Ron Wheatcroft

Ron Wheatcroft was the best friend and confidante of main character and adulturer (later bigamist) Gary Sparrow. As a Master Printer with his own business Ron was able to provide Gary with appropriate war time currency and documentation.

Ron's fortunes dwindled as the show progressed. In the earlier series he was married to Stella (a character who made few on-screen appearances) but the marriage ended in series 4. In addition he was forced to sell his business (although he remained at the company). In addition due to his "playboy lifestyle" his flat and possessions were repossessed after the bank declined to extend his overdraft. His fortunes improved however when he moved into the West End flat which Gary had purchased for himself in the past. He even started having a relationship with the wealthy socialite Flic (the relationship however only lasted for a few months). Ron became depressed over this and even held onto her possessions such as a large purple whildebeest. Gary considered this to be unhealthy.

Gary and Ron had a co-dependent friendship; without Ron, Gary had no-one to aid him with his time-travelling problems and Ron did not appear to have any friends other than Gary.

Although a Liverpudlian, Ron is shown wearing Manchester United kit during series 5.episode 1.

At the end of one episode, Ron finally made to the past in 1944 only to cause havoc and claimed to be Commander Bond, Gary's superior officer. This continues in the following episode, Mairzy Doats. Gary was shocked to find Ron there but Phoebe just assumed it was Commander Bond; however she did not know who he really was - that in reality he was just Ron Wheatcroft, Gary's best friend from the future supplying him with white fivers. At the end of the episode, Ron threatens to expose Gary's secret in front of Yvonne by walking through the time portal - only to crash into it. It has repaired itself, leaving Gary and Yvonne to have the last laugh.

In the episode, Just in Time, Gary panicks when a mysterious man arrives from the future - believing it to be decision time and that he must choose between one or the other. Ron tells Gary to relax and that it might never happen. Gary chooses to be with Phoebe and Michael and sells the shop and its entire stock to Ron, only to find that the visitor was closing another time portal instead. When Yvonne wonders what has happened to everything, Ron claims that they had a Back to the Future sale. Gary also asks Ron to keep an eye on Yvonne.

At the end of the final series, Gary prevents an assassination attempt on future Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, which leads to the time portal closing, giving him no choice but to remain in the 1940s. He paints a final message to Ron and Yvonne on the same Mayfair flat wall that Ron will one day strip old wallpaper from and discover, and thus, as far as we know, Yvonne is the only wife who ever learns of both Gary's time-traveling, and his bigamy.