Derek Trotter, or Del Boy as he is known, is a loveable Cockney rogue and dodgy market trader. In the 1980s and early 1990s he and his brother worked their socks off trying to make some easy money with the help of their yellow 3 wheeled van and a suitcase, however none of their deals amounted to anything. However Del's 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. Del thinks of himself as very cultural but doesn't quite realise his pretentious cocktails and bad French phrases don't quite make him a connoisseur.

David Jason helped to make "Del Boy" one of the most well-known sitcom characters and a huge cultural icon. His comic timing and acting is outstanding and a joy to watch.

Tall and thin Rodney (or "Rodders" as Del calls him) is Derek's brother (although in the final ever episode it turns out they had different Dads). Rodney looks upon his brothers dodgy dealings with an air of pessimism, usually well-founded, yet he always somehow ends up getting involved. Academically, Rodney is much brighter than Del but he lacks his elder brother's street-smart, blinding confidence and self-assurance.

His romantic life has never been very stable, mainly thanks to Del. He did eventually sort himself out and marry Cassandra but even then it was a rough ride to start off with. Rodney is played by sitcom favourite Nicholas Lyndhurst who does a great job of playing the often worried, annoyed and put-upon brother.

Uncle Albert is taken in by Del and Rodney after Grandad's funeral when it becomes apparent he has nowhere to live. Albert was an old sea dog who had many tales of his time in the Navy, which he repeated often much to the Trotter family's annoyance. Some of his tales are a little suspect in the truth department too!

Uncle Albert is more of a hindrance than help, he is constantly causing trouble for his nephews, they don't make his life easy either though. Uncle Albert was played brilliantly by Buster Merryfield, a retired bank manager in real life. Merryfield sadly died in 1999 and thus Uncle Albert was written out in a very moving funeral scene during the 2001 special.

Trigger is an old school friend of Del's and is probably one of the dimmest people ever. A roadsweeper by trade Trigger has one qualification: a Grade 3 Cycling Proficiency Diploma. Trig is constantly providing the boys with laughs and causing them to sigh in despair because of the dopey things he says. For some reason Trigger has got it in his head Rodney is called "Dave" and calls him this everytime he sees him despite being corrected many times.

Wealthy Boycie is the local second hand car dealer. He's extremely arrogant, a scrooge and a complete snob, it's probably not a surprise therefore that he is the butt of many of the pub regulars' jokes. Despite this he is still regarded as "one of the boys" though. He is (unhappily) married to flirty Marlene and after years of trying to have a baby they finally have a son called Tyler.

Lorry-driving Scouser Denzil is often called upon to perform favours for the Trotters. Denzil is not a dodgy dealer like the Trotters though and so spends a lot of his time grumbling about the mess Del is getting them into, he still takes part in Del's plans despite his better judgment though.

Mickey is the sort of bloke who does a bit of what Del Boy does and is a kind of an understudy to him. A true cockney Mickey isn't very trustworthy, he often stitches Rodney up. A wideboy from an early age he was banned from taking his GCE's having been caught stealing the answer paper.

Marlene is Boycie's long suffering wife. She spent years pining for a child, and treating her dog Duke as a surrogate offspring, before finally getting pregnant with baby Tyler.

Rachel (or "Raquel" as Del would say) told Del she was an actress when she first met him however it was soon revealed she was a strip-o-gram when she appeared at the Nag's Head pub. Despite the shaky start love soon blossomed between Del and Raquel and their offspring, Damien, was born in 1991.

Quiet and shy Cassie, Rondey's wife, first made an impression on Rodney at a computer training course. Their relationship has had some serious peaks and troughs - including a trial separation and a miscarriage to cope with. Cassandra's commitment to her career, although driving Rodney to distraction, has resulted in her promotion to head of small business investment at her bank. Her and Rodney were blessed with a new child in the final 2003 Christmas episode.

Sid was originally proprietor of Sid's Cafe, a position he has won many awards for, well a criminal record for "Unintentional poisoning" and "running an unhygienic eating house". Since Christmas 2001 Sid has taken charge of The Nag's Head (while Mike serves his prison sentence), unsurprisingly his tenure has caused food sales in the pub to drop.

The Nag's Head landlord Mike was a loveable and generous character who, despite his better judgement, couldn't help but have a soft spot for the rogues that frequented his establishment. Ken McDonald who played Mike sadly died in August 2001, his character was therefore written out by being given a prison sentence.

The third member of the original Trotters Independent Traders team is Grandad, an indolent, scruffy man constantly moaning about his lot in life. Despite giving off the aura of not being the smartest card in the deck, Grandad was more crafty than he let on - wangling himself a bungalow by feigning illness being one of his many talents. Lennard Pearce passed away in 1984 during the filming of the fourth series.

Damien the beloved offspring of Del and Raquel, is not so fondly thought of by Rodney. Del and Raquel had trouble deciding on a name for their son and Rodney, revealing his deep seated psychological unease about the birth of his nephew, suggested "Damien". To his horror they loved the name and the little terror is now causing him all kinds of grief.

Clever DCI Slater used to terrorise the Peckham wideboys. A representative of the Metropolitan Police, Slater was particularly feared due to his underhand methods. Slater was not crafty enough to avoid being sacking from the Met for 12 counts of fraud and 17 of corruption though. Slater married Raquel in 1977 - a divorce not unpredictably followed a few years later.