One Foot in the Grave
Encyclopedia
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television
sitcom
series written by David Renwick
. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief
specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000. The latter Comic Relief special was shown after the series officially ended in Spring 2001.
The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew
, played by Richard Wilson, and his long-suffering wife, Margaret, played by Annette Crosbie
, in their battle against the trials of modern life. After being forced to take involuntary early retirement, the series followed Victor's various efforts to keep himself busy, whilst encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings. The series was set in a typical suburban household in a suburb of London based on Luton
(although was largely filmed on location in Walkford, Dorset). However, despite its traditional production, the series subverts its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.
The series was occasionally the subject of controversy for some of its darker story elements, but was nevertheless the recipient of a number of awards, including the 1992 BAFTA for Best Comedy. In 2004, the series came tenth in a 2004 BBC poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom
". The programme also came 80th in the British Film Institute
's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
. The series, originally shown on BBC1
, is now available on DVD and is regularly repeated in the United Kingdom on GOLD. Seven episodes were remade for BBC Radio 2
and the series also inspired a novel.
Amongst other witnesses to Victor's wrath are tactless family friend Jean Warboys, and next door couple Patrick (Victor's nemesis) and Pippa Trench. Patrick often discovers Victor in inexplicably bizarre or compromising situations, leading him to believe that he is insane. The Meldrews' neighbour on the other side, overly cheery charity worker Nick Swainey, also adds to Victor's frustration.
Although set in a traditional suburban setting, the show subverts this genre with a strong overtone of black comedy
. Season One's "The Valley Of Fear" is an episode which caused controversy, when Victor finds a frozen cat in his freezer. Writer David Renwick also combined farce
with elements of tragedy
. For example in the final episode, Victor is killed by a hit-and-run driver, and although there is no explicit reference that Victor and Margaret had children, the episode "Timeless Time" contained a reference to someone named Stuart; the strong implication being that they once had a son who had died as a child.
A number of episodes were also experimental in that they took place entirely in one setting
. Such episodes include: Victor, Margaret, and Mrs Warboys stuck in a traffic jam; Victor and Margaret in bed suffering insomnia; Victor left alone in the house waiting to see if he has to take part in jury service; Victor and Margaret having a long wait in their solicitor's waiting room and Victor and Margaret trying to cope during a power cut on the hottest night of the year.
(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 machiavellian plots. Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" was ironic, since he almost always ends up a loser. From being buried alive, to being prosecuted for attacking a feisty 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.
He believes that everything is going wrong for him all the time, and he has the right to be angry and upset because it's not his fault it's every one else's fault.
Victor is a tragic comedy character and sympathy is directed towards him as he becomes embroiled in complex misunderstandings, bureaucratic vanity and, at times, sheer bad luck. The audience sees a philosophical ebb to his character, however, along with a degree of optimism, yet his polite façade collapses when events get the better of him, and a full verbal onslaught is forthcoming. "Victor-isms" include "I do not believe it!" ,"I don't believe it!", "Un-be-lievable!"
Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie
) – Victor's long-suffering, tolerant and kind-hearted wife, Margaret tries to maintain a degree of calmness and to rise above her husband's frustrations. However, she is too often engulfed in the same folly and often vents her anger, usually at Victor who bears the brunt of it all. In early episodes, her character acts more as a comic foil
to Victor's misfortunes, for example asking if a cat found frozen in their freezer is definitely dead and mentioning a friend who died of a terminal illness. When Victor reminds her that the woman actually fell from a cliff, Margaret retorts she only did so because "she went to the seaside to convalesce".
In later episodes, Margaret develops into a more complex character. She is shown to be fiercely protective of her marriage to Victor, becoming easily suspicious and jealous, for example, of a Dutch marionette that Victor becomes occupied with repairing in the episode "Hole in the Sky", eventually leading her to destroy it. In "The Affair of the Hollow Lady", a greengrocer develops a liking for Victor and wrongly attempts to convince Margaret that he has been unfaithful to her. In revenge, Margaret assaults the woman with a pair of boxing gloves
. However, Margaret herself is shown to have contemplated infidelity with a man she met on holiday in the episode "Warm Champagne", eventually deciding against it. She sums up her relationship with Victor in this episode by telling Ben (her admirer) "Victor's the most sensitive person I know - and that's why I love him. And why I continually want to ram his head through a television screen".
Jean Warboys (Doreen Mantle
) – Mrs Warboys is a friend of Margaret (and a rather annoying one in Victor's eyes) who attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. In the early series she was married to Chris, but eventually he left her for the private detective she had hired when she suspected him of having an affair, and they divorced.
She often bears the brunt of Victor's temper due to muddled misunderstandings and in part due to her aloof nature. One such occasion saw her goading Victor into taking a dog whose owner had just died. She had not told him that it was stuffed, much to Victor's annoyance, as he had spent time constructing an expensive kennel for it. On another occasion she had a waxwork made of herself which had to be delivered to their house as she had been involved in a road accident. As it turned out, she hated it as much as Victor and Margaret did, and that particular episode finished with the waxwork standing in the dustbin. She would often bore the Meldrews by showing them her complete collection of holiday pictures at the most unwelcome times. Doreen Mantle described her character as "wanting to do the right thing but always finding out that it was the wrong thing".
