Imagine being given the responsibility of designing Del Boy!
These are four original artists drawings of how Del Boy, Rodney and Grandad were first envisaged at the conception stage of the show
They were drawn by Phoebe de Gaye
Phoebe was responsible for basically ‘designing’ Del Boy, Rodney and Grandad
She would have researched how she thought the trio would appear by going to local markets and watching all the real life market traders
Then she drew these very pictures and presented them to John Sullivan and Ray Butt
With their approval and after David, Nick and Lennard were cast, she would have, along with the actors, gone out and bought or hired the clothing that the characters would end up wearing
It was Phoebe who bought the original sheepskin coat on London’s Tottenham Court Road, plus all Del Boys shirts, Rodneys leather jacket and all of grandad’s costume, including the coat, hat and pyjamas. it’s interesting that Phoebe’s husband was a great Dan Dare fan, and as we know Rodney wore a Dan Dare shirt in series one
She also bought all Del Boys jewellery and the famous D necklace. Along with concept jewellery that didn’t end up being used as was considered over the top even for Del Boy
We are lucky that Phoebe had the foresight to keep lots of these items from the days she worked on the show in the early 80s, and we are delighted to say we have acquired her entire collection for the Society.
You may have already seen some of her original polaroids in previous posts, and we plan to show you a lot more of this fantastic collection over the coming months
You know it makes sense
Perry
