| Roy Slater | |||||||||
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| Only Fools and Horses character | |||||||||
| Portrayed by | Jim Broadbent (1983–91) Calum MacNab (2010) |
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| Created by | John Sullivan | ||||||||
| Duration | 1983–91 | ||||||||
| First appearance | May The Force Be With You | ||||||||
| Last appearance | The Class of '62 | ||||||||
| Spin-off appearances | Rock & Chips (2010) | ||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||
| Date of birth | 15 May 1948 Fulham, London, England |
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| Occupation | Police officer | ||||||||
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Detective Chief Inspector Roy Slater (born 15 May 1948) is a recurring character in the British sitcom Only Fools and Horses. He is played by Jim Broadbent and, in the prequel Rock and Chips, by Calum MacNab.
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Despite only ever making three on-screen appearances, much of Slater's background is revealed in some detail by conversations between other characters and reminisces of Slater himself.
As a child, Slater longed to be part of Del Boy's gang at school as they used to sit next to each other in class, but he was always an outsider, widely reviled amongst his peers, and renowned for his slyness. For example, after a gang of lads pinned Slater down, Trigger tried to pour itching powder into his belly button, only to be stopped by Del. However despite Del having rescued him, Slater later repaid the favour by telling the headmaster that Del was kissing Slater's sister behind the bicycle sheds. The others generally showed their contempt of Slater during their games, as when they played Pirates, Slater was always the one who walked the plank. He actually longed to play Bluebeard but was so widely disliked that the others didn't let him. They eventually did let him be Bluebeard, however that was "on the day Bluebeard walked the plank".
Eventually, out of contempt for the others, Slater joined the police force but never conducted himself or his duties with the integrity the post required. In fact, Del once summarised Slater in one of the show's legendary poignant moments:
"Now listen to me, Slater... I know a lot of coppers and they're all good blokes. I mean, I don't like 'em, but they play a fair game. Then there's you, you lousy, stinking...".
Del is then stopped by Slater who states that he doesn't think he has enough room for abusive language on the charge sheet.
Slater's enjoyment of the power of being a police officer was so embedded he even arrested his own father, Harry, for having a faulty light on his bike while going to the fish shop, Harry having borrowed the bike from Slater himself. Slater claimed he had no choice, but Del, knowing Slater told him he'd never regretted making an arrest in his life. This resulted in Slater's father naturally despising him; Del comments in "The Class of '62" that Harry hated Slater more than anyone else, so much so that upon Harry's death, Slater's mother wrote to the prison governor asking him to ban Roy from the funeral.
In his first appearance in "May The Force Be With You" (1983) some of Slater's past is revealed. In the story, Detective Inspector Slater (who is investigating the robbery of a microwave oven from the market) tricks Rodney into taking him back to the family flat by pretending to be one of Del's best schoolfriends. Del is naturally horrified to see him, as were Trigger and Boycie earlier in the episode, and makes it perfectly clear that Slater is anything but an old friend.
Del also reveals that Slater, in his career as a policeman, became a corrupt and malevolent man and would do anything to get an arrest (as per the story of his father above). This is bourne out when Slater threatens Del that, unless Del reveals the identity of the microwave thief, he will send Del to prison for the theft and plant drugs on Rodney (thereby breaking the conditions of his suspended sentence) and have him locked up also. The implication of this is that Grandad would be at the mercy of attacks from the violent thugs on the estate, which Slater would in all probability organise (Del told Rodney that Slater is well known in both the police and criminal communities for having a vast network of abused informants, all of whom are threatened to work with Slater in case he reveals their betrayal to the criminal underworld and have them killed).
In order to reveal the identity of the 'phantom of the market', Del negotiates with Slater an immunity from prosecution if he grasses the thief up, which Slater agrees to as has signed by his Superintendent. Having counter-signed the immunity, Del is asked one final time by Slater who had stolen the microwave, to which Del replies "I did" grinning and pointing to the signed immunity form.