Patrick Trench (Angus Deayton
) – Patrick and his wife Pippa live next door to Victor, and often catches Victor engrossed in seemingly preposterous situations, all of which in context seemed perfectly acceptable. The couple's relationship with their neighbours begins badly after Victor mistakenly believes Patrick and Pippa are distant relations rather than the next-door neighbours who had been leaving for a lengthy holiday the day that Victor and Margaret moved in. This and later incidents cause Patrick to suspect that Victor is quite insane, possibly bordering on malicious, and he often responds to Victor in similarly vindictive ways as a means of "getting even", for example by complaining via post-it notes.
However, it is Patrick's rift with Victor which eventually transforms him into a rather cynical character, much like Victor. This aspect of the character came to a head in the episode "The Executioner's Song" where his face transforms into an apparition of Victor's as he gazes into a mirror.
Pippa Trench (Janine Duvitski
) – Patrick's wife sought friendly relations with the Meldrews and, after a while, became good friends with Margaret. The two women usually attempt to get the men to make peace with each other at least once per series. Eventually Patrick proposes that the Trenches move house, but they soon realise that the Meldrew curse has followed them: Victor sent workmen to their home next door, thinking they were removal men who had come to the wrong house. They were in fact from a house clearance firm Margaret had employed to clear her late cousin Ursula's country mansion. It turned out that the workmen had cleared Patrick and Pippa's house of their entire furniture and sold it for £450.
New neighbours Derek and Betty McVitie replaced the Trenches for the 1997 special "Endgame", however this turned out to be their only appearances in the series and they were said to have emigrated by the penultimate episode which caused Nick Swainey to leap straight in with the offer for their old house. Series six saw the Trenches return as prominent characters, albeit living in a house some distance from the Meldrews.
Nick Swainey (Owen Brenman
) – The excessively cheerful and often oblivious character appeared in the first episode, encouraging Victor to join his OAPs' trip to Eastbourne. When the Meldrews move house, they discover he is their neighbour, living on the other side of the Meldrews from the Trenches. He remains continuously optimistic; even his being told to "p**s off" by Victor is laughed off. However, despite this little run-in he later befriends Victor. A kind-natured individual, Mr Swainey cared for many years for his bedridden senile mother, whom the audience never actually see. He does though occasionally drop his guard, on one occasion displaying his apparent depression. Following his mother's death, he moved house near the end of the series, but only went as far as the other side of Victor's house, into the Trenches'/McVitie's old house claiming he'd always wanted to live in an "end house, without leaving the area".
".
Cousin Wilfred (John Rutland) – Mrs. Warboys' cousin, Wilfred, appeared twice in the series, and was considered to be a fairly boring middle-aged man. In the final series, the effects of a stroke rendered him mute, and forced him to "speak" with the aid of an electronic voice generator. His poor typing on the generator led to several misunderstandings, such as asking Victor for a "bra of soup" (as opposed to a "bar of soap").
, interposed with pre-filmed location material.
Most of the first five series of One Foot in the Grave were produced and directed by Susan Belbin
, the exceptions being "Love and Death," which was partly directed by veteran sitcom director Sydney Lotterby
, and "Starbound," for which Gareth Gwenlan
(who in fact had originally commissioned the series in 1989) stepped in to direct some sequences after Belbin was taken ill. Belbin retired due to ill health afterwards, and the final series was produced by Jonathan P. Llewellyn and directed by Christine Gernon. Wilson and Renwick felt that Gernon's experience of working with Belbin on earlier series of One Foot as a production secretary and assistant, as well as other shows, meant that her style was similar to Belbin's, aiding the transition between directors.
One Foot used Bournemouth to film some exterior sequences because of its favourable climate, easy access to London, and economical benefits relative to filming in the capital. After the first series was filmed, the house which had been used for the Meldrews' house (near Pokesdown
, Bournemouth), in location sequences changed hands, and the new owners demanded nearly treble the usage fees that the previous owners had asked for. Rather than agree to this, the production team decided to find a new house, and the first episode of the second series was rewritten to have the Meldrews' house destroyed in a fire. This also gave the opportunity for a new interior set to be designed, as Belbin had been unhappy with the original set designed for the series, which she felt was too restrictive to shoot in.
Since series two, the exterior scenes of the Meldrew's home were filmed at Tresillian Way, Walkford, near Christchurch
in Dorset
. These later series makes extensive use of specific street and garden locations in most episodes, particularly for scenes involving the Meldrew's neighbours. Most outside locations were filmed in and around Bournemouth and Christchurch. These include Richmond Hill, Undercliff Drive and Boscombe Pier , Bournemouth Town Hall, Lansdowne College, Christchurch Hospital and the former Royal Victoria Hospital (Boscombe). Later episodes, such as "Hearts of Darkness", were filmed entirely on location. Victor's death by a hit and run driver in the final episode was filmed at Shawford railway station
, Hampshire. Fans left floral tributes at the site.
