Trigger's Aunt Reenie
It's established in "Ashes to Ashes" that Trigger does not know who his father was (his mother's husband having died two years before he was born). Del's 2015 'autobiography' eventually revealed that he was fathered by Donald Turpin, the brother of Joan's friend Reenie — a fact of which Trigger's mum's family appear to have been unaware. Yet in "The Frog's Legacy", everyone knows that Reenie is Trigger's aunt. How so?
How did Uncle Albert know?
It is apparent in "The Frog's Legacy" that Albert knows Reenie from way back — unsurprising, given that they both grew up in Peckham (although Albert, the younger brother of Reenie's best friend's father-in-law, is probably a few years older, going on the respective ages of their actors). Both seem to know more than they're letting on with regards to Rodney's parentage. Much later, in "Sleepless in Peckham", Del tells Raquel that at some point, Albert told him the truth about this. It makes sense that Reenie would know who Rodney's actual father was, as she was best friends with Joan and so would have been well aware of the situation — something which is made very clear in the first episode of Rock & Chips which covers the events prior to Rodney's birth. Yet in that series, Albert is nowhere to be seen, probably because he was at sea at the time, in addition to which he and his brother (Grandad) weren't on speaking terms so it seems unlikely that he was regularly in touch with the rest of the family. While he knew of Freddie Robdal as they were both in the Navy, it's unlikely that they were particularly close (Albert says as much in "The Frog's Legacy", while in Rock and Chips it's made clear that Robdal dislikes the Trotter family in any case). So how did Albert know about Rodney's parentage?
- Perhaps Renee told him? Rodney's parentage seems to have been an open secret in the family (see "Thicker than Water"). Albert must have been suspicious that his nephew looked a lot like his former navy colleague, who was also a friend of Rodney's mother. Presumably he didn't spend his entire life at sea (he was around when Del was born as he spun a coin to be his godfather) and heard the rumours.
Slater's job in Colchester
In The Class of '62, Slater is working for an undertaker in Colchester. When he intends to stay at Del's flat indefinitely, is he planning to commute from Peckham to Colchester every day (which would cost him more in train fares than he would gain in leaning on Del for freebies)? Or does he intend to use up all his annual leave (probably 4 weeks) staying at Del's, then head back to Colchester after milking Del for a month?
- He could be lying about the undertaker job, although there would be no reason to do so as it stands to reason that, as a disgraced former copper and an ex-con to boot, he's probably forfeited any right to a police pension and must be doing something to earn a living while he waits for his divorce to come through (as he cannot profit from selling the diamonds before then).
Football teams
A minor one as the subject doesn't come up very often, but Del is occasionally stated to be a Millwall fan, as was his father Reg. This is despite the fact that his mother Joan was enough of a Charlton Athletic fan to give Rodney the Embarrassing Middle Name of "Charlton". Although football allegiance is often something passed down from father to son, why would Del follow his father (whom he hated) in this respect rather than his mother (whom he idolised)?- It could be that Del was joking when he told Marlene that Rodney was named after Charlton Athletic. From what we see of Joan in Rock & Chips, she's a big movie fan and so could well have actually named Rodders after Charlton Heston, which is what he believes to be the case (his first name, after all, is explicitly stated to be in honour of Rod Taylor).
- Del is never identified as a Millwall fan, and in "As One Door Closes" he says insultingly that: "a Millwall fan could have worked that out!" The only OFAH character ever identified as a supporter of any football team is Rodney, who is more than once shown to support Chelsea. Maybe Del follows Charlton like his mum; maybe the Crystal Palace scarf seen hanging on a coat-hook in the flat in an early episode is his; or maybe he doesn't really care about football - in a 1982 episode, when Rodney laments that Chelsea lost the previous weekend, Del suggests "they should never have sold Greavsie". Chelsea sold Jimmy Greaves in 1961, so Del's finger isn't exactly on the pulse when it comes to footballing matters.
- As they say, you can't choose your football team (it chooses you). It's entirely possible Del ended up supporting Millwall despite his hostility towards his father. However, as noted above, there is very little indication that Del is a much of a football fan at all.
