One Foot In The Grave
- TV sitcom
- BBC One
- 1990 - 2000
- 42 episodes (6 series)
The grumpy complainer and accident prone Victor Meldrew takes early retirement and finds he has far too much time on his hands. His long suffering wife and neighbours just have to grin and bear it. Stars Richard Wilson, Annette Crosbie, Doreen Mantle, Owen Brenman, Angus Deayton and Janine Duvitski
- Series 1, Episode 1 repeated Sunday at 8pm on U&Yesterday
- Streaming rank this week: 875
Episode menu
Series 4, Episode 1 - The Pit And The Pendulum
Further details
Victor and Patrick both have new pets: Victor has a home aquarium with various fish and aquatic life that he's desperately failing to keep alive, whilst Patrick has a miniature dog, Denzil.
The Meldrews hire a gardener, believing the roots of Patrick and Pippa's cherry tree are too extensive, taking 'their' moisture and stopping anything they plant from growing. However, the gardener resembles the "Missing Link" and appears to spend most of his time flirting with Pippa and local schoolgirls rather than getting any form of useful work done.
Meanwhile, Victor is given a present of a collection of seaweed from some local children, and dumps it in the back garden. Denzil investigates and soon extracts a hermit crab from it, which he delivers to a snoozy, sunbathing Patrick in his own garden. It crawls up his leg and makes its presence known with great vigour!
Upsetting gardener Mr Kazanzi when he mistakes his daughter for a bit of fun on the side, Victor ends up in rather the worst situation yet.
Notes
This episode features the infamous scenes both of Victor answering the phone with Patrick's small dog, and being buried in his garden.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Sunday 31st January 1993
- Time
- 8:55pm
- Channel
- BBC One
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
Richard Wilson | Victor Meldrew |
Annette Crosbie | Margaret Meldrew |
Angus Deayton | Patrick Trench |
Janine Duvitski | Pippa Trench |
Daniel Peacock | Kazanzi |
Sarah Bolden | Daughter |
Katharine Page | Margaret's Mother (Voice) |
David Renwick | Writer |
Susan Belbin | Director |
Susan Belbin | Producer |
Mike Houghton | Editor |
Chris Wadsworth | Editor |
Nick Somerville | Production Designer |
Richard Winter | Costume Designer |
Jean Steward | Make-up Designer |
Chris Kempton (as Christopher Kempton) | Lighting Designer |
Eric Idle | Composer |
Ed Welch | Composer |