The show was produced with an aspect ratio of 4:3 from 1990-1997. Three years later, the show returned to television for its final series, which was produced with an aspect ratio of 16:9
. All episodes are of Standard Definition 576i
.
. A longer version was produced for the special "One Foot in the Algarve", released as a single with five remixes and a karaoke version in November 1994. Idle included a live version of the song on his album Eric Idle Sings Monty Python
. It is preluded by a similar adaptation of "Bread of Heaven" to that used in the episode "The Beast in the Cage" by disgruntled car mechanics.
The music on the TV series is accompanied at the beginning and end of each episode by a Tortoise
.
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, frequently incorporating well-known pieces of music such as "God rest you merry, gentlemen" or Intermezzo from Jean Sibelius
' Karelia Suite
. In the Christmas special "Endgame" during Margret's alleged death scene, a compilation of clips from past episodes are accompanied by the song "River Runs Deep" performed by J.J. Cale. The final episode ended with a montage of some of the mishaps Victor encountered, which were mentioned in the episode – backed by "End of the Line" by The Traveling Wilburys.
as Best Comedy (Programme or Series). During its ten-year run, the series was nominated a further six times. Richard Wilson also won Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1994, and Annette Crosbie was nominated for the same award in 1994.
The series also won the Best Television Sitcom in 1992 from the Royal Television Society
and the British Comedy Award for Best Sitcom in 1992, 1995 and 2001.
In 2004, One Foot in the Grave came tenth in a BBC poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom
" with 31,410 votes. The programme also came 80th in the British Film Institute
's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
is roasted in a brazier. However, this was later cited as a positive feature of the programme's daring scripts in Britain's Best Sitcom by its advocate Rowland Rivron
. The programme was censured, however, for a scene in the episode "Hearts of Darkness" in which an elderly resident is abused in an old people's home, and following complaints, the scene was slightly cut when the episode was repeated. Another controversial scene in the episode "Tales of Terror" saw the Meldrews visit Ronnie and Mildred on the understanding that Mildred had gone upstairs during a game of Happy Families
and not returned; Ronnie then shows her feet hanging outside of the window, implying that she has committed suicide. The Broadcasting Standards Commission received complaints about this scene.
When the final episode, "Things Aren't Simple Any More" originally aired on 20 November 2000 at 21:00, it coincided with the broadcast of the first jackpot winner
in the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
, which had been filmed the Sunday before the broadcast. ITV
was accused of engineering this in order to damage the final episode's expected high ratings, but was later cleared by the Independent Television Commission
.
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.
Renwick integrated some of the plots and dialogue from the series into a novel, which was first published by BBC Books in 1992. Renwick also adapted four episodes for BBC Radio 2
, which first aired between 21 January 1995 and 11 February 1995. The episodes are "Alive and Buried", "In Luton Airport, No One Can Hear You Scream", "Timeless Time" and "The Beast in the Cage". They are regularly repeated on the digital speech station BBC 7
and are available on audio CD.
An American remake
of the show, starring Bill Cosby
and simply titled Cosby
, ran from 1996
to 2000
. David Renwick was listed as a consultant on the series. In 2001, Swedish commercial television channel TV4 produced a version of the show, entitled "En fot i graven", starring Gösta Ekman
as Victor Meldrew and Lena Söderblom
as his wife. A total of 12 episodes were broadcast.
Wilson dislikes saying his character's catchphrase ("I don't believe it!") and only performs the line for charity events. This became a joke in the actor's guest appearance as himself in the Father Ted
episode "The Mainland
", where Ted and Dougal annoy him by constantly repeating his catchphrase. The situation was conceived when Father Ted writers Graham Linehan
and Arthur Mathews
sat behind Wilson at a performance of Le Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall
. They considered how "tasteless and wrong" it would be to lean forward to him every time that an acrobat did a stunt and yell the catchphrase, and then they realised that that's exactly what their fictional priests would do. This was also played upon when Wilson made a guest appearance on the comedy TV quiz show Shooting Stars
, in which Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer purposefully misquoted his catchphrase by referring to him as "Richard 'I don't believe you' Wilson".
Microsoft Visual Studio
6.0 Enterprise Edition contains a hidden Easter Egg
, which is accessed using the words "Reggie" (a reference to The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
) and "Victor" (a reference to One Foot In The Grave). The Easter Egg contains the names of the entire Visual Studio development team, as well as confirmation of the meaning of "Reggie" and "Victor".
video tapes. The Comic Relief Shorts from 1993 and 2001 have not been released on DVD. One Foot in the Grave Best-of was also released in Region 4, 8 July 2004.
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
series written by David Renwick
David Renwick
David Peter Renwick is an English television writer, best known for creation of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek....
. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...
specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000. The latter Comic Relief special was shown after the series officially ended in Spring 2001.
The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character in the popular BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Created by David Renwick and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man...
, played by Richard Wilson, and his long-suffering wife, Margaret, played by Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
, in their battle against the trials of modern life. After being forced to take involuntary early retirement, the series followed Victor's various efforts to keep himself busy, whilst encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings. The series was set in a typical suburban household in a suburb of London based on Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....
(although was largely filmed on location in Walkford, Dorset). However, despite its traditional production, the series subverts its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.
The series was occasionally the subject of controversy for some of its darker story elements, but was nevertheless the recipient of a number of awards, including the 1992 BAFTA for Best Comedy. In 2004, the series came tenth in a 2004 BBC poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
". The programme also came 80th in the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
. The series, originally shown on BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, is now available on DVD and is regularly repeated in the United Kingdom on GOLD. Seven episodes were remade for BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
and the series also inspired a novel.
Plot
The series features the exploits of irascible pensioner Victor Meldrew, who after being forced to retire from his job as a security guard, finds himself at war with the world and everything in it. Meldrew, cursed with misfortune and always complaining, is married to long-suffering wife Margaret, who is often left exasperated by his many misfortunes.Amongst other witnesses to Victor's wrath are tactless family friend Jean Warboys, and next door couple Patrick (Victor's nemesis) and Pippa Trench. Patrick often discovers Victor in inexplicably bizarre or compromising situations, leading him to believe that he is insane. The Meldrews' neighbour on the other side, overly cheery charity worker Nick Swainey, also adds to Victor's frustration.
Although set in a traditional suburban setting, the show subverts this genre with a strong overtone of black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
. Season One's "The Valley Of Fear" is an episode which caused controversy, when Victor finds a frozen cat in his freezer. Writer David Renwick also combined farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
with elements of tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
. For example in the final episode, Victor is killed by a hit-and-run driver, and although there is no explicit reference that Victor and Margaret had children, the episode "Timeless Time" contained a reference to someone named Stuart; the strong implication being that they once had a son who had died as a child.
A number of episodes were also experimental in that they took place entirely in one setting
Bottle episode
The term bottle episode is used in episodic television to refer to episodes which are produced using the least money, and restricted in their scope to use as few, or no, non-regular cast members, effects, and sets as possible...
. Such episodes include: Victor, Margaret, and Mrs Warboys stuck in a traffic jam; Victor and Margaret in bed suffering insomnia; Victor left alone in the house waiting to see if he has to take part in jury service; Victor and Margaret having a long wait in their solicitor's waiting room and Victor and Margaret trying to cope during a power cut on the hottest night of the year.
Main characters
Victor MeldrewVictor Meldrew
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character in the popular BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave. Created by David Renwick and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man...
(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 machiavellian plots. Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" was ironic, since he almost always ends up a loser. From being buried alive, to being prosecuted for attacking a feisty 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.
He believes that everything is going wrong for him all the time, and he has the right to be angry and upset because it's not his fault it's every one else's fault.
Victor is a tragic comedy character and sympathy is directed towards him as he becomes embroiled in complex misunderstandings, bureaucratic vanity and, at times, sheer bad luck. The audience sees a philosophical ebb to his character, however, along with a degree of optimism, yet his polite façade collapses when events get the better of him, and a full verbal onslaught is forthcoming. "Victor-isms" include "I do not believe it!" ,"I don't believe it!", "Un-be-lievable!"
Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie, OBE is a Scottish character actor.-Life and career:Crosbie was born in Gorebridge, Midlothian, Scotland, to Presbyterian parents who disapproved of her becoming an actor. Nevertheless, she joined the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School while still in her teens...
) – Victor's long-suffering, tolerant and kind-hearted wife, Margaret tries to maintain a degree of calmness and to rise above her husband's frustrations. However, she is too often engulfed in the same folly and often vents her anger, usually at Victor who bears the brunt of it all. In early episodes, her character acts more as a comic foil
Double act
A double act, also known as a comedy duo, is a comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but drastically different personalities or behavior...
to Victor's misfortunes, for example asking if a cat found frozen in their freezer is definitely dead and mentioning a friend who died of a terminal illness. When Victor reminds her that the woman actually fell from a cliff, Margaret retorts she only did so because "she went to the seaside to convalesce".
In later episodes, Margaret develops into a more complex character. She is shown to be fiercely protective of her marriage to Victor, becoming easily suspicious and jealous, for example, of a Dutch marionette that Victor becomes occupied with repairing in the episode "Hole in the Sky", eventually leading her to destroy it. In "The Affair of the Hollow Lady", a greengrocer develops a liking for Victor and wrongly attempts to convince Margaret that he has been unfaithful to her. In revenge, Margaret assaults the woman with a pair of boxing gloves
Boxing gloves
Boxing gloves are cushioned gloves that fighters wear on their hands during boxing matches. The term also refers to gloves used in training, though these often differ from competition gloves...
