One Foot in the Grave is a well-known and well-loved British sitcom written by David Renwick that ran for six series’ between the years of 1990 and 2000. In 2004 it was voted as the 10th best British sitcom in a BBC pole, a position I think it well deserves. The series as a whole follows lead ... Read review
Who would have thought retirement could be so chaotic? Certainly not querulous Victor ... more
Meldrew one of tree-lined suburbia's perennial complainers or his long suffering wife Margaret. When he's forced to take early retirement Victor suddenly has plen...
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Forced into taking early retirement, Victor Meldrew optimistically tries to adjust to ... more
years of leisure with his wife Margaret. If only events - coincidences, misunderstandings, bureaucratic inefficiencies and sheer bad luck - didn't conspire against hi...
In Victor Meldrew,One Foot in the Gravebrought us one of the greatest characters in the ... more
history of British situation comedy. David Renwick's multi-award winning creation spawned a catch phrase--"I don't believe it"--that vocalised the sentiments of the perennially disgruntled, the irritated or the plain bewildered. Victor is a superannuated security guard struggling to fill his premature retirement usefully, but he is frustrated at every turn. Coincidences, external forces and events and other people conspire against him. Somehow or other, he always gets the blame, leaving a trail of walking wounded in his wake, usually led by his long-suffering wife Margaret.This first series, originally transmitted in 1990, contains countless comic moments, many of them truly surreal. But Victor is never a one-dimensional target for our laughter. Indeed, as with the best comedy, we mock him at our peril. None of us get through life without our share of Meldrew moments. Thanks to Richard Wilson's performance--which rightly made him a major television star--he is a rounded human being who genuinely can't understand why he is constantly at odds with the world around him, despite his best efforts. And in Annette Crosbie as the increasingly enraged Margaret, he has the perfect screen partner. --Piers Ford
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Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Christopher Ettridge, Victor McGuire, Emma Amos, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Elizabeth Carling
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: Fabulous one-liners Disadvantages: Nothing stands out
One Foot in the Grave is a well-known and well-loved British sitcom written by David Renwick that ran for six series’ between the years of 1990 and 2000. In 2004 it was voted as the 10th best British sitcom in a BBC pole, a position I think it well deserves. The series as a whole follows lead character Victor Meldrew as he struggles to find things to fill up his days after he is forced to take early retirement when he is ‘replaced by a box’. Victor ... ...The first series and the one I will be reviewing today sees Victor receive the news he is to be retired as well as begin to cope with what this means. What this means for his wife Margaret however is quite simple. It means Victor moping about the house and garden complaining about everything and anything. She always knew he was a grumbler but now he has more time to do it.
Series One consists of six, thirty-minute episode chronicling ... more
One Foot in the Grave is a well-known and well-loved British sitcom written by David Renwick that ran for six series’ between the years of 1990 and 2000. In 2004 it was voted as the 10th best British sitcom in a BBC pole, a position I think it well deserves. The series as a whole follows lead character Victor Meldrew as he struggles to find things to fill up his days after he is forced to take early retirement when he is ‘replaced by a box’. Victor is a moaner plain and simple. He loves to complain about everything and anything from salesmen, to local yobs and will do quite frequently.
Despite it’s rather elementary premise the series did cause a bit of controversy due to its subversion and its strong black comedy elements. Farce and tragedy are expertly blended however in my opinion and in this way portray a situation that seems more realistic than I think it would otherwise.
The first series and the one I will be reviewing today sees Victor receive the news he is to be retired as well as begin to cope with what this means. What this means for his wife Margaret however is quite simple. It means Victor moping about the house and garden complaining about everything and anything. She always knew he was a grumbler but now he has more time to do it.
Series One consists of six, thirty-minute episode chronicling Victor’s first few weeks as a retired man. ================ Episode 1 – Alive and Buried ====================== This Episode sees Victor being retired early and not being happy about it at all. It does however give him all the time he needs to compile ‘The Observers Book of Crap on Your Front Lawn’. ============== Episode 2 – The Big Sleep ==================== Noisy neighbours and gaggles of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the area are driving Victor mad. All he needs is to do something positive but Margaret’s idea that they take exercise classes for the elderly just seem to make things worse. ================= Episode 3 – The Valley of Fear ======================= After an encounter with soccer hooligans, which results in a trip to the hospital, Victor decides to call a meeting of all the residents. Despite this though everyone seems more interested in the smell near the sideboard rather than Victor suggestion they arm themselves. Mrs Warboys however follows his lead with a hand grenade. ================== Episode 4 – I’ll Retire to Bedlam ======================== This episode starts with Victor and Margaret trapped in the garden shed by bees but this is only the start of Victor’s bad day. An endless trip to the opticians and the pain of having to baby-sit Iris’s children is to follow. ===================== Episode 5 – The Eternal Quadrangle =========================== Margaret suspects Victor is having an affair when she finds an ‘empty packet’ in his coat pocket. The person in suspect is a nude model from one of his art classes. =========================== Episode 6 – The Return of the Speckled Band ================================= Victor is more than dreading his holiday and Mrs Warboys does nothing to quell his fears of flying or of their holiday destination. Before he can get there however he must deal with Mrs Warboys food poisoning an electric meter reading debacle and (it can only happen to Victor) and escaped snake.
