Back to TV Shows Login to Watch
One Foot In the Grave
1990 - 2000 7.5 (81 votes) 6 Seasons
Official Website
Genres
Comedy
Networks
BBC One
Created By
David Renwick

One Foot In the Grave

Who would have thought retirement could be so chaotic?

Overview

One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. The series was largely filmed on location in Walkford, near New Milton in Hampshire, although several clues show that the series may have been set in Hampshire – possibly Winchester. Despite its traditional production, the series supplants its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.

Key Crew

Producer: Susan Belbin

Top Cast

Richard Wilson
Richard Wilson

Victor Meldrew

Annette Crosbie
Annette Crosbie

Margaret Meldrew

Doreen Mantle
Doreen Mantle

Jean Warboys

Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton

Patrick Trench

Janine Duvitski
Janine Duvitski

Pippa Trench

Seasons

Season 0 poster
Season 0 (1990)

No overview available.

10 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: Who's Listening?
1990-12-27

"All the miseries in the world seem a hundred times worse at Christmas." Victor isn't in a seasonal mood thanks to Mrs Warboys's nativity play, a hostage crisis and 263 garden gnomes. However, Victor's troubles are tiny compared with those of the small boy who wants his dead father home.

Runtime: 59 min
Episode 2: The Man in the Long Black Coat
1991-12-30

Victor and Patrick's feud has continued and they now communicate via post-it notes. Pippa is expecting a baby, while Victor is keeping an allotment and buys some radioactive horse manure.

Runtime: 48 min
Episode 3: Victor in The Bath
1993-03-12

For UK Comic relief 1993, Victor spends 'just one more minute' in the bath contemplating the mysteries of life, from wrinkled fingers to microscopic insects

Runtime: 8 min
Episode 4: One Foot in the Algarve
1993-12-26

The Meldrews are going on holiday to Portugal with Mrs Warboys. While Margaret is concerned about her approaching 60th birthday, Mrs Warboys is looking forward to meeting her pen friend, with thoughts of romance. Meanwhile, a journalist is attempting to retrieve a vitally important camera film which just happens to be in Margaret's handbag.

Runtime: 92 min
Episode 5: The Wisdom of the Witch
1995-12-25

When Cousin Ursula dies the Meldrews have to clear out her house in the country, although a witch has predicted that Victor is about to come to an untimely end. Patrick and Pippa have finally sold their house and are preparing to move. Patrick has a new job with his own secretary - something which puts his life in danger.

Runtime: 60 min
Episode 6: Starbound
1996-12-26

The Meldrews return from a long weekend away to find a man living in their shed. Victor is suffering from a hernia but this hasn't stopped him getting a job as a gardener working for Patrick's new boss. Meanwhile, Mr Swainey's mother claims that she is abducted by aliens from Neptune every night.

Runtime: 59 min
Episode 7: Endgame
1997-12-25

Victor and Margaret have new neighbours, the McVities, who they are actually getting on well with. But for how much longer will it last, especially when Victor buys a haunted caravan, and then inadvertently kidnaps the mother of a millionaire?

Runtime: 68 min
Episode 8: Visiting Uncle Dick
2001-03-06

Short post-finale outing for the Meldrews in aid of Comic Relief (2001). Margaret is visiting a relative in hospital. Victor is his usual self; complaining about everything, and Margaret is her usual self; pretending not to hear him...

Runtime: 8 min
Episode 9: I Don't Believe It! The One Foot in the Grave Story
2000-11-20

Documentary celebrating 10 years of the popular BBC sitcom 'One Foot in the Grave', which ran from 1990 to 2000. Cast members and writer David Renwick discuss the series and a selection of memorable clips illustrate the show's huge appeal.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 10: Britain's Best Sitcom: One Foot in the Grave
2004-02-14

Rowland Rivron pays tribute to Victor Meldrew , the irascible pensioner whose catchphrase "I don't believe it!" struck a chord with world-weary viewers everywhere. Contributors include Richard Wilson , Annette Crosbie , Angus Deayton and Eric Idle.

