thrust of learning to survive on the edge of disaster, as it were,” Jason said.

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In an interview earlier this year, Jason’s co-star star Sue Holderness issued a defence of a “controversial” episode of Only Fools and Horses that tackled transracial adoption.

The episode in question was the season five premiere “From Prussia with Love”, in which Del Boy attempts to sell a baby born to a pregnant German woman to Boycie (John Challis) and Marlene (Holderness).

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When the couple learn that the baby is mixed race, they pull out of the adoption.

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Speaking on the Only Fools and Horses Podcast, Holderness said:“It’s a very controversial episode now because everybody’s being so careful about what they say about everything. There have been many people who have said they don’t want to see that episode anymore or suggested that maybe you shouldn’t see that episode.

“But when I say many people, it’s probably about three.”

She continued: “Very little in Only Fools is offensive to anybody, I think. It’s the love of family that is so overwhelming… It’s so lovely that there is so much love out there still for the show.

“And I think that’s part of the reason for that. You know, this family, though his business dealings weren’t always absolutely as they should be, but you know, they don’t drink and drive, they don’t take drugs, they don’t swear. It’s gorgeous family entertainment. We miss it.”

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Fans of Strictly Come Dancing have made an appeal to producers after the series’ first live show of 2024.

As announced last week, former Arsenal/England player Paul Merson paid homage to his sport by performing the intriguing combination of an American Smooth dance to the popular football chant song “Vindaloo” by Fat Les on Saturday night (21 September).

The performance was dubbed “special” and “different” by the BBC dance competition’s judges. But viewers at home have criticised the unexpected song choice for making Merson the “laughing stock” of the season.

“The only couple to do an American Smooth to an atrocious song choice so this will stick out like a sore thumb,” one person wrote on X/Twitter. “I hate how the producers are setting Paul up for a fall here. At least he won’t be going home this week.”

Another viewer added: “Who’s idea was it to make Paul the laughing stock of this season? I feel for him and for Karen as well.”

Meanwhile, a third fan demanded: “Stop making the middle-aged ex-footballer the automatic ‘joke’ act and just teach them how to dance, Strictly!”

It comes shortly after reports that the “Vindaloo” song choice had disappointed Merson when it was announced on Strictly’s pre-recorded show last week.

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Viewers saw Paul look surprised when the track was revealed during the pairing show as he questioned: “What dance is it again?”

Making light of the situation, his partner Karen Hauer responded: “It’s an American Smooth but it might be bumpier than that.”

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A source told the Mail Online that the former footballer’s reaction had to be “re-recorded” due to his negative response.

“You can’t blame him for thinking he is being set up to the joke act,” they said. “But also the connotations of it [the song] are also not exactly positive either.”

The Independent has contacted the BBC for comment.

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Anton Du Beke praised Hauer for her “genius choreography” that made the most of the unusual song and dance pairing on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Craig Revel Horwood told Merson he was “pigeon-toed and flat footed” and Motsi Mabuse said she “couldn’t recognise” the dance as an American Smooth.

The ex-footballer received a score of 17 out of a possible 40 points from the Strictly judges. He will dance again next weekend when public voting – and the first elimination of the series – begins.

“Merse was never going to be the best dancer,” one fan reflected. “But making him do an American Smooth to ‘Vindaloo’ is a massive, massive stitch up.”