The humour within One Foot in the Grave is a good mix of slapstick and subtle word puns with the rants of Victor being the focal points for the majority of the comical moments. All of this makes in my opinion for rather pleasant viewing, as despite the fact that he is forever complaining we as an audience love him as quite often we can associate with his problems and realise that in reality we would like to be a bit more like him, minus the high blood pressure of course, and complain about things more often.
Because the audience have the ability to empathise with Victor’s character we also empathise with Margaret’s a because both of them are portrayed so aptly by Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie this empathy is increased ten-fold. Wilson has a very dry style of acting in many respects but it is this style that makes Victor’s character so endearing to the audience and in many ways so unique and natural. Crosbie’s style is much more active in many ways but again this suits her and the contrast between the two highlights in many respects the differences between them but also signifies exactly why they gel together so well.
It is though the other characters that come into contact with Victor that really aid the series. Without them Victor would have no-one to complain or rant about and therefore the show would have no promise. The characters he meets are colourful but obviously far exaggerated although there are traits in them that you will recognise from your own friends and family. Some of these characters are merely introduced in this series however but do become more important and the series’ progress.
As well as the acting and the wonderful storylines the theme tune also plays a big part in the shows feel overall. The opening and closing part of the tune epitomise exactly what the show is all about and whilst being humorous to listen to it also seems to be getting across a very valid point about the older generations. “So I'm a wrinkly, crinkly, set in my ways. It's true my body as seen better days. But give me half a chance and I can still misbehave. One foot in the grave.”
All of the episodes on this DVD can be viewed with subtitles and luckily the DVD does contain a special feature. This feature is a section from Britain's Best Sitcom (Channel 4) and has interviews with cast members on it. The feature is relatively pleasant to watch and gives a little insight into the people behind the programme. Ultimately however the episodes themselves steal the show - which i suppose is how it should be.
You may have gathered by this point that I truly love One Foot in the Grave and therefore it will be no surprise to you when I say that I would whole heartedly recommend this series to anyone and everyone. It can be purchased quite cheaply for around £5 or £6 and is well worth every penny.
MI9to5 30.03.2009 (30.03.2009)
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Review of One Foot In The Grave - Series 1 - Complete Collection (DVD)
Advantages: Well-written and acted Disadvantages: Slightly disturbing things done to animals
...British sitcoms and this particular one is one of my favourites. It also reminds me of my dad who gets more miserable as he gets older - he does things like ring up our local council to complain about the lack of clarity in recycling guidelines and is a regular feature in November at our local police station to complain about the noise fireworks make. I kid you not...but I still love him! Anyway, in my expert opinion, Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew ... ...there is a seen in one episode when a cat gets trapped in the Meldrew's refrigerator and freezes to death. As a cat lover, I found this quite offensive and far from funny. Apparently I am not the only one. Many people wrote it to complain about this, to the extent that Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie begged the writer, David Renwick, not to write in anything else that involved harm to animals, because as the main actors, they were the ones that ...
sunmeilan 03.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of One Foot In The Grave - Series 1 - Complete Collection (DVD)
Advantages: Hilarious! Touching, with very insightful dialogue and performances Disadvantages: Not very P-C at times so not for the sensitive
The early episodes of OFITG are a good example of how funny OFITG has been to start to finish. The complete series 1 is an excellent way to start the story of Victor's retirement years, and then continue on to the rest of the series (6 in total). There is a full box set available which will save you a fair penny - I bought each individually as I was particularly impatient to be able to watch OFITG again. Looking back, the first series especially ... ...but this all adds to the cosy situational comedy, and of course part of the appeal is its relatability to middle aged ninties suburbia - quite potent issues are raised in the episodes, even in Series 1, like hooliganism (episode The Valley of Fear). This series is much more central to the couple and Mrs Warboys is not well established yet - nor is much said of the neighbours yet - this is all to come later.
The DVD contains:
EP1 Alive and Buried ...
jazzzza 20.05.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of One Foot In The Grave - Series 1 - Complete Collection (DVD)
The very first series of ONE FOOT... starring Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew, an everyman forced into early retirement. He's thrust into hanging around the house, tormenting his wife Margaret (Annette Crosbie) just by existing. Taking odd jobs that somehow don't work out, or courting coincidental mayhem around him. David Renwick's script is wonderfully dark and surreal, full of witty ennui and true-to-life observations--that rare winning formula of laughs and pathos where anything and everything conspires against poor old Victor. Caught up in his constant bad luck is Margaret's odd friend Mrs Warboys and odd neighbour Mr Swainey (and his invisible mother). All the episodes from the first series: ALIVE AND BURIED, THE BIG SLEEP, THE VALLEY OF FEAR, I'LL RETIRE TO BEDLAM, THE ETERNAL QUADRANGLE, THE RETURN OF THE SPECKLED BAND.
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