. However, Margaret herself is shown to have contemplated infidelity with a man she met on holiday in the episode "Warm Champagne", eventually deciding against it. She sums up her relationship with Victor in this episode by telling Ben (her admirer) "Victor's the most sensitive person I know - and that's why I love him. And why I continually want to ram his head through a television screen".
Jean Warboys (Doreen Mantle
Doreen Mantle
Doreen Mantle is a South African-born British actress who is probably best known for her role as Mrs Jean Warboys in One Foot in the Grave ....
) – Mrs Warboys is a friend of Margaret (and a rather annoying one in Victor's eyes) who attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. In the early series she was married to Chris, but eventually he left her for the private detective she had hired when she suspected him of having an affair, and they divorced.
She often bears the brunt of Victor's temper due to muddled misunderstandings and in part due to her aloof nature. One such occasion saw her goading Victor into taking a dog whose owner had just died. She had not told him that it was stuffed, much to Victor's annoyance, as he had spent time constructing an expensive kennel for it. On another occasion she had a waxwork made of herself which had to be delivered to their house as she had been involved in a road accident. As it turned out, she hated it as much as Victor and Margaret did, and that particular episode finished with the waxwork standing in the dustbin. She would often bore the Meldrews by showing them her complete collection of holiday pictures at the most unwelcome times. Doreen Mantle described her character as "wanting to do the right thing but always finding out that it was the wrong thing".
Patrick Trench (Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
) – Patrick and his wife Pippa live next door to Victor, and often catches Victor engrossed in seemingly preposterous situations, all of which in context seemed perfectly acceptable. The couple's relationship with their neighbours begins badly after Victor mistakenly believes Patrick and Pippa are distant relations rather than the next-door neighbours who had been leaving for a lengthy holiday the day that Victor and Margaret moved in. This and later incidents cause Patrick to suspect that Victor is quite insane, possibly bordering on malicious, and he often responds to Victor in similarly vindictive ways as a means of "getting even", for example by complaining via post-it notes.
However, it is Patrick's rift with Victor which eventually transforms him into a rather cynical character, much like Victor. This aspect of the character came to a head in the episode "The Executioner's Song" where his face transforms into an apparition of Victor's as he gazes into a mirror.
Pippa Trench (Janine Duvitski
Janine Duvitski
Janine Duvitski is an English actress, known for her roles as Jane Edwards in Waiting for God and Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave. She also created and played the role of Angela in Mike Leigh's play Abigail's Party.-Personal life:Duvitski was born in Nottingham. Her father was Polish...
) – Patrick's wife sought friendly relations with the Meldrews and, after a while, became good friends with Margaret. The two women usually attempt to get the men to make peace with each other at least once per series. Eventually Patrick proposes that the Trenches move house, but they soon realise that the Meldrew curse has followed them: Victor sent workmen to their home next door, thinking they were removal men who had come to the wrong house. They were in fact from a house clearance firm Margaret had employed to clear her late cousin Ursula's country mansion. It turned out that the workmen had cleared Patrick and Pippa's house of their entire furniture and sold it for £450.
New neighbours Derek and Betty McVitie replaced the Trenches for the 1997 special "Endgame", however this turned out to be their only appearances in the series and they were said to have emigrated by the penultimate episode which caused Nick Swainey to leap straight in with the offer for their old house. Series six saw the Trenches return as prominent characters, albeit living in a house some distance from the Meldrews.
Nick Swainey (Owen Brenman
Owen Brenman
Owen Brenman is an English actor best known for his role as next-door neighbour Nick Swainey in the multi-award-winning BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, which ran for ten years and was written by David Renwick. He currently plays Dr...
) – The excessively cheerful and often oblivious character appeared in the first episode, encouraging Victor to join his OAPs' trip to Eastbourne. When the Meldrews move house, they discover he is their neighbour, living on the other side of the Meldrews from the Trenches. He remains continuously optimistic; even his being told to "p**s off" by Victor is laughed off. However, despite this little run-in he later befriends Victor. A kind-natured individual, Mr Swainey cared for many years for his bedridden senile mother, whom the audience never actually see. He does though occasionally drop his guard, on one occasion displaying his apparent depression. Following his mother's death, he moved house near the end of the series, but only went as far as the other side of Victor's house, into the Trenches'/McVitie's old house claiming he'd always wanted to live in an "end house, without leaving the area".
Other recurring characters
Ronnie and Mildred (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 of themselves. In the final series, however it was clear that their cheerfulness was a façade and, in a particularly dark scene, Mildred hanged herself "during a game of Happy FamiliesHappy Families
Happy Families is a traditional card game played in the UK, usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete families. The player whose turn it is asks...
".
Cousin Wilfred (John Rutland) – Mrs. Warboys' cousin, Wilfred, appeared twice in the series, and was considered to be a fairly boring middle-aged man. In the final series, the effects of a stroke rendered him mute, and forced him to "speak" with the aid of an electronic voice generator. His poor typing on the generator led to several misunderstandings, such as asking Victor for a "bra of soup" (as opposed to a "bar of soap").
