Del Boy

Del Boy
From left to right: Edward "Grandad" Trotter, Derek "Del Boy" Trotter, and Rodney Trotter
Only Fools and Horses Rock & Chips character
Portrayed by	David Jason (1981–2003) James Buckley (2010—2011)
Created by	John Sullivan
Duration	Only Fools and Horses: 1981–2003 Rock & Chips: 2010—2011
First appearance	Big Brother
Spin-off appearances	Rock & Chips (2010-2011)
Profile
Date of birth	12 July 1948(1948-07-12) Deptford, London, England, UK[1]
Home	Peckham, London, England, UK
Occupation	Market trader Managing director of Trotters Independent Traders
Family Wife Raquel Turner (fiancée) Father Reg Trotter Mother Joan Trotter (deceased) Half brothers Rodney Trotter Sons Damien Trotter Grandfathers Edward Trotter Grandmothers Violet Trotter Uncles Albert Trotter George Trotter Nieces Joan Trotter, Jr. (half-niece)

Derek Edward Trotter, better known as "Del Boy", is the fictional lead character in the popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses and one of the main characters of its prequel, Rock & Chips. He was played by David Jason in the original series^[2] and was portrayed as a teenager by James Buckley in the prequel.^[3]

Personality

Derek is a lively character, most noted for his happy-go-lucky, confident persona. Whilst not always being successful, his general confidence and often forcefulness often convinces people to believe in him. Starting with the Sixth series, he became a stereotypical yuppie of the late 1980s, pretending to be a lot more financially successful than he really is, which fitted in well with him always trying to associate with the higher classes of society but clearly being rooted as working class.

Derek is a habitual liar, he lies as a matter of course to girls, customers, policemen and even his family and doctors. Del lies even when to do so is against his best interests, on one occasion, he claimed to be a health freak when suffering from stomach pains, meaning he spent several days under observation in hospital, when telling the truth would have allowed him to be diagnosed almost immediately.

Derek also has a rather sensitive side to his personality, particularly for his family. He is not always so keen to express his love for his family and loved ones, but in numerous episodes this side is brought out, such as in Diamonds Are for Heather, Strained Relations, Dates, The Yellow Peril, and Little Problems.

His caring side is brought out towards Grandad (Lennard Pearce) in "The Second Time Around", when Grandad confesses to setting Trigger up to phone and tell Del that his fiance, Pauline Harris, killed her dead husband Bobby Finch by poisoning him.

Although he has been engaged many times, and never got married, Del has had many girlfriends, which have been mentioned by Rodney numerous times, such as in "Yesterday Never Comes", when Rodney sarcastically tells Del "he has been out with enough antiques", and Del's ex-fiance Pauline Harris appears in one episode "The Second Time Around", plus when Rodney mocks Del's many girlfriends in "Happy Returns", after Del mistakes Rodney's girlfriend Debbie to be his daughter as she was born in the same year as he broke up with her mother, June Snell, who appears in two episodes - "A Royal Flush" and "Happy Returns". He finally meets his partner, Raquel Turner (whom he calls his "significant other") in the 1988 special "Dates".

Personal life

Family

James Buckley (left) as a young Del Boy, alongside David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst on the set of Rock & Chips

His mother Joan died on 12 March 1964 — after an apparent long string of illnesses. Three months afterwards, his lazy father Reginald left, taking most of their money and even Del's birthday cake, left a teenage Derek as the sole breadwinner of the abandoned Trotter family. Derek's grandfather was not up to taking the lead, his best efforts having failed, so Del was left to look after him and Rodney, his younger half-brother, who was born fifteen years after him in 1960.

Derek lives with Rodney, his "significant other" Raquel and their son Damien at door 368 on the twelfth floor of the fictional Nelson Mandela House on the Dockside Estate, Peckham, London.

