One Foot In The Grave: The Complete Series 1

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Over the show's history, it featured a number of notable comic actors in one-off roles. These include Susie Blake, John Bird, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Peter Cook, Diana Coupland, Phil Daniels, Edward de Souza, Hannah Gordon, Georgina Hale, Roy Hudd, Jimmy Jewel, Rula Lenska, Stephen Lewis, Paul Merton, Brian Murphy, Christopher Ryan, Jim Sweeney, Barbara Windsor, Joan Sims and Ray Winstone. Two of Angus Deayton's former Radio Active and KYTV co-stars, Geoffrey Perkins and Michael Fenton Stevens were cast, in separate episodes, as respectively the brother and brother-in-law of Deayton's character. A few actors little-known at the time also appeared in one-off roles before going on to greater fame, including Lucy Davis, Joanna Scanlan, Eamonn Walker and Arabella Weir. a b Series Producer Graham Mitchell; Director Julie Newing (12 January 2007). "One Foot in the Grave". Comedy Connections. BBC. One Foot in the Grave: The Complete Series". dvdtalk.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021 . Retrieved 3 July 2023. a b "DVD Releases for March 11, 2008". the-numbers.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023 . Retrieved 3 July 2023.

Graham Linehan; Arthur Mathews (2000). Father Ted: The Complete Scripts. London: Boxtree. p.298. ISBN 0-7522-7235-7. Alfred Meldrew ( Richard Pearson) - Victor's absent-minded brother, who lives in New Zealand. During the episode "The Broken Reflection", he comes to visit after 25 years, to the disdain of Victor. Alfred is an eccentric character, often walking around with his hat on fire and bringing over his and Victor's great-grandfather's skull. He is a clumsy character too, mistaking the table cloth for a napkin and dropping the entire contents of the table all over the floor when he stands up and breaking a mirror in the middle of the night after mistaking his own reflection for a burglar. Victor starts to warm to Alfred towards the end of his visit, but Alfred leaves early the next day after finding an unpleasant message about him that Victor had accidentally recorded on a dictaphone. He is not seen again, but keeps in touch with the Meldrews, as Victor is seen looking at some photographs Alfred had sent over in "The Trial". Wilson dislikes saying his character's catchphrase ("I don't believe it!") and only performs the line for charity events for a small fee. [47] This became a joke in the actor's guest appearance as himself in the Father Ted episode " The Mainland", where Ted annoys 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. [48] 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".The show 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—near Pokesdown, Bournemouth—which had been used for the Meldrews' house in location sequences, changed hands and the new owners demanded nearly triple 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 was filmed on waste ground in Northcote Road, Springbourne). 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. [15] The title music on the TV series is accompanied at the beginning and end of each episode by footage of Galápagos tortoises. Aaronovitch, David (28 August 2002). "The real Victor Meldrew would have had no time for this new social group". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2008 . Retrieved 2 May 2019. Jean Warboys ( Doreen Mantle) – Mrs Warboys is a friend of Margaret's (and a rather annoying one in Victor's eyes) who has attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. Until the fourth series she is married to ( unseen) Chris until he leaves her for a private detective she had hired, believing he was having an affair, and they divorce. Patterson, Johno (13 December 2013). "10 Dark British Comedy TV Shows That Must Be Seen". WhatCulture.com . Retrieved 30 April 2020.

In 2004, One Foot in the Grave came tenth in a BBC poll to find " Britain's Best Sitcom" with 31,410 votes. [23] The programme also came 80th in the British Film Institute's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. [4] Award list One Foot in the Grave - Season 2 (2-DVD)". oldies.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023 . Retrieved 3 July 2023. Ronnie and Mildred ( Gordon Peters and Barbara Ashcroft) – Ronnie and Mildred were a constantly cheerful, but incredibly boring, couple who provided yet another annoyance to the Meldrews, who dreaded any upcoming visits to them; Victor once said that he had hoped they were both dead. In "The Worst Horror of All", when the couple attempted a surprise visit, the Meldrews hid in their house to give the impression they were away on holiday and then took the phone off the hook for several days afterwards, though these efforts to avoid them were in vain. They are referenced a number of times in the series for giving the Meldrews bizarre and always unwanted presents that are seldom opened, 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 Families". The shot of Mildred's feet dangling outside the window is usually cut from pre-watershed screenings.The programme received a number of prestigious awards. In 1992, it won a BAFTA 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. a b c d Lewisohn, Mark. "One Foot in the Grave". The former BBC Guide to Comedy . Retrieved 2 May 2019. The series was occasionally the subject of controversy for some of its darker story elements, but nevertheless received a number of awards, including the 1992 BAFTA for Best Comedy. The programme came 80th in the British Film Institute's 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. [4] Four episodes were remade for BBC Radio 2. [5] The series inspired a novel, published in 1992, featuring the most memorable moments from the first two series and the first Christmas special.

One Foot in the Grave: Season 6". dvdtalk.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2023 . Retrieved 3 July 2023.Despite Margaret's frequent exasperation with her husband's antics, the series shows the couple have a deep affection for one another.