Production
The production of the show was in a conventional sitcom format, with episodes taped live in front of a studio audienceStudio audience
A studio audience is an audience present for the taping of all or part of a television program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack . A studio audience can also provide volunteers, a visual backdrop and discussion participants...
, interposed with pre-filmed location material.
Most of the first five series of One Foot in the Grave were produced and directed by Susan Belbin
Susan Belbin
Susan Belbin is a Scottish television director and producer whose work includes One Foot in the Grave, Only Fools and Horses and Jonathan Creek. She often works with David Renwick....
, the exceptions being "Love and Death," which was partly directed by veteran sitcom director Sydney Lotterby
Sydney Lotterby
Sydney Lotterby OBE is a British television producer and director. He started as a cameraman at the BBC and progressed to becoming technical manager...
, and "Starbound," for which Gareth Gwenlan
Gareth Gwenlan
Gareth Gwenlan is a British television producer, best known for his work on shows such as The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, To the Manor Born, Only Fools and Horses, and High Hopes. In 1983 he was appointed Head of Comedy for BBC.-External links:...
(who in fact had originally commissioned the series in 1989) stepped in to direct some sequences after Belbin was taken ill. Belbin retired due to ill health afterwards, and the final series was produced by Jonathan P. Llewellyn and directed by Christine Gernon. Wilson and Renwick felt that Gernon's experience of working with Belbin on earlier series of One Foot as a production secretary and assistant, as well as other shows, meant that her style was similar to Belbin's, aiding the transition between directors.
One Foot used Bournemouth to film some exterior sequences because of its favourable climate, easy access to London, and economical benefits relative to filming in the capital. After the first series was filmed, the house which had been used for the Meldrews' house (near Pokesdown
Pokesdown
Pokesdown is a small area of Bournemouth, a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Dorset. It lies just east of the suburb of Boscombe and west of Southbourne.-History:Evidence of human occupation in the area dates back to the Bronze Age...
, Bournemouth), in location sequences changed hands, and the new owners demanded nearly treble the usage fees that the previous owners had asked for. Rather than agree to this, the production team decided to find a new house, and the first episode of the second series was rewritten to have the Meldrews' house destroyed in a fire. This also gave the opportunity for a new interior set to be designed, as Belbin had been unhappy with the original set designed for the series, which she felt was too restrictive to shoot in.
Since series two, the exterior scenes of the Meldrew's home were filmed at Tresillian Way, Walkford, near Christchurch
Christchurch, Dorset
Christchurch is a borough and town in the county of Dorset on the south coast of England. The town adjoins Bournemouth in the west and the New Forest lies to the east. Historically in Hampshire, it joined Dorset with the reorganisation of local government in 1974 and is the most easterly borough in...
in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
. These later series makes extensive use of specific street and garden locations in most episodes, particularly for scenes involving the Meldrew's neighbours. Most outside locations were filmed in and around Bournemouth and Christchurch. These include Richmond Hill, Undercliff Drive and Boscombe Pier , Bournemouth Town Hall, Lansdowne College, Christchurch Hospital and the former Royal Victoria Hospital (Boscombe). Later episodes, such as "Hearts of Darkness", were filmed entirely on location. Victor's death by a hit and run driver in the final episode was filmed at Shawford railway station
Shawford railway station
Shawford railway station serves the villages of Twyford, Compton and Shawford in Hampshire, England. This station and all trains serving it are operated by South West Trains.-Layout and facilities:...
, Hampshire. Fans left floral tributes at the site.
The show was produced with an aspect ratio of 4:3 from 1990-1997. Three years later, the show returned to television for its final series, which was produced with an aspect ratio of 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
. All episodes are of Standard Definition 576i
576i
576i is a standard-definition video mode used in PAL and SECAM countries. In digital applications it is usually referred to as "576i", in analogue contexts it is often quoted as "625 lines"...
.
Music
The One Foot in the Grave theme song was written, composed and sung by Eric IdleEric Idle
Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....
. A longer version was produced for the special "One Foot in the Algarve", released as a single with five remixes and a karaoke version in November 1994. Idle included a live version of the song on his album Eric Idle Sings Monty Python
Eric Idle Sings Monty Python
Eric Idle Sings Monty Python is a live recording by original Monty Python member Eric Idle performed at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles in 1999. The concert runs for under an hour and is packed with songs, poems, and arcana from the 30-plus years of Monty Python, with amusing Idle banter...
. It is preluded by a similar adaptation of "Bread of Heaven" to that used in the episode "The Beast in the Cage" by disgruntled car mechanics.
The music on the TV series is accompanied at the beginning and end of each episode by a Tortoise
Tortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
.
