Buster Merryfield and Horses" in January 1985, as the former seafaring Albert Gladstone Trotter, known as Uncle Albert, who was Grandad Trotter's globetrotting long-lost younger brother, and who was known for Uncle Albert's catchphrase of "During the war..." The character took over the role of senior citizen member of the Trotter family from Lennard Pearce, who played Grandad, after Pearce died unexpectedly in December 1984. Coincidentally, nine months earlier, in March 1984, Merryfield appeared in two episodes of a "Shroud for a Nightingale" alongside Lennard Pearce. He did much work for various charities, notably the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He wrote his
Uncle Albert after the funeral, Albert was abandoned by Stan and Jean, with whom he was living in their mobile home. After initial reluctance, Del agreed to let his Uncle stay. Albert was described by Del as "England's greatest sailor since Nelson lost the Armada." It is revealed by Albert in "Tea For Three", that Grandad and Albert fell out over Albert's later wife, Ada, whom they both fancied at the time. The fight ended in them both hitting each other and after that; it is revealed they never spoke again. Ultimately, Albert's marriage to Ada was not an entirely happy one,