Only Fools and Horses actor had real-life 30-year relationship with 'on-screen son'
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.
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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.
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.
This was Hodge's only appearance in the series as Damien went back to being a child after the episode.
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.
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.
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.
Jess Battison