Our Comedy Index - links to more great comedy shows and stars
ONE FOOT
IN THE GRAVE DVDs and Videos
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available from Amazon.co.uk -
The Best Of One Foot In The
Grave DVD
One Foot
In The Grave DVDs
One
Foot In The Grave - Series 1 - Complete Collection [1990]
One Foot
In The Grave Videos
One
Foot In The Grave - I'll Retire To Bedlam [1990]
One Foot In The Grave - In Luton Airport
No-One Can Hear You Scream One
Foot In The Grave - Monday Morning Will Be Fine
One Foot In The Grave - Re-Arranging The
Dust One
Foot In The Grave - Series 1 - Complete Collection
One Foot In The Grave - Series 3 -
Complete [1992] One
Foot In The Grave - Series 4 - Complete One Foot In The Grave - Starbound [1996]
One
Foot In The Grave - The Complete Series 6 / The Story
One Foot In The Grave - The Man Who Blew
Away [1994] One
Foot In The Grave - The Very Best Of One Foot In The Grave
One Foot In The Grave - The Wisdom Of The
Witch One
Foot In The Grave - Who Will Buy? One Foot In The Grave - Who's Listening /
The Man In The Long Black Coat [1990]
British TV's best-ever Mr. Misery, Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson), is one of comedy's great anti-heroes. Most Brits try to conceal their anger and irritation, but, Victor, like Basil Fawlty, is a character who just lets rip in a way most viewers would like to emulate.
Annette Crosbie is Victor's wife, Margaret, who, though she still loves him, finds his perpetual grumpiness and pettiness exasperating. Smug neighbour Patrick (Angus Deayton - Angus playing himself?) fully deserves to have Victor living next door. Patrick's wife, Pippa (Janine Duvitski), also finds her husband exasperating, and so we have the formulaic idiot husband/wise wife syndrome.
Mrs. Warboys (Doreen Mantle) and Nick Swainey (Owen Brenman) are also memorable characters, and regulars in the show. Mrs. Warboys is the eccentric friend of the Meldrews, and Nick the slightly strange neighbour. There is a lot of surreal stuff in 'One Foot In The Grave'. Eric Idle's theme song seems very normal, but alludes to a weird underbelly! Victor may have said, "I don't believe it!" with such conviction, but you felt that he knew, deep down, that anything was possible! When you get older, you realise that life is like that.
The mostly half hour series ran from 1990 to 2000, on BBC1, with 44 episodes in all, including 8 specials, and two short specials for Comic Relief - the last being in 2001. This brilliantly acted, and brilliantly written series, by David Renwick, had an impressive list of guest stars, including: Phil Daniels, Eric Idle, Michael Robbins, Hilda Braid, Daniel Peacock, Peter Cook, Barbara Windsor, Christopher Ryan, Rula Lenska, Ray Winstone, Helen Fraser, Susie Blake, Valerie Minifie, Marian McLoughlin, Roy Hudd, Hannah Gordon, Paul Merton, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Bird, Antony Sher, Brian Murphy, Joan Sims, Craig Ferguson, Helen Lederer, Arabella Weir, Jean Challis, Enn Reitel, Barbara Grant, Diana Coupland, Jan Ravens, Stephen Lewis, Georgina Hale, Jimmy Jewel, John Sessions, Clive Mantle, and John Bluthal. Certainly one of the all-time great sitcoms, and it produced the comedy legend that was, and is, Victor Meldrew.
- Paul Rance.
