Del Boy

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Del Boy

First appearance	Big Brother
Last appearance	Sleepless in Peckham
Statistics
Occupation	Market trader, CEO of Trotters Independent Traders
Spouse	Raquel (long-term partner/fiancée)
Children	Damien
Relatives	Joan (mother - deceased) Reg (father) Rodney (half-brother) Edward (grandfather - deceased} Albert (great uncle - deceased) George (great uncle)
Portrayed by	David Jason

Derek Edward Trotter, or 'Del Boy', as he is more commonly known, is the lead character in the hugely popular BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He is played by veteran actor David Jason.

Since the series began in 1981, the lovable rogue and wheeler-dealer has become a widely recognised and much loved British icon. The character has made popular such expressions as "Loverly Jubbly" and "Plonker" and is famous for sayings such as "he who dares wins". His penchant for ghastly, extravagant cocktails (such as Baileys and Cherryade) and his love of the go-getter lifestyle helped to popularise British yuppie culture in the 1980s.

Born around: (12 July 1949 in Deptford, London). Del must have been born in 1949, as during the second and third series (1982 & 1983), in A Losing Streak and Thicker Than Water, Del tells Rodney on that it was Del's 16th birthday in 1965 when their father ran away from home, which would make Del 32 in the pilot episode Big Brother (1981), as he mentions that Rodney was born 13 years after him in 1962.

Del Boy is the son of Joan and Reg Trotter, older brother of Rodney, grandson of Edward Trotter, and great nephew of Albert Trotter. He has a niece named Joan. He has had many girlfriends. His friends include Trigger, Denzil, Boycie, Marlene and Mike. His greatest enemy is DCI Roy Slater. Derek is optimistic but not very bright, and frequently gets Rodney into trouble. In one episode, when a woman accuses Rodney of rape, Del makes a joke of it and says that the Police have named Rodney "The Peckham Pouncer". His favourite song is Old Shep. He believes he is fluent in French when in fact is hopeless at it (he gets bonjour and au revoir mixed up).

Del lives with his brother Rodney, his "significant other" Raquel and their son Damien on the 12th floor of the fictional Nelson Mandela House in Peckham, London.

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. This job is the perfect platform for Del's particular brand of wheeling and dealing, for Del is a streetwise chancer, always looking to make a fast buck. 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!" One of Del's most famous deals was smuggling diamonds to Amsterdam, when he was accidentally 'kidnapped' by Denzil and taken in the opposite direction, to Hull.

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

The popularity of the character was only enhanced by a wonderful piece of physical comedy often fingered as the best of British comedy. Eyeing up a couple of girls in a yuppie wine bar, Del goes to lean on a bar flap which, unbeknownst to him, has just been raised, and with a perfect pratfall drops clean out of shot.

However his luck changed in 1996 when an antique watch hidden in his garage made him an overnight millionaire. He lived the high life for 5 years before losing it all in 2001 due to a stock market crash.

In part, Jason's depiction of Derek Trotter was based on a builder, Derek Hockley, for whom he had worked as an electrician. Hockley had many of the affectations outlined by Sullivan in his characterisation of Del (gold jewellery, camel-hair coat) and Jason added others, like his habit of twitching his neck.

John Sullivan's
Only Fools and Horses

Regular Characters: