One Foot in the Grave
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- This entry is for the BBC sitcom. For the 1994 album by Beck, see One Foot in the Grave (album).
Template:Infobox television One Foot in the Grave was a popular BBC television situation comedy series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, plus specials, over a ten year period, from 1990 to 2000. Four episodes were remade for BBC Radio 4.
One Foot in the Grave came tenth in a recent BBC poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom".
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The show
The series featured the exploits of Victor Meldrew, an irascible pensioner with attitude, played by Scottish born actor Richard Wilson. His catchphrase was, "I don't believe it!" (occasionally rendered as "I do not believe it!") His long-suffering wife Margaret was played by Annette Crosbie. The other most consistent supporting character was a family friend, Jean Warboys, played by Doreen Mantle. Other regular characters were next door neighbour Patrick Trench, played by Angus Deayton, (who invariably discovered Victor in inexplicably bizarre or compromising situations) his wife Pippa played by Janine Duvitski and overly cheery charity worker Nick Swainey, played by Owen Brenman.
Although there is no explicit reference that Victor and Margaret have had children, the episode "Timeless Time" contained a melancholy, ambiguous reference to someone called Stuart; the suggestion is that he was their dead son.
The setting of the show is as a traditional cosy suburban sitcom but it subverts this genre with a strong overtone of black comedy. The series featured highly innovative writing and outrageous comedy situations. If anything could go wrong, it not only went wrong but pulled half of the universe down with it (at least in a metaphorical sense). In a manner reminiscent of Alan Bennett, Renwick's scripts effectively combined farce with elements of tragedy. Indeed, in the final episode, Victor is killed by a hit-and-run driver. Margaret discovers the culprit, but the ending is ambiguous as to what she does about it. Controversy surrounded this episode when it was originally broadcast on 20 November 2000 as it coincided with the broadcast of the first jackpot winner in the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. ITV were accused of engineering this in order to damage the final episode's expected high ratings.
There was a short postscript to the series in the form of a sketch for Comic Relief. Victor and Margaret are visiting a friend in hospital, but he is barely conscious. Victor keeps complaining about the situation, but Margaret doesn't reply. Finally Victor is reminded of the film The Sixth Sense and a sudden realisation strikes him... he discovers that he is in fact a ghost whom Margaret can neither see nor hear.
The theme song was written and sung by Eric Idle, who also appeared in one episode. The series also made extensive use of incidental music, composed by Ed Welch, which often hinted at a particular genre to fit the mood of the scenes.
Bill Cosby starred in the American version of the show, simply titled Cosby which ran from 1996 - 2000. David Renwick was listed as an executive producer on the series.
In the Father Ted episode "The Mainland" Ted and Dougal encounter Richard Wilson (out of character) and drive him mad by constantly repeating his One Foot in the Grave catchphrase.
Due to the series' popularity, people who constantly complain and are irritated by minor things are often compared to Victor Meldrew by the British media. Renwick disputes this usage however, claiming that Victor's reactions are entirely in proportion to the things that happen to him.
A novel based on some of the storylines was written by Renwick and published in 1992 (ISBN 0563364289).
Main characters
Victor Meldrew
(Played by Richard Wilson)Victor is the main protagonist of the sitcom and finds himself constantly battling against all that life throws at him, as he becomes entangled, like the pawn he is, in the machiavellian plots. Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" was ironic, since he almost always ends up as a loser. From being buried alive to being legally prosecuted for attacking a fiesty pit bull terrier with a collection of coconut meringues, Victor tries to adjust to life after his infamous replacement by a "box" at his place of employment but to no avail.
Victor is a tragic comedy character however, and sympathy is directed towards him as he becomes embroiled in complex misunderstandings, bureaucratic vanity and at times, sheer bad luck. We do see a philosophical ebb through along with a degree of optimism on his behalf, yet after a while his polite façade is torn down when amounting shenanigans get the better of him, allowing for a full verbal onslaught to be delivered with the aptly famous "I don't believe it!"
Margaret Meldrew
(Played by Annette Crosbie)The long suffering wife of Victor tries to maintain a degree of calmness as she tries to rise above her husband's frustrations yet she too is engulfed into the same folly and often vents her anger - usually at Victor, who bears the brunt of it all.
Patrick Trench
(Played by Angus Deayton)Patrick, along with his wife Pippa, dwelt next door to Victor; he would almost certainly catch Victor engrossing himself in seemingly preposterous situations, all of which in their context, seemed perfectly acceptable. Patrick believed Victor to be quite insane, possibly bordering on malicious as bad luck got the better of our main protagonist.
