One Foot In The Grave - Series 3 (DVD)

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 ...
...often than not conveyed is one that all be it slightly exaggerated is a situation that a lot of people find themselves in and in that way everything about the storyline and the characters is brought to life.

== The DVD’s ==
The third series of One Foot in the Grave was broadcast between 02/02/1992 and the 08/03/1992 apart from the 1991 Christmas special. Being only two at the time of first transmission I never saw any of these ... 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 be. More importantly the situation that is more often than not conveyed is one that all be it slightly exaggerated is a situation that a lot of people find themselves in and in that way everything about the storyline and the characters is brought to life.

The DVD’s

The third series of One Foot in the Grave was broadcast between 02/02/1992 and the 08/03/1992 apart from the 1991 Christmas special. Being only two at the time of first transmission I never saw any of these episodes first time out and have only ever caught the odd one on re-runs. The watching of this DVD was therefore something I was looking forward to. The series DVD comes complete with all six episodes form the third series plus the 1991 Christmas special, which is contained on a second disc. Unfortunately however the discs contain no other special features, which personally I thought was a bit of a shame but nothing to worry to much about because the episodes, which are all rated PG making them suitable for young and old alike can, are wonderful.

The Episodes

Episode 1 – Monday Morning Will Be Fine
This episode sees Victor and Margaret’s house being burgled and their television stolen. With nothing to watch Victor heads off to the pub in an attempt to lift his spirits. There he bumps into an old school colleague who for some reason seems to think he is someone else and to make matters worse really hates Victor.

Opinion – This episode is a lovely opener to the series. It is light-hearted and eternally funny and the scenes in the pub when Margaret arrives make for extremely entertaining viewing.

Episode 2 – Dreamland
Whilst Victor is dressing himself to impress at the village fete, Margaret’s dreams are turning rather sinister – she’s being dreaming about murdering an old, balding man.

Opinion – Due to the focus of the episode being more on Margaret than anyone and also because it is told by Mrs Warboys, Dreamland is in many ways different to all previous episodes. This is a welcome thing however and makes for pleasurable viewing.

Episode 3 - The Broken Reflection
Victor’s accident-prone brother Alfred is coming to visit from New Zealand and Victor doesn’t like him much. To make things worse the litter-bug insists on throwing litter on Victor’s garden.

Opinion – This episode was both a humorous and a touching one due to the introduction of Alfred. The visiting brother brings out a different side to Victor that towards the end of the episode is quite humbling.

Episode 4 – The Beast In The Cage
A bank holiday trip out in the car with Margaret and Mrs Warboys ends up being a trip to the world’s biggest traffic jam and to make matters worse in front of Victor’s car is a horse box complete with horse.

Opinion – This episode is my favourite of the series and possibly of the show in its entirety. It is brilliant because it places Victor in a location he cannot escape and so the humour rapidly mounts. Furthermore the song recorded by his mechanics is simply a classic.
“There’s a bloke we can’t stand any longer, always on the bleedin’ moan.
Every time we fix his bloody Honda, he’s back grousing on the phone.”

Episode 5 – The Trickster on the Roof
When Mr Swainey returns from his holiday he brings Victor home a present – a Scorpion paperweight, which the locals said was unlucky. Victor however is having none of that nonsense. That is of course until his roof begins to leak and a cow turns up in his back garden.

Opinion – This is a brilliant episode in all ways. The idea of an unlucky charm is immediately ironic because of Victor being full of bad luck already. There are also a couple of moments were it is clear that Renwick was trying to make a statement.

Episode 6 – The Worst Horror of All
Despite his shed falling on him, being rushed to casualty and then later catching fleas nothing can dampen Victor’s spirits because he’s got a new job.

Opinion – This episode is brilliant in so many respects but the main one is that the second you know Victor has got a new job you know that something is going to happen to thwart everything and what happens is superb to watch.

The Christmas Special – The Man in The Long Black Coat
This special is double the length of a normal episode and sees the feud between Victor and his neighbours continue. Radioactive fertiliser is the start of all Victor’s problems but definitely not the end of them.

Opinion – There is clearly some social commentary going on in this episode that is highlighted through the Meldrew’s presuming too much and the end of the episode, which I won’t reveal. This special however is much weaker than the previous.

The Humour

I have already mentioned that the series blends farce and tragedy in a superb way and the reason that this works so well is because of the different humorous elements within each episode. Parts of the episode are clearly slapstick, other based around word puns and other around facial expressions and finally those that work with associations rather than what is actually seen or said.

Generally however the humour works simply because a lot of what Victor expresses in his facial expressions and of course his frequent rants and complaints is actually what we ourselves would like to express. In this way we can associate with him and therefore with the humour that his situations pour upon us. The situations that are often the most humorous are those where we don’t see what is happening and hear Victor’s ‘I don’t believe it’ exclamation and his telephone rant before we see what it is he’s complaining about.

The Characters and the Actors

Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie who play Victor and Margaret respectively are both aptly suited to their roles and therefore comfortable within them. This comfort transcends to the audience and makes you really believe in the characters that they are portraying. Both of a very unique style that makes them come across so naturally in their roles but also they contrast with each other yet simultaneously compliment the work of the other.

The series’ other recurring characters of Mrs Warboys, Patrick and Pippa (the next-door neighbours) and Nick Swainey (the other neighbour) are also very well played. Pippa and Margaret are well suited together and therefore their ‘friendship’ is easily believed. The same in many respects goes for Mrs Warboys and because of her long-term friendship with Margaret her reactions to and quips at Victor are taken much more lightly, and so more humorously, than they would be otherwise.

Patrick and Nick are also wonderful antithesis’s to Victor and are perfectly suited to their roles of annoying next-door neighbours – who Victor believes are simply their to antagonise him. The small things that they do reappear in the episodes and in this way build upon humour and ideas already developed.

The Theme Tune

The theme tune in my opinion is as much a part of the show as a whole as the episode scripting, the humour and the actors. The tune, which is played over both the opening and closing credits, is brilliant. It simply sums up what the entire show is about in a light-hearted and humorous manner but also makes a couple of points in a dry sort of way, rather like Victor himself.
“Oh I am no spring chicken it's true.
I have to pop my teeth in to chew.
And my old knees have started to knock.
I've just got too many miles on the clock.”

Closing Comment

I think this series is truly superb and would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone. It is humorous yet at moments very poignant, which makes it a real classic to watch. It can be purchased quite cheaply for around £5 or £6 and is definitely well worth every penny.  

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