Slater also served as the main antagonist of the 1985 Christmas special, "To Hull and Back" where he was investigating the smuggling of diamonds from the Netherlands to Britain. Boycie and his associate, Abdul, put money forward for a diamond exchange; Slater, now a Detective Chief Inspector, is investigating the case and knows who is supplying the diamonds as well as who is putting the money up, however does not know who the courier is. He corners Del and explains the case to him, stating that he has on several occasions he has managed to corner the suspects but was never able to find any diamonds on them, thus then being forced to release them. He tells Del that he is desperate to solve this final case and end on a high as he is retiring from the police force, despite being begged by the Commissioner to stay (in reality he was being forced out as he had tried to pin a charge of being a voyeur on a registered blind person). Slater then coerces Del to keep his ear to the ground so he can tell Slater if he hears anything, not realising that the courier is in fact Del himself.
Having cornered Del and the others following the successful exchange of the diamonds, Slater is then revealed to be the actual intended recipient of the stones and pockets them - thus explaining why he claimed never to have been able to find diamonds on the suspects during previous raids. He then returns to his office with his associate, Terry Hoskins, whom he tells how he would have liked to have cracked the case before he leaves the force, however Hoskins turns the car into a road where a police blockade is waiting to search Slater, having suspected that Slater was the culprit for many months and only now he has the stones on him can they prove his guilt. Slater is subsequently sent to prison for five years. Meanwhile Rodney, in the midst of the chaos stole the money for the diamond smuggling and kept it, but Del ends up throwing it off the balcony of Nelson Mandela House, falsely believing it to be counterfeit.
Slater's final appearance was in "The Class of '62" (1991), whereupon his release from prison he returns to Peckham claiming he wished to turn over a new leaf after the death of his father. He arranges a reunion whereby he managed to convince the others of his good intentions and that he is actually not as bad as he used to be. It actually transpired that (unknown to Del) Slater was Raquel's loathed missing husband and he wanted her to sign a contract giving away her rights to his upcoming "inheritance".
Del (due to his knowledge of Harry Slater's loathing of his son) realises that Slater's inheritance cannot possibly be from his father, and discovers a letter from a Bond Street diamond merchant asking Slater what he wants to do with the stones that he (Slater) left with the merchant some years before. Del and Rodney then confront Slater, telling him they have copies of the letter (copied using one of a batch of dodgy fax machines that Del was trying to sell) and that since he had not been imprisoned for the theft of these diamonds, the double jeopardy clause would not apply and he would be sent to prison again. They make him agree to grant Raquel a divorce and never return to Peckham. Del subsequently reveals at the end of the episode that the blackmail was a bluff, because the photocopy function on the fax machines was broken.
The last time Slater is seen is in the series finale "Sleepless in Peckham", in a photo of the original Jolly Boys Outing to Margate in 1960. The photo is a composite picture of Del and some of the other characters (Boyce, Trigger, Denzil etc.) as teenagers, and a young Roy is in the photo, implying that he was friends with Del and the gang for a little while before he changed.
In Rock & Chips, a prequel to Only Fools And Horses, the teenaged Slater is a prefect at his and the gang's school, where he does his best to try to keep Del and the others in line so as to avoid trouble, leading to a strain on his friendship with them. Despite this, they invite him on the Jolly Boys Outing, and on the way, he catches Jumbo and Albie taking drugs, but they convince him that they are breath fresheners. Slater subsequently takes one (for help attracting girls), and dances wildly on the dance floor until he passes out. Del and the others initially leave him behind at the halfway house, but later pick him up on the way back.
In the second episode, "Five Gold Rings", Slater shows up at the market to tell Del and his friends that he just became a police cadet after leaving school. Slater arrests Del and Jumbo for selling illegal American records, although he is snubbed by Sgt. Foster, who then goes on to keep the records for himself and let Del and Jumbo go with a warning.
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