Patrick is an interesting character however, for it is his rift with Victor that morphs him into a rather cynic ridden character, much like Victor - this was shown in one episode where his face transformed into an apparition of Victor's as he gazed into a mirror.
Pippa Trench
(Played by Janine Duvitski)The wife of Patrick sought friendly relations with the Meldrews and after a while, became good friends with Margaret; eventually a move of sorts is considered, fronted by Patrick, and as they settle in to their new setting, they soon realise that the Meldrew curse envelopes them still.
Jean Warboys
(Played by Doreen Mantle)Mrs Warboys was a friend of Margaret (and a rather annoying one at that in Victor's eye) who attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. Although she is often thought to be a widow, in early episodes her husband was mentioned and in one episode she claims that her husband has left her for the private detective she had hired to check her spouse was not having an affair.
She would often bear the brunt of Victor's temper due to muddled misunderstandings and partly due to her aloof nature at times. One such occasion saw her goading Victor into making a place, in his heart, for a dog. She had not told him that it was stuffed, much to annoyance of Victor who had just splashed out on constructing an expensive shed for it. She would often bore the Meldrews with her cravings for showing them her complete collection of holiday pictures at the most unwelcome of times, along with her equally annoying cousin, Wilfred.
Nick Swainey
(Played by Owen Brenman)The rather frustratingly cheerful - and indeed bordering on insane - individual who resided on the other side of the Meldrews from the Trenches. He remains continuously cheery with regards to anything; even being told to "piss off" by Victor makes him treat it in a somewhat laughable fashion. A lot changed since this little run-in and he has befriended Victor. A kind-natured individual, Mr Swainey cares for his bed ridden senile mother, whom we never actually see. This is not to say that he doesn't drop his guard - for on one occasion we do observe his apparent depression.
Other Recurring Characters
Ronnie and Mildred
(Played by Gordon Peters and Barbara Ashcroft)
Ronnie and Mildred were a constantly cheerful couple who provided yet another annoyance to the Meldrews, who dreaded any upcoming visits to them. They are referenced a number of times in the series for giving the Meldrews bizarre and always unwanted presents, usually involving a garish photograph. In the final series, it becomes clear that their cheerfulness was a façade and, in a particularly dark scene, Mildred has hanged herself "during a game of Happy Families".
Cousin Wilfred
(Played by John Rutland)
Mrs. Warboy's cousin, Wilfred, appeared a number of times in the series. He was a fairly boring middle aged man, although by his appearance in the final series a stroke had left him mute. He therefore had to speak with an electronic voice generator and owing to his poor typing this led to several misunderstandings, such as asking Victor for a "bra of soup" (bar of soap).
Episode list
Series 1 (1990)
1. Alive and Buried - At the age of 60, Victor is retired from his job as a security guard to be replaced by a box and a recorded message.
2. The Big Sleep - Victor's cousin Geoffrey, who had also just taken early retirement at the age of 60, dies. The Meldrews attend his atheist funeral and receive a visit from what Victor calls "the Jehovah's Witness police." As fog descends on suburbia, Victor wakes up thinking he's dead.
3. The Valley of Fear - While photographing a sunset, Victor is mugged and graffiti is sprayed on their house. These events lead to Victor heading a Neighbourhood Watch meeting. Meanwhile, there's a strange smell by the sideboard, an old woman in the loft and a cat in the freezer.
4. I'll Retire to Bedlam - Victor is trapped in his shed for three hours thanks to a swarm of belligerent bees, stuck in the opticians for a day with his eyes shut then spends another day babysitting some unpleasant children.
5. The Eternal Quadrangle - Margaret is pleased when Victor takes up painting, but regrets her encouragement when she discovers that he has been painting a nude model, Doreen (Gillian Barge), and giving her a lift home afterwards.
6. The Return of the Speckled Band - Victor and Margaret are preparing for a holiday in Athens. However, they must first cope with Victor's fear of flying, Mrs Warboys' food poisoning, having their electricity meter read and an escaped snake.
Series 2 (1990)
1. In Luton Airport, No One Can Hear You Scream - The Meldrews return from their holiday to find that their baggage has been sent to the other side of the world and their house has been demolished following a terrible fire. Six months later they move into a new house, and attempt to cheer themselves up by holding a house warming party.
2. We Have Put Her Living in the Tomb - While beginning to sort their new house out, the Meldrews are entrusted to look after a tortoise for Margaret's goddaughter Jennifer (Sarah Mortimer). However, disaster awaits when Victor decides to burn some garden rubbish. Meanwhile, has someone been using TCP?
