Grandad (Only Fools and Horses) - in The Programme

In The Programme

The character of Grandad was written out of the original show following the death of the actor Lennard Pearce but is featured heavily as a main character (called frequently by his real name "Ted") in the 2010 prequel Rock & Chips. Set in 1960, we see Grandad recently separated from his wife Vi, unemployed and subsequently homeless, after she finds out about his affair with Alice. Grandad then moves in with his son Reg. The Trotters are at that time squeezed into a two-up two-down terraced house and Grandad is forced to share a bedroom with his grandson Del. He appears to enjoy a close relationship with his family and remains with them when they move to their new council flat in Nelson Mandela House (which was then known as the "Sir Walter Raleigh House").

Chronologically we next see Grandad in the first series of Only Fools and Horses. Set in the early 1980s, Grandad is by this point, aged in his seventies and is largely infirm and useless and is still living at Nelson Mandela House with his grandsons. The Trotters' sense of family loyalty means that he would never be left without a home. He is, however, often treated with a level of light-hearted abuse by Del and Rodney when his docile nature becomes an inconvenience causing desperation. For example, in "The Yellow Peril", Grandad takes a phone call for Del; Del informs him to tell whoever is on the other end that he has gone out. Grandad informs the caller of this, but then looks rather confused; he mutters "I'm not sure" before shouting "Where've you gone to, Del?" Grandad is a terrible cook, he'll often walk into the living room and wail miserably "Del Boy, I've burnt yer pizza" and in the first Christmas special even left the giblets in their plastic wrapping inside the turkey, not knowing what it meant be 'ready cleaned'!. Del also played an April Fools joke on Grandad, telling him that the pools had called to say that he'd won half a million pounds. Grandad went to Soho and celebrated then realised that he didn't do the pools. Grandad's favourite television shows are Crossroads and The Dukes of Hazzard, as revealed in "Homesick" and "May The Force Be With You". Rather eccentrically, Grandad always watched two television sets at the same time. It was revealed that at one time he actually watched three television sets at a time before one broke down and was sent to be mended. He also owns an allotment, as mentioned in "The Russians Are Coming", as well as seen in "Mother Nature's Son".

However, despite his senility and simplicity, Grandad was more crafty than he let on - wangling himself a bungalow by feigning illness being one of his many talents as seen in "Homesick". Similarly, in "Who's a Pretty Boy?", he conned Delboy out of £5, informing him the canary he purchased from the pet shop cost him £50, when in reality cost him £45 (Del Boy finds out at the end of the episode, and replied "£45 Pounds?", to which Grandad innocently replies, "What did I say?") And in "A Slow Bus To Chingford" he almost succeeds in conning Del out of £50 by betting him that no-one will turn up for the Trotters' proposed 'ethnic bus tours of old London' - and then failing to deliver the tour's publicity leaflets (a ploy only foiled when Del discovers the discarded leaflets in the dust-chute at Nelson Mandela House). "It wasn't me, Del Boy," Grandad wails on being discovered on this occasion; "It was me brain!"

Given the task of minding the Trotter flat from the comfort of his much loved armchair, Grandad had an easy life. Grandad was also responsible for the spectacular (and noisy) failure of Del's chandelier cleaning business in "A Touch of Glass".

When Lennard Pearce died in 1984, writer John Sullivan chose not to replace him but to write the character's death into the series. A funeral was held for Grandad in "Strained Relations", which saw the Trotter brothers trying to come to terms with the loss of a man who had been such an integral part of their lives. However, such was the nature of the show that amongst the sadness were moments of brilliant comedy. At the funeral, Del and Rodney see what they think is Grandad's favourite hat, take it back to the grave and throw it in. However, the audience later discover that the hat belonged to the priest. As Del and Rodney walk away from the grave, the workers begin to fill in the grave; Del turns to them and menacingly says "Oi! Gently." This episode also introduced Grandad's younger brother Albert. It is also known that apart from Albert, Grandad had two more brothers: George, whom he mentioned in the episode "The Russians Are Coming"; and Jack, who was mentioned by Albert in "A Royal Flush", presumably the father of Del and Rodney's cousin Stan, who is seen at the funeral with his wife (Stan refers to George by his first name, making it impossible for Stan to be George's son).