Runtime: 30 min
Season 1 poster
Season 1 (1990)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Season 3 poster
Season 3 (1992)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Season 4 poster
Season 4 (1993)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Pit and the Pendulum
1993-01-31

Victor is employing a workman in the garden, although he never seems to do any work. On the other side of the fence, Patrick has acquired a pet daschund called Denzil.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 2: Descent Into The Maelstorm
1993-01-31

Margaret falls ills to nervous exhaustion that has been building up over the last 34 years. She has little chance for peace and quiet in which to recuperate, especially with Victor's problems with gorilla suits and the waste disposal system. She is however cheered by a visit from an old friend.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 3: Hearts of Darkness
1993-02-14

During a trip to the countryside with Mrs Warboys and Mr Swainey, the Meldrews manage to get lost. Victor leaves the others to try to find help.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 4: Warm Champagne
1993-02-21

Victor returns from holiday with sunburnt feet. His mood doesn't improve, thanks to rows with the neighbours and the addition of a streetlamp to his bedroom furniture. This gives Margaret a dilemma when she is contacted by Ben, a pleasant man who she met on holiday.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 5: The Trial
1993-02-28

Victor has been selected for jury service. He hasn't been required in court yet, but he is on call so he is stuck in the house all day and must somehow beat his boredom.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 6: Secret Of The Seven Sorcerers
1993-03-07

Victor is preparing for a meeting of his magician's club. He now has a job as a lollipop man, but is being bothered by hoax calls from the fire brigade. Patrick and Pippa are due to visit the Meldrews' for a reconciliation meal, but Patrick isn't looking forward to the experience.

Runtime: 30 min
Season 5 poster
Season 5 (1994)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Man Who Blew Away
1994-12-25

Patrick is preparing for an important meeting with some Japanese businessmen. Next door, Victor's stolen car has been recovered, but he isn't very happy about it. Then the Meldrews are visited by Mr Foskett - a man who they met on holiday 17 years previously.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 2: Only A Story
1995-01-01

Mrs Warboys is staying with the Meldrews following the flooding of her house and is starting to irritate Margaret. However, Victor is a lot calmer than usual thanks to the reflexology treatment that he has started receiving.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 3: The Affair Of The Hollow Lady
1995-01-08

Victor thinks that the woman in the greengrocers fancies him. Meanwhile, Mrs Warboys has won a wax model of herself and the Meldrews are having problems with their door locks.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 4: Rearranging The Dust
1995-01-15

When Victor and Margaret visit their solicitors in order to make a will they discover precisely why a waiting room is so-called.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 5: Hole In The Sky
1995-01-22

Patrick is looking forward to his trip to stay with Pippa's brother after an embarrassing visit to an Armenian restaurant in order to attempt to make up with Victor. Meanwhile, the Meldrews are employing a pair of very strange workmen and Margaret is getting jealous of a marionette.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 6: The Exterminating Angel
1995-01-29

Romance is in the air for Mr. Swainey when he finally invites Tania the nurse out for a date. Victor takes a new job as a chauffeur but rapidly wipes out his employer's beloved fleet.

Runtime: 30 min
Season 6 poster
Season 6 (2000)

No overview available.

6 episodes

Episodes
Episode 1: The Executioner's Song
2000-10-16

Victor has a new job as a window-cleaner. Meanwhile, Patrick's plans for a quiet birthday are ruined after an unfortunate misunderstanding involving a modern art painting and Pippa finds herself in an adulterous affair.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 2: Tales Of Terror
2000-10-23

In Mr. Swainey's production of 'Nosferatu The vampire', the actor who was supposed to play the vampire doesn't show up so Nick asks Victor to take the part. He did. Later, blood was found in Victor's digestive system during a test - after fearing the worst, the doctors discover that the blood was from an undercooked black pudding that was earlier given to Victor by Mrs. Warboys! later that week, whie on their way to visit the dreaded Ronnie and Mildred once more, Victor and Margaret are shocked to discover that Mildred has killed herself while playing a game of 'Happy Families' - they are even more shocked to discover that her body is still hanging outside the house!

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 3: The Futility Of The Fly
2000-10-30

Margaret regrets hiring an attractive cleaner to help around the house. Meanwhile, Mrs Warboys has a couple of nasty frights.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 4: Threatening Weather
2000-11-06

During a power cut, Victor realises that he had been right through the middle of an area affected by a siege as it happened. Making the power cut worse, it occurs on a hot Summer night. Victor had the misfortune to have a light fitting drop right on to his privates, a cigarette stubbed out on his cap and a mysterious pain that leads him to think that he had been shot as he passed the siege that morning. Things were made worse by the arrival of the incontinent, fat and irritating elderly neighbour, Mr. Smedley.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 5: The Dawn Of Man
2000-11-13

Victor's new fishing hobby leads to an unfortunate encounter with a fly-tipper. Meanwhile, a visit from Patrick's gay twin brother leaves Pippa feeling mentally and physically exhausted, especially when Patrick sits on a cork.

Runtime: 30 min
Episode 6: Things Aren't Simple Any More
2000-11-20

In the very last episode of 'One Foot in the Grave', Victor's decision to attend a school reunion unwittingly delivers him into the hands of fate. Margaret deals with the aftermath with the help of her new friend, Glynis.

Runtime: 30 min

Videos

One foot in the grave bbc 1 trailer 1997

Similar TV Shows

Recommended TV Shows