3. Dramatic Fever - Victor writes a script for a new situation comedy. Unfortunately nobody else finds it very funny. Margaret also catches dramatic fever and joins an amateur dramatic society. Victor feuds with a litterbug, and the news that Margaret is in Kettering leads to the Meldrews being invited to a Bergerac party given by local thespian Desiree Gibson (Fleur Chandler).
4. Who Will Buy? - Victor and Margaret meet their new neighbours Patrick and Pippa for the first time. Victor has problems with a toy dinosaur salesman (William Vanderpuye) and Margaret befriends a lonely elderly blind man, Albert (Jimmy Jewel). A charity concert gives Victor the chance to air his ventriloquist skills.
5. Love and Death - The Meldrews are on holiday, staying with old friends Vince (Stephen Lewis) and April (Georgina Hale) in their boarding house on the south coast. However, during the weekend a set of unfortunate coincidences leave the couple thinking the other is being unfaithful, and Victor ends up with a glass of beer super-glued to his head.
6. Timeless Time - Victor is unable to sleep and thus ensures that Margaret cannot either. Things get so desperate that Victor contemplates opening Ronnie and Mildred's Christmas present from last year. This episode is set entirely in the Meldrews' bedroom. It also reveals that Victor and Margaret had a son called Stuart who died as a child.
Christmas Special 1990: Who's Listening? - Victor has entered a wrong number in an order catalogue column which leads to the accidental delivery of 263 three-foot tall garden gnomes.
Christmas Special 1991: The Man In The Long Black Coat - Victor and Patrick's feud has continued and they now communicate via post-it notes. Pippa is expecting a baby, while Victor is keeping an allotment and buys some radioactive horse manure.
Series 3 (1992)
1. Monday Morning Will Be Fine - Victor and Margaret return from a shopping trip to discover that the house has been burgled, and his neighbours helped out. Victor decides not to replace the television set to give them more opportunity to get out of the house. However, an evening trip to the pub results in a disconcerting experience with an old friend.
2. Dreamland - In a coffee shop, Mrs. Warboys tells the story of how Margaret went missing following a series of haunting dreams in which she murders someone who looks exactly like Victor. Also, Mr. Swainey evades Victor's attempts to nail the fence closed and invites the Meldrews round to see his pigeons.
3. The Broken Reflection - Patrick and Pippa fear the worst when they ask Victor and Margaret to look after their house whilst they are on holiday. Victor's nerves are also on edge when his absent-minded brother, Alfred (Richard Pearson), comes to stay.
4. The Beast in the Cage - A day out turns into a nightmare for the Meldrews and Mrs. Warboys when the bank holiday traffic comes to a standstill on the motorway and they are trapped in their car staring at a horse's backside for four hours.
5. Beware the Trickster on the Roof - Mr. Swainey returns from holiday with an evil present in the form of a gift paperweight. Victor is astonished when he receives a phone call from the thieves who burgled his house asking for a manual to help program his video recorder. Patrick and Pippa attempt to sell their house, but strangely prospective buyers are put off when they encounter Victor.
6. The Worst Horror of All - Victor is delighted when he finally gets a decent job as the doorman at an expensive hotel. However, after being insulted by a guest in an obvious toupee he decides that retirement is the best option after all. Meanwhile, Mrs. Warboys organises a trip to the BBC and it's desperate times when Ronnie and Mildred come calling.
Series 4 (1993)
1. The Pit and the Pendulum - Victor decides that Patrick's cherry tree is the cause of his garden being dry and enlists a Neanderthal gardener to cultivate the stray roots. However, only after an argument with the gardener does he learn that the pit could have a secondary use.
2. Descent into the Maelstrom - Margaret collapses from nervous exhaustion, which has been building for the past 35 years. After a few days being looked after by Victor she decides to go back to work in order to get some peace and quiet. Andrea Temple (Helen Lederer), a lady Margaret knew as a girl visits Margaret with a baby that has a mysterious fondness for garden gnomes. However, Victor soon uncovers a disturbing truth about her.
3. Hearts of Darkness - The Meldrews, Mrs. Warboys and Mr. Swainey take a trip into the countryside, but nothing seems to go according to plan, ending in Mrs. Warboys being concreted to Victor. While going for help, Victor stumbles upon an old people's home where the residents are being abused by the staff and hatches a plot for their liberation.
4. Warm Champagne - After Victor returns from holiday with sunburnt feet, Margaret is annoyed at his grumbling and meets up with Ben (Tristram Jellinek), an acquaintance that she made on holiday, and finds herself contemplating the possibility of having an affair. However, she is surprised to find another woman in her bed when she returns home.