The series also made extensive use of incidental music, composed by Ed Welch
Ed Welch
Edward William "Ed" Welch is an English television composer.-Career:In 1971, he recorded an album, Clowns, including songs he had co-written with Tom Paxton, and session musicians including Mike de Albuquerque and Cozy Powell. In 1972, acted as producer on a version of “I Don't Know How to Love...
, which often hinted at a particular genre to fit the mood of the scenes, frequently incorporating well-known pieces of music such as "God rest you merry, gentlemen" or Intermezzo from Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
' Karelia Suite
Karelia Suite
The Karelia Suite, Op. 11, is a collection of orchestral pieces composed by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius.The pieces in this suite are drawn from several independent works he wrote in 1893 for a patriotic historical pageant to be presented by students of the University of Helsinki in Viipuri,...
. In the Christmas special "Endgame" during Margret's alleged death scene, a compilation of clips from past episodes are accompanied by the song "River Runs Deep" performed by J.J. Cale. The final episode ended with a montage of some of the mishaps Victor encountered, which were mentioned in the episode – backed by "End of the Line" by The Traveling Wilburys.
Awards
The programme received a number of prestigious awards. In 1992, it won a BAFTABritish Academy Television Awards
The British Academy Television Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . They have been awarded annually since 1954, and are analogous to the Emmy Awards in the United States.-Background:...
as Best Comedy (Programme or Series). During its ten-year run, the series was nominated a further six times. Richard Wilson also won Best Light Entertainment Performance in 1992 and 1994, and Annette Crosbie was nominated for the same award in 1994.
The series also won the Best Television Sitcom in 1992 from the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
and the British Comedy Award for Best Sitcom in 1992, 1995 and 2001.
In 2004, One Foot in the Grave came tenth in a BBC poll to find "Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
" with 31,410 votes. The programme also came 80th in the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
Controversies
A number of complaints were made during the series' run for its depiction of animal deaths. For example, in the episode "The Valley of Fear", a dead cat is found in the Meldrews' freezer; in another, a tortoiseTortoise
Tortoises are a family of land-dwelling reptiles of the order of turtles . Like their marine cousins, the sea turtles, tortoises are shielded from predators by a shell. The top part of the shell is the carapace, the underside is the plastron, and the two are connected by the bridge. The tortoise...
is roasted in a brazier. However, this was later cited as a positive feature of the programme's daring scripts in Britain's Best Sitcom by its advocate Rowland Rivron
Rowland Rivron
Rowland J. Rivron is a British comedian, musician, writer and television presenter.-Early life: Rivron was brought up in Hillingdon, West London and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School...
. The programme was censured, however, for a scene in the episode "Hearts of Darkness" in which an elderly resident is abused in an old people's home, and following complaints, the scene was slightly cut when the episode was repeated. Another controversial scene in the episode "Tales of Terror" saw the Meldrews visit Ronnie and Mildred on the understanding that Mildred had gone upstairs during a game of Happy Families
Happy Families
Happy Families is a traditional card game played in the UK, usually with a specially made set of picture cards, featuring illustrations of fictional families of four, most often based on occupation types. The object of the game is to collect complete families. The player whose turn it is asks...
and not returned; Ronnie then shows her feet hanging outside of the window, implying that she has committed suicide. The Broadcasting Standards Commission received complaints about this scene.
When the final episode, "Things Aren't Simple Any More" originally aired on 20 November 2000 at 21:00, it coincided with the broadcast of the first jackpot winner
Judith Keppel
Judith Cynthia Aline Keppel was the first one million-pound winner on the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom.-Personal life:...
in the UK version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (UK game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a British television quiz show which offers a maximum cash prize of one million pounds for correctly answering successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty...
, which had been filmed the Sunday before the broadcast. ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
was accused of engineering this in order to damage the final episode's expected high ratings, but was later cleared by the Independent Television Commission
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
.
Cultural impact
Despite gaining initially low audience ratings, by the third series, One Foot in the Grave was making the Top 20 ratings, with some episodes seen by more than 16 million viewers. In particular, the Christmas 1993 edition topped 20 million viewers.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
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
. Renwick disputes this usage however, claiming that Victor's reactions are entirely in proportion to the things that happen to him.
Renwick integrated some of the plots and dialogue from the series into a novel, which was first published by BBC Books in 1992. Renwick also adapted four episodes for BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, which first aired between 21 January 1995 and 11 February 1995. The episodes are "Alive and Buried", "In Luton Airport, No One Can Hear You Scream", "Timeless Time" and "The Beast in the Cage". They are regularly repeated on the digital speech station BBC 7
BBC 7
BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...
and are available on audio CD.
An American remake
Remake
A remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
of the show, starring Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
and simply titled Cosby
Cosby
Cosby is a situation comedy television series broadcast on CBS from September 16, 1996 to April 28, 2000, loosely based on the British sitcom One Foot in the Grave. The program starred Bill Cosby, Phylicia Rashād...
, ran from 1996
1996 in television
The year 1996 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1996.For the American TV schedule, see: 1996-97 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
to 2000
2000 in television
The year 2000 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2000.For the American TV schedule, see: 2000-01 United States network television schedule.-Event:-Debuts:-1940s:...
