The third Roy Slater episode. First broadcast 20 January 1991.
Del has a new fax machine — on which he receives a fax from Mike about a reunion for the 1962 class of the Martin Luther King Comprehensive School (formerly Dockside Secondary Modern) which has been arranged at the Nag's Head. Meanwhile, Raquel receives a letter from her solicitors explaining that they have managed to trace her estranged husband, who is considering filing for a divorce.
At the reunion, Del, Rodney, Boycie, Trigger, and Denzil all ponder who arranged it. The mystery organiser turns out to be reviled ex-copper Roy Slater, who explains that after doing five years in prison for diamond smuggling and following his father's death, he's become a born-again Christian and has relocated to Colchester. After initial hostility, Del and the others agree to forgive him. Later, they all end up back at the flat, with Slater falling asleep on the sofa after Boycie, Denzil and Trigger leave. When Raquel enters, she's horrified to see Slater who, it emerges, is her husband. Despite a heated argument, the Trotters reluctantly let him stay for the night.
Del, Rodney, and Albert discuss what would happen if anyone found out that Raquel was married to Slater, the likely answer being Del's image being tarnished and many people refusing to do business with him. Slater himself enters the room and says he'll reveal it to everyone in Peckham if he is not adequately accommodated. Del gives Slater £40 and agrees to let him stay as long as he wants — although it turns out that Del actually gave Slater the money from his (Slater's) own wallet, in which he also found a post-nuptial agreement (intended for Raquel to sign, waiving her rights to an inheritance he's expecting) and a document from a diamond merchant about ten diamonds that he deposited before he went to prison. Just as Del thinks he has the upper hand, Slater emerges from the bedrooms and takes back his wallet, which he has been looking for, and with it the evidence.
The next day, it's revealed that Slater knew that Raquel was living with Del, and organised the 'reunion' to get into Del's flat and get Raquel to sign the post-nuptial agreement. Del and Rodney then show Slater one of their fax machines, which Del says he used to make several photocopies of Slater's diamond document. Slater retorts that he has already served his sentence and can't be tried for the same crime twice, to which Del counters that he's found out that the ten missing diamonds weren't mentioned at his trial — meaning that if they were to come to light, Slater would have a new trial and would likely go back to prison. He offers to split the money from the sale of the diamonds with the Trotters, but they decline, and instead offer Slater a deal — they will keep quiet over the ten missing diamonds and Slater can keep his money, but he is to give Raquel her divorce, leave Peckham for good, and never mention to anyone that he was married to her.
Slater agrees and leaves — although as he heads for the door, he turns and asks Del to name Raquel's child after him. Rodney restrains Del and retorts that it would be cruel to name a child "Dick". When he's gone, Del explains to Rodney that regardless of what's just been said, when Slater sells his diamonds, Raquel can divorce him and be legally be entitled to 50% of his money. Mike then complains to Del that the photocopier function on the fax machine he sold him doesn't work. A laughing Del answers that nor does his, meaning that he was bluffing Slater all along.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: Roy Slater went to prison following his arrest at the end of "To Hull and Back". Raquel has mentioned her estranged husband several times, but it's only in this episode that he's revealed as Roy Slater.
- Class Reunion: The main plot of the episode. The main cast are all part of a reunion set up in mysterious circumstances. This turns out to be part of a revenge scheme by Roy Slater, although not the usual Reunion Revenge.
- Contrived Coincidence: The fact that Raquel's estranged husband turns out to be Del's old nemesis Roy Slater does feel like this.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Most of the main characters, as lampshaded when the reunion here doesn't feature anyone we don't already know.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: Briefly, as everyone at the reunion eventually enjoys themselves and the hatchet is seemingly buried ... until it turns out that Slater had an ulterior motive for arranging it.
- The Missus and the Ex: A gender-flipped example — Del is Raquel's current "significant other", and Roy Slater is her estranged (and soon-to-be former) husband.
- Noodle Incident: We never find out exactly what happened to their old headmaster, but it probably wasn't pretty. Also, the various things that some of the characters accuse Slater of having done when he was a copper who abused his authority; since Rodney clearly didn't know him at the start of "May the Force be with You", they obviously happened between then and "To Hull and Back", the end of which marked Slater's fall from grace.
- One Degree of Separation: Most of the main characters (Del, Trigger, Denzil and Boycie) grew up together in Peckham and went to the same school. That makes sense. Roy Slater was previously revealed to have been a classmate of theirs. What strains credibility somewhat is the notion that Raquel — who didn't grow up anywhere near Peckham — was married to Slater, although he was evidently stationed somewhere else in London for part of his career.
- Redemption Rejection: Slater, having been kicked out of the police and imprisoned following the events of "To Hull and Back", appears humbled before Del and the others, leading them to consider letting bygones be bygones. When it is revealed that Raquel was previously married to Slater, though, he can't resist the opportunity to make Del squirm again and bribe him in return for a proper divorce, knowing Del's reputation risks being tarnished. Ultimately Del out-gambits him and makes him divorce Raquel and leave Peckham for good.
- Rule of Three: This is the third and final appearance of Roy Slater.
- Shout-Out: When the characters are wondering who organised the reunion, Trigger speculates that it could be Jeremy Beadle
. - Villain Ball: Rather than just get Raquel to sign the post-nuptial agreement and leave (which is the main reason for the rather elaborate reunion ruse), Slater opts to stick around and make Del squirm. Ultimately, this proves to be his undoing as it enables Del to figure out the significance of the diamond document and get one over on his arch-enemy. In fact, Slater had no reason to be carrying the diamond document with him; putting it in a safety-deposit box when he went to Peckham would've been much more sensible than allowing it to (temporarily) fall into his enemy's hands.