5. The Trial - Victor spends a day at home on his own while on call for jury service. He contemplates his various ailments, receives a letter from a disgruntled Jehovah's Witness, tackles a difficult crossword, and struggles to save himself from an account of Mrs Warboys' holiday in Cork.
6. Secret of the Seven Sorcerers - The Meldrews invite Patrick and Pippa round for a friendly meal, but Patrick is distinctly worried about what horrors might befall them. Meanwhile, Victor now has a new job as a lollipop man and is busy preparing for a meeting of his magician's club, although he keeps getting hoax calls from the fire brigade.
Christmas Special 1993: One Foot in the Algarve - The Meldrews and Mrs. Warboys embark upon a hellish holiday in Portugal. After an entanglement with the police, they finally arrive at their unpleasant villa.
Series 5 (1995)
1. Man Who Blew Away The Meldrews plays host to a suicidal stranger from the past, Mr Foskett (Brian Murphy), who they know only because they stayed in the same guesthouse seventeen years ago. Meanwhile, someone has been tampering with Victor's Christmas crackers, and the Meldrews are annoyed when their unreliable stolen car is returned.
2. Only a Story - Mrs. Warboys stays with the Meldrews while her flat dries out after a flood. Victor tries a bit of reflexology, and has a run-in with a chimney sweep.
3. The Affair of the Hollow Lady - Mrs. Warboys has a wax model of herself made as the prize from a competition. Meanwhile, Millicent (Barbara Windsor), the local greengrocer, takes a fancy to Victor and attempts to lure him to her house when Victor misses a football match.
4. Rearranging the Dust - The Meldrews suffer a long wait in their solicitor's waiting room. There Victor observes the bizarre habits of the other visitors, fidgets impatiently, and finally attacks a dog with a cake.
5. Hole in the Sky - In an attempt to get Victor and Patrick to bury the hatchet, the two share an unpleasant experience in an Armenian restaurant. Victor experiments with seafood cookery and restores a Dutch marionette, much to the displeasure of Margaret. Meanwhile, the Meldrews have their loft converted.
6. The Exterminating Angel - Mr. Swainey invites Tania (Anita Chellamah), his mother's nurse, out for a date. Meanwhile Victor takes a job as a chauffeur but rapidly destroys his employer (John Bird)'s beloved fleet of expensive cars.
Christmas Special 1995: The Wisdom of the Witch - When cousin Ursula dies, Victor and Margaret have to clear her house in the country. While there, a witch predicts Victor will come to an untimely end. Meanwhile, Patrick and Pippa are preparing to finally move away from the Meldrews.
Christmas Special 1996: Starbound The Meldrews return home to find a man living in their shed (Ray Winstone), who it later turns out is a drug taker. Victor has a new job as a gardener working for Patrick's new boss Fenella Fortune (Rula Lenska). However, it seems that weedkiller has become an appropriate title. Meanwhile, Mr. Swainey's mother is claiming that she is being abducted by aliens every night.
Christmas Special 1997: Endgame The Meldrews are trying to make an effort to get on with their pleasant new neighbours, Derek and Betty McVitie (Tim Brooke-Taylor and Marian McLoughlin). Matters are complicated when the two couples go on holiday in the same rented cottage, Victor buys a haunted caravan and then accidently kidnaps the Indian mother of a millionaire.
Series 6 (2000)
1. The Executioner's Song - Patrick's plans for a quiet birthday are ruined after an unfortunate misunderstanding involving a modern art painting. Meanwhile, Pippa finds herself in an adulterous affair.
2. Tales of Terror - Victor is angry at the poor job builders have made of his new barbecue. Meanwhile, their new car needs to have its obscene numberplates changed and Victor has a health scare.
3. The Futility of the Fly - Victor regrets hiring an attractive cleaner to help around the house.
4. Threatening Weather - After a powercut on a the hottest day of the year, Victor has nothing better to do than complain. Later the Meldrews play host to an incontinent visitor.
5. The Dawn of Man - Victor's new fishing hobby leads to an unfortunate encounter with a flytipper. Meanwhile, a visit from Patrick's gay twin brother leaves Pippa feeling mentally and physically exhausted, especially when Patrick sits on a cork.
6. Things Aren't Simple Anymore - This is the last ever episode of series, where after a disappointing reunion dinner, Victor is killed in a road accident. Afterwards, Margaret faces up to life without him, but receives another shock when she discovers that Victor's killer is her new best friend Glynis (Hannah Gordon). What she then does is left ambigious.