LONDON (AFP) - Football icon David Beckham is to appear in a one-off special of Only Fools and Horses, one of Britain's best-loved television comedies, the BBC said on Tuesday.

The former England captain, who retired last May, joins the show's wheeler-dealer Trotter brothers in a "greasy spoon" cafe in their native Peckham in south London.

Pictures show the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder joining the Trotters at a table with mugs, sauce bottles and a copy of the Peckham Echo local newspaper.

The sketch will be screened on March 21 during the BBC's "Sport Relief" charity fund-raising weekend.

It is a first outing in 11 years for Only Fools and Horses, the show about flashy Peckham market trader Derek "Del Boy" Trotter's attempts to get rich alongside his gullible younger brother Rodney.

The show ran for seven series from 1981 to 1991, with occasional Christmas specials until 2003. At its peak, more than a third of the British population would tune in.