As the old adage goes: you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family - although there have more than a few times when for Del and Rodney Trotter they really wished that it was the other way round.
Born twelve years apart, that age gap has proved to be a wide chasm more than once as the brothers attempted to carve out their own lives, but really knowing that they needed each other more than they'd like to admit.
To the 16-year-old Del Boy, the task of looking after a four-year-old brother following the death of their mother Joan and the desertion by the father Reg, must have seemed daunting to say the least.
They still had Grandad but even though he was only in his fifties, he was hardly the dynamic type. Del became the family breadwinner and his fledging entrepreneurial skills began to develop.
But making money wasn't Del's only raison d'etre. He soon discovered women and, soon after, learned that having a kid brother around didn't always play well with his dates.
But family meant everything to Del Boy and he sacrificed a great deal, not least his chance of getting married as a young man, to bring up Rodney rather than let him go into care.
"Del wasn't prepared to leave his family," says David Jason. "So if the girl didn't love him enough to take on the rest of the family then as far as Del was concerned she wasn't good enough for Del Boy and he'd elbow her."
Clearly though Del is no angel. The price Rodney has had to pay for Del providing for him and Grandad, and later Uncle Albert, is his overarching controlling influence - and Del's done it so long he just can't help it.
Del has always been able to manipulate Rodney into helping him with his enterprises and however reluctant Rodney was, he never quite, certainly in his teens and twenties, found enough gumption to break away.
His business with Mickey Pearce never took off and he ended up back working for Del after his job with Cassandra's father Alan Parry proved too challenging.
"There's no real wonder though that Rodney never got his own enterprise off the ground," says Nicholas. "After all, who was his role model? Del Trotter. Poor Rodney was bound to fail."
Even now Rodney is dependent on Del - and psychologists might argue that that all stems back to his total dependence on his older brother as a child. Yet there's no Machiavellian streak in Derek Trotter, it's just that being a yuppie before they were even invented, means he wants to get on and better himself - and help his brother.
That might not necessarily be what Rodney wants, and frequently isn't - but Del thinks he knows best, and as far as he's concerned the end justifies the means.
Being in control is what Del is used to, as he explained to Rodney in one of the most moving scenes in the programme's history, immediately following Grandad's funeral.
"I've survived all my life with a smile and a prayer. I'm Del Boy ain't I. Good old Del Boy, he's got more bounce than Zebedee."
"I've survived all my life with a smile and a prayer. I'm Del Boy ain't I.
Good old Del Boy, he got more bounce than Zebedee. 'Ere pal what you drinkin'? Go on Darlin' you 'ave one for luck.
That's me, that's Del Boy isn't it. Nothing ever upsets Del Boy. I've always played the tough guy. I didn't want to but I had to and I've played it for so long now that I don't know how to be anything else."
Of course over the years Del and Rodney have had more fallings out than Boycie has sold road worthy cars - but like most sibling rivalries and disagreements they never last forever.
Only Fools might be fiction, but the causes of their bust-ups are firmly rooted in real life - with many recognizable areas of family disputes like money and relationships.
In many ways Del and Rodney are poles apart. Rodney has his hippy tendencies and is more caring and sharing, whereas Del is an unashamed - albeit largely failed - capitalist.
Of course, one possible reason for the pair's differences could be their parentage, as it has often been hinted at that they might not actually have the same father in Thicker Than Water (1983) and The Frog's Legacy (1987).
"Del and Rodney fight like cat and dog but actually they care about each other deeply," says Nicholas. There's a very strong bond with them and if the chips were down Rodney would die for him."
That didn't surprise David Jason. "Del's heart has always been in the right place," he says. "In terms of human relationships he is a diamond because he'd give you anything ultimately and he cares for his family and his friends."
By Steve Clark, author of The Only Fools and Horses Story
As the old adage goes: you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family - although there have more than a few times when for Del and Rodney Trotter they really wished that it was the other way round.
Born twelve years apart, that age gap has proved to be a wide chasm more than once as the brothers attempted to carve out their own lives, but really knowing that they needed each other more than they'd like to admit.
To the 16-year-old Del Boy, the task of looking after a four-year-old brother following the death of their mother Joan and the desertion by the father Reg, must have seemed daunting to say the least.
They still had Grandad but even though he was only in his fifties, 
he was hardly the dynamic type. Del became the family breadwinner and his fledging entrepreneurial skills began to develop.
But making money wasn't Del's only raison d'etre. He soon discovered women and, soon after, learned that having a kid brother around didn't always play well with his dates.
But family meant everything to Del Boy and he sacrificed a great deal, not least his chance of getting married as a young man, to bring up Rodney rather than let him go into care.
"Del wasn't prepared to leave his family," says David Jason. "So if the girl didn't love him enough to take on the rest of the family then as far as Del was concerned she wasn't good enough for Del Boy and he'd elbow her."
Clearly though Del is no angel. The price Rodney has had to pay for Del providing for him and Grandad, and later Uncle Albert, is his overarching controlling influence - and Del's done it so long he just can't help it.
Del has always been able to manipulate Rodney into helping him with his enterprises and however reluctant Rodney was, he never quite, certainly in his teens and twenties, found enough gumption to break away.
His business with Mickey Pearce never took off and he ended up back working for Del after his job with Cassandra's father Alan Parry proved too challenging.
"There's no real wonder though that Rodney never got his own enterprise off the ground," says Nicholas. 
"After all, who was his role model? Del Trotter. Poor Rodney was bound to fail."
Even now Rodney is dependent on Del - and psychologists might argue that that all stems back to his total dependence on his older brother as a child. Yet there's no Machiavellian streak in Derek Trotter, it's just that being a yuppie before they were even invented, means he wants to get on and better himself - and help his brother.
That might not necessarily be what Rodney wants, and frequently isn't - but Del thinks he knows best, and as far as he's concerned the end justifies the means.
Being in control is what Del is used to, as he explained to Rodney in one of the most moving scenes in the programme's history, immediately following Grandad's funeral.
"I've survived all my life with a smile and a prayer. I'm Del Boy ain't I. Good old Del Boy, he's got more bounce than Zebedee."
"I've survived all my life with a smile and a prayer. I'm Del Boy ain't I.
Good old Del Boy, he got more bounce than Zebedee. 'Ere pal what you drinkin'? Go on Darlin' you 'ave one for luck.
That's me, that's Del Boy isn't it. Nothing ever upsets Del Boy. I've always played the tough guy. I didn't want to but I had to and I've played it for so long now that I don't know how to be anything else."
Of course over the years Del and Rodney have had more fallings out than Boycie has sold road worthy cars - but like most sibling rivalries and disagreements they never last forever.
Only Fools might be fiction, but the causes of their bust-ups are firmly rooted in real life - with many recognizable areas of family disputes like money and relationships.
In many ways Del and Rodney are poles apart. Rodney has his hippy tendencies and is more caring and sharing, whereas Del is an unashamed - albeit largely failed - capitalist.
Of course, one possible reason for the pair's differences could be their parentage, as it has often been hinted at that they might not actually have the same father in Thicker Than Water (1983) and The Frog's Legacy (1987).
"Del and Rodney fight like cat and dog but actually they care about each other deeply," says Nicholas. There's a very strong bond with them and if the chips were down Rodney would die for him."
That didn't surprise David Jason. "Del's heart has always been in the right place," he says. "In terms of human relationships he is a diamond because he'd give you anything ultimately and he cares for his family and his friends."
By Steve Clark, author of The Only Fools and Horses Story
