One Foot in the Grave (1990–2000)

Victor Meldrew is a retiree with an attitude who seems to attract bad luck. If he's not driving his long suffering wife Margaret crazy with his constant moaning, he's fighting with his ... See full summary »

Stars:

Richard Wilson, Annette Crosbie, Doreen Mantle

10 wins & 15 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Richard Wilson	...	Victor Meldrew (42 episodes, 1990-2000)
Annette Crosbie	...	Margaret Meldrew (41 episodes, 1990-2000)
Doreen Mantle	...	Mrs Warboys (18 episodes, 1990-2000)
Owen Brenman	...	Nick Swainey (15 episodes, 1990-2000)
Angus Deayton	...	Patrick (14 episodes, 1990-2000)
Janine Duvitski	...	Pippa (14 episodes, 1990-2000)

Storyline

Victor Meldrew is a retiree with an attitude who seems to attract bad luck. If he's not driving his long suffering wife Margaret crazy with his constant moaning, he's fighting with his neighbours.

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Plot Keywords:

married couple | senior citizen | neighbor | sitcom | grouch | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 1990 (UK)

Also Known As:

Fél lábbal a sírban

Filming Locations:

Algarve, Portugal

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 30 min (34 episodes) 70 min (1 Episode) 60 min (3 episodes) 40 min (2 episodes) 50 min (1 Episode) 90 min (1 Episode)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although "I don't believe it" is the catchphrase of the show, the first time Victor said it was in the last few minutes of "The Return of the Speckled Band" - the final episode of the first series.

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Quotes

Nick: Is it me or is it moist?

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Connections

Featured in 50 Most Shocking Comedy Moments (2006)

User Reviews

Risk of both feet in the grave from laughing

Although not as funny as Fawlty Towers, this is one of the best comedy series to come out of the UK in recent years. I can understand it not appealing at all to non-British people but to a normal Brit, this series embodies everything that is typical of British humour of the latter half of the twentieth century. The crisis of trying to adjust to retirement is a universal one and Victor Meldrew reactions to present day society are in fact those of all or most of us, even if he has the courage to express them vocally and us, not. Certainly the catch phrase from the series "I don't believe it" is common in people's mouths today. Just think when you have to call a company and you are no longer put thru to a switchboard but to some kind of robot and to access the department you want you have to press button one, then two etc etc. If you make one cock-up, the whole thing goes wrong. This is the kind of stupidity Meldrew is having to battle with. SOme of the episodes are so funny ( when Meldrew finds a strange old lady in his bed !! ) that you seriously risk of ending up in the grave yourself from too much laughter. Others can be tedious and you feel that the scriptwriters were more inspired some days than others. That said, from the fairly large number of episodes I've seen, I would say that about at least 65 to 70 percent of the episodes are side-splitting. When I watch this programme, I feel I am watching something peculiarly common to BRitish Humour. I could not imagine Amercians laughing at this, not to speak of French, Germans or Spanish ! Some of the humour is indeed fairly "morbid" and "sick" and would have limited appeal outside the UK. THat doesn't matter at all, but I'm just stating it as a fact. The last episode to end them all has to be seen but is bitter and sad and not funny at all - very strange compared with the others. Obviously, the BBC had decided to number Meldrew's days for once and for all but weren't too sure how to go about it. When I saw the final result, I "just didn't believe it" !!!!!!!!!!!!