Relationship with other characters

He has had many girlfriends over the course of the series and his friends include Trigger, Denzil, Boycie, Marlene and Mike. His greatest enemy is DCI Roy Slater. Derek is optimistic but although not intellectual he is quick witted, and frequently gets Rodney into trouble. In "Wanted", when a mentally unstable woman accuses Rodney of attacking her, Del makes a joke of it and says that the police have named Rodney "The Peckham Pouncer". Del is afraid of doctors and dentists. His favourite song is "Old Shep", as heard in "Diamonds Are for Heather", while his favourite band is The Who as referenced in "Yuppy Love". Del hints in "Rodney Come Home" that he supports Millwall FC, though in "The Long Legs of the Law" he implies he is a supporter of Chelsea. He believes he is fluent in French when in fact is hopeless at it (he gets bonjour and au revoir mixed up). Del can't swim (he has a certificate, but it doesn't belong to him) as revealed in "Miami Twice", or fly a hang glider very well as seen in "Tea for Three". Despite being not very bright, Del Boy does have a heart of gold at times, such as when he tried to help Rodney get over his wife Cassandra's miscarriage, which resulted in the loss of their first attempt to have a baby. He never hesitates to remind people about how he practically brought Rodney up on his own after their mother died and father left, often using this fact against Rodney to gain the moral high ground whenever the two of them have an argument about anything.

Del and Rodney often teased Uncle Albert about his appearance, and his resemblance to Captain Birdseye - although they showed their feelings for him when he died in "If They Could See Us Now". Rodney apologises for the way he treats Albert in "Sickness and Wealth".

In Rock & Chips, Del is shown to have a particularly strong relationship with his mother, Joan, whom he loves dearly (Joan also loves Del most from her whole family, to the point that she refused to run away from Peckham with Freddie Robdal until she was certain of Del's financial security). His relationship with Grandad is more or less the same as in Only Fools and Horses, but he has a strained relationship with his father, Reg. Though it is clear that Del and Reg love each other, they have been shown at odds more than once, particularly when Reg verbally abuses Joan and Del threatens to hurt him if he does it again, and due to Reg's lazy lifestyle. Del is also visibly disgusted upon hearing that Joan is pregnant with Reg's second child (unaware that Reg is not the real father). By the end of the pilot episode, their relationship begins to heal, although there is still some tension between them at times. By the time of Only Fools and Horses, it is clear that Del has still not forgiven Reg for walking out on him and the rest of the family after Joan's passing, demonstrated when he nearly throws Reg out of the flat in "Thicker than Water", but Del still appears to have a slight feeling of familial loyalty to Reg, shown when he gives Reg a bit of money just before his departure and even chastises Rodney for referring to him as a "lousy bastard" (Del was unaware at the time that Reg was not Rodney's real father). Furthermore, Del appears to be closest to Jumbo Mills than the rest of his gang, and seems to be quite promiscuous when it comes to women, shown when he gets "engaged" to several girls by presenting them with fake diamond rings to win them over.

His relationship with Frederick "Freddie the Frog" Robdal is not elaborated on much in the series, as they share little scenes together, and in their first scene together, Robdal threatens to castrate Del if he catches him driving his car, only for Del to retort with a smart remark about the car, and in their second, he invites Del and his gang to join him and Jelly Kelly on a real Margate beano. Throughout the series, Robdal becomes closer to the Trotters, mostly Joan, but it is not shown how close Del was with Robdal, although at one point, Robdal openly believes Del can look after himself, implying that in contrast to the contempt he generally held for the Trotter family (sans Joan), he respected and had faith in Del for his hard work and the devotion he showed his mother. In Sleepless in Peckham, Del goes on to tell Raquel that he never knew who Robdal really was, but was told to call him "Uncle Fred", and did not know until years later that Robdal was Rodney's father. In the final scene, Del labels Robdal as "a professional burglar, disloyal to his friends, a womaniser, a home-breaker, a con-man, a thief, a liar, and a cheat", and since this was long after he realised Robdal was Rodney's real father, it apparently caused him to resent Robdal greatly.

