Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Only Fools and Horses actor had real-life 30-year relationship with 'on-screen son'

Home> Entertainment> TV

Updated 16:59 20 Jan 2025 GMTPublished 14:14 20 Jan 2025 GMT

Only Fools and Horses actor had real-life 30-year relationship with 'on-screen son'

The couple dated from 1984 to 2012

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

Featured Image Credit: BBC

Topics: TV, Film, Celebrity

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

There’s a different kind of satisfaction when you’re watching telly with your family and pull out a random bit of trivia your know-it-all siblings or parents didn’t know.

You know, like the meaning of an Easter egg in a film or something random about the celebrity playing the lead.

And if you find yourself watching Only Fools and Horses anytime soon, here’s one to have up your sleeve - one of the actors had a real-life, three decade relationship with their on-screen son.

Over the TV hit’s legendary run of episodes, we saw Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter (David Jason) go the distance with love interest Raquel (Tessa Peake-Jones).

She went on to stay in the show until its finale episode in 2003.

Advert

Raquel and Del Boy went on to have a child together - named Damien - who was played by six actors across the years, notably Ben Smith and Jamie Smith.

And in 1996, Peake-Jones’ partner played an adult Damien in the 1996 Christmas special ‘Heroes and Villains’.

Douglas Hodge plays the grownup son when uncle Rodney (Nicholas Lyndhurst) has a nightmare of a dystopian future in which Damien ruled the Western world.

Raquel, Del Boy and Damien (BBC)
Raquel, Del Boy and Damien (BBC)

This was Hodge's only appearance in the series as Damien went back to being a child after the episode.

Advert

But that whole time, Peake-Jones, now 67, and Hodge, now 64, were already well acquainted, having starting dating in 1984.

They also share two children together, a son, Charlie, and a daughter, Mollie Rose.

Douglas Hodge as adult Damien. (BBC)
Douglas Hodge as adult Damien. (BBC)

The pair were romantically linked for about 28 years before a statement came in 2013: “I'm able to confirm that Tessa and Douglas separated in the autumn of last year by mutual and amicable agreement and they will continue to raise their two children jointly."

Hodge may have only had a cameo in Only Fools but has an extensive career in theatre as well as other film and TV appearances.

Advert

He has both a Tony and Olivier Award to his name for his performance in La Cage aux Folles. His film credits include the likes of Joker, the recent We Live in Time and the upcoming G20.

So, while it might have sounded like an odder bit of trivia than it is, it’s one to have up your sleeve that Raquel and dystopian future Damien were together.

Choose your content:

5 hours ago
8 hours ago
a day ago
  • 5 hours ago

    Viewers hooked by 'masterpiece' detective thriller with 96% Rotten Tomatoes score that has just landed on Netflix

    All three seasons of this hit crime comedy series have just landed on Netflix

    Entertainment
  • 8 hours ago

    50 Cent takes another blistering swipe at Diddy following rapper's shock verdict

    The rapper took yet another swipe at Sean Combs on social media

    Entertainment
  • a day ago

    Kesha said infamous red carpet incident with Jerry Seinfeld was the ‘saddest moment of her life’

    Jerry Seinfeld said 'no thanks' to Kesha during a red carpet event

    Entertainment
  • a day ago

    Movie fans say they still think about ‘traumatising’ but ‘amazing’ film 14 years after watching

    The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet and Michelle Trachtenberg

    Entertainment
  • Audiences turn to classic comedy to combat January blues
  • Woman suffered horrific death as she was eaten alive whilst on the phone to her mum
  • Only Fools and Horses legend now lives a very different lifestyle after ditching fame
  • A-list actress was turned down for Only Fools and Horses role because she was ‘too hot’ for Rodney