. David Renwick was listed as a consultant on the series. In 2001, Swedish commercial television channel TV4 produced a version of the show, entitled "En fot i graven", starring Gösta Ekman
Gösta Ekman
Hans Gösta Gustaf Ekman is a Swedish actor.-Biography:One of Sweden's most appreciated, respected and popular actors; Gösta Ekman started his career in theatre but has also appeared in several Swedish films, including the Jönssonligan series...
as Victor Meldrew and Lena Söderblom
Lena Söderblom
Lena Söderblom is a Swedish actress. She has appeared in 24 films since 1955.-Selected filmography:* Miss April * Sängkammartjuven * Sista dansen -External links:...
as his wife. A total of 12 episodes were broadcast.
Wilson dislikes saying his character's catchphrase ("I don't believe it!") and only performs the line for charity events. This became a joke in the actor's guest appearance as himself in the Father Ted
Father Ted
Father Ted is a comedy series set in Ireland that was produced by Hat Trick Productions for British broadcaster Channel 4. Written jointly by Irish writers Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan and starring a predominantly Irish cast, it originally aired over three series from 21 April 1995 until 1 May...
episode "The Mainland
The Mainland (Father Ted)
"The Mainland" is an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. It was first broadcast on 3 April 1998 as the fourth episode of the third series.-Synopsis:...
", where Ted and Dougal annoy him by constantly repeating his catchphrase. The situation was conceived when Father Ted writers Graham Linehan
Graham Linehan
Graham Linehan is an Irish television writer, actor, comedian and director who, often in partnership with Arthur Mathews, has written or co-written a number of popular television comedies...
and Arthur Mathews
Arthur Mathews (writer)
Arthur Mathews is an Irish comedy writer and actor who, often with writing partner Graham Linehan, has either written or contributed to a number of popular television comedies, most notably Father Ted. He is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology...
sat behind Wilson at a performance of Le Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. They considered how "tasteless and wrong" it would be to lean forward to him every time that an acrobat did a stunt and yell the catchphrase, and then they realised that that's exactly what their fictional priests would do. This was also played upon when Wilson made a guest appearance on the comedy TV quiz show Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars
Shooting Stars is a British television comedy panel game broadcast on BBC Two as a pilot in 1993, then as 3 full series from 1995 to 1997, then on BBC Choice from January to December 2002 with 2 series before returning to BBC Two for another 3 series from 2008 until its axing in 2011...
, in which Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer purposefully misquoted his catchphrase by referring to him as "Richard 'I don't believe you' Wilson".
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. It is used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all...
6.0 Enterprise Edition contains a hidden Easter Egg
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
, which is accessed using the words "Reggie" (a reference to The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
) and "Victor" (a reference to One Foot In The Grave). The Easter Egg contains the names of the entire Visual Studio development team, as well as confirmation of the meaning of "Reggie" and "Victor".
VHS and DVD releases
All six series and specials were initially available on BBC Worldwide VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
video tapes. The Comic Relief Shorts from 1993 and 2001 have not been released on DVD. One Foot in the Grave Best-of was also released in Region 4, 8 July 2004.
| DVD Name | Release date | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | ||
| Complete Series 1 | 27 March 2007 | 2 August 2004 | 7 July 2005 | |
| Complete Series 2 | 27 March 2007 | 9 May 2005 | 4 May 2006 | Includes the 1990 Christmas special |
| Complete Series 3 | 11 March 2008 | 8 August 2005 | 17 August 2006 | Includes the 1991 Christmas special |
| Complete Series 4 | 11 March 2008 | 24 April 2006 | 7 March 2007 | Includes the 1993 Christmas special |
| Complete Series 5 | 10 February 2009 | 21 August 2006 | 1 August 2007 | Includes the 1994 & 1995 Christmas special |
| Complete Series 6 | 10 February 2009 | 16 October 2006 | 3 October 2007 | Includes the 2000 documentary "I Don't Believe It: The Story of One Foot in the Grave" |
| Complete Series 1-6 | 8 September 2009 | 16 October 2006/slim version 4 October 2010 | 6 March 2008 | A 12-disc box set that includes the Christmas specials |
| Christmas Specials | 8 September 2009 | 13 November 2006 | 6 November 2008 | The 1996 and 1997 Christmas specials |
External links
- One Foot in the Grave at the former BBC Guide to ComedyBBC Guide to ComedyThe BBC Guide to Comedy was a former subsite of bbc.co.uk which offered "Info on every TV comedy shown in the UK, from 1936 to today..."Written and researched by Mark Lewisohn, the content of the site was first available as a book The Radio Times Guide to Comedy in 1998...
(archive) - One Foot in the Grave at the British Film InstituteBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
- One Foot in the Grave at the MBCMuseum of Broadcast CommunicationsThe Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
's Encyclopedia of Television - DVD Review for Complete Series, and production history