Only Fools and Horses: Here’s what the actor who played corrupt cop Roy Slater is up to now
He's had an amazing career
Although Roy Slater was mentioned throughout Only Fools and Horses the corrupt cop surprisingly only appeared in three episodes of the BBC sitcom.
Arrogant Detective Chief Inspector Slater was the nemesis to Peckham wheeler-dealer Del Boy Trotter, and was unpopular amongst the locals at The Nag’s Head.
Especially after it transpired he was once married to Del’s partner Raquel Turner.
Slater first appeared in the May the Force Be with You episode in 1983, before he turned to diamond smuggling during To Hull and Back in 1985.
Slater then reappeared in Peckham in 1991 for a reunion with old school pals including Del, Trigger, Denzil and Boycie – plus Rodney and Uncle Albert.
But Only Fools could have looked very different.
Actor Jim Broadbent, 71, who played Slater was originally asked to portray the role of Del Boy as David Jason wasn’t actually the producers’ first choice.
So, 29 years after his last Only Fools appearance, what has actor Jim Broadbent been up to?
It’s safe to say he’s no stranger to the big screen.
Even before his role as Slater, actor Jim had already appeared in a long list of movies and TV series including popular sitcom Blackadder.
Then between 1995 and 2000 Jim played Peter Duff in series The Peter Principle before hitting the big screen as Bridget’s dad in the Bridget Jones movies (2001, 2004, 2016), Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! (2001), Boss Tweed in Gangs of New York (2002) and Mr. Osborne in Vanity Fair (2004).
Since the early 2000s, Jim has continued to carve out a very successful acting career with roles in a lot of other movies and TV shows.
He notably starred as Denis Thatcher in The Iron Lady (2011), Mr Gruber in Paddinton 2 (2017), Archmaester Ebrose in hit series Game of Thrones (2017), Terry Perkins in King of Thieves (2018) and is the voice in children’s show Teletubbies.
Plus many more.
In 2020, Jim starred as Lord Thomas Badgley in Dolittle, Kempton Bunton in The Duke, Charlie in Six Minutes to Midnight and Father Roberts in Black Narcissus.
He’s also won a string of awards including mutliple Golden Globe’s, Academy Awards, a BAFTA and many more.
It seems movie star Jim Broadbent is a busy man.
You can keep up to date with Jim Broadbent’s TV and movies appearances on IMDb here.