Confusion over age

Del's year of birth is contradicted in several episodes. In "Sleepless in Peckham" (2003), Rodney shows Cassandra a photo of the 1960 Jolly Boys' Outing, and says Del was aged 15, making his date of birth around 1945. In "Go West Young Man" (series 1, 1981), Del is implied to be 35, giving him a birth year of 1945/46. In "A Losing Streak" (series 2, 1982) and "Thicker than Water" (series 3, 1983), Del claims their father left in 1965 on his 16th birthday, making his birth year 1949. In "Tea for Three" (series 5, 1986), Rodney tells Trigger's niece Lisa that Del's 46th birthday is coming up, making Del's year of birth 1940, however in the context of the scene it is possible Rodney was lying to make Del appear older. The episode "The Class of '62" (series 7, 1991) sees Del and friends attending a class reunion, suggesting a birth year of 1946 or 1947.

The prequel drama Rock & Chips set in 1960 shows Del at 15 years of age, before Rodney had been born. This is confirmed in the dialogue between the PE teacher and the boys. The teacher complains about the boys having to stay on another year due to a change in the law, a reference to the change in school leaving age of 1960 when it was raised to 16. This, however, is at odds with "Big Brother" (Series 1, 1981), when Del states he is thirteen years older than Rodney. If this had been the case, then Del should have been 12/13 in Rock & Chips, suggesting a birth year of 1947/1948, as opposed to fifteen.

Career

Del works as a market trader, running his own company — Trotters Independent Traders (T.I.T.) - either from out of a suitcase or out of the back of his bright yellow Reliant Regal Supervan. With a never-ending supply of get-rich-quick schemes and an inner belief in his ability to sell anything to anyone, Del embroils 'the firm' (as he calls the family business) in all sorts of improbable situations. It is this unwavering confidence that led to his oft-proclaimed but rarely realised ambition "This time next year, we'll be millionaires!" Del's business acumen is probably best described by Rodney in the episode "Mother Nature's Son". During a time when Del is feeling depressed about his financial situation, Rodney states that "The old Derek Trotter could smell a fiver in a force 9 gale. They used to say that if Del Boy fell into a Viper's Pit, he'd come up wearing snake skin shoes."

Although he maintains a tough exterior, family means a lot to Del. He still mourns the death of his mother and runs T.I.T.CO with his younger brother, Rodney. Del takes great pride in having raised Rodney after their mother's premature death and has never forgiven his father for running away when Rodney was just an infant. Despite their often minimal income, Del insists on caring for his elderly Grandad. When Grandad dies, his role in the family trio is taken up by his younger brother Albert, who received the same level of respect (and light-hearted abuse).

Del is a petty criminal and makes no attempt to hide it unless directly confronted by the authorities, on one occasion he claimed that at least half his possessions are illegal, including the furniture. Del also dabbles in theft, but mostly receives and sells on stolen goods. Del does not pay any form of tax, justifying it as, since he and his family do not benefit from the Welfare State, they should not have to contribute to it, it was lightly implied in an early episode that Del is legally dead, and therefore does not pay tax.

In the feature length episode 'If They Could See Us Now' the Trotter's business is almost liquidated, until Rodney becomes the Managing Director; this doesn't stop Del acting as if he runs the business.

TV appearances

• Only Fools And Horses (64 Episodes)
• The Green Green Grass (1 Episode)
• Rock & Chips (3 Episodes)

References

1. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onlyfools/uncovered/derek.shtml
2. ^ "Del Boy". Only Fools and Horses. BBC Comedy. February 2003. http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onlyfools/uncovered/derek.shtml. Retrieved 16 March 2010. 
3. ^ "Lyndhurst returns as Rodney's dad". BBC News. 5 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8290293.stm. Retrieved 16 March 2010.