Quote: Richard Wells @ February 18 2008, 1:19 AM BST

One foot in the grave could also be very dark at times aswell.

I mean there was Ronnie and Mildred and Mildred committing suicide during a card game (I think it was a card game anyway).

And Margaret disappearing and going down to Margate for a couple of days and not telling Victor leaving Victor to think she's probably dead.

It's David Renwick's clever writing that mixes both comedy and seriousness so well together.

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It was a card game. Mildred hung herself during a game of Happy Families

This sitcom is just fantastic. However, I feel they ended it badly. For that reason I will never watch the last episode ever again.

Quote: Jacob Loves Comedy @ June 2 2009, 2:04 PM BST

This sitcom is just fantastic. However, I feel they ended it badly. For that reason I will never watch the last episode ever again.

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What would your ideal ending have been?

My ideal ending in the final episode would have been Victor just getting angry about something that has gone wrong. Just the usual.

David Renwick & Richard Wilson both said they wanted to kill Victor because:

1. It had never been done in sitcom
2. It would stop people asking when they were going to make more.

Just because it hasn't been done in sitcom before, doesn't mean you should do it. And if people ask you to make more, all you have to say is no.

The last episode wasnt strictly the best, there was the little sequence on comic relief 2001 which will no doubt be an extra on any future OFITG boxsets

wasnt strictly the last I meant

It's damn near perfect, last season is obviously a bit off balance cos of the big gap since the last full series... but it still rules.

Last few series were a little bit disappointing for me but it set such a high standard. They didn't need to kill him off though.

It stops an atrocious 15 years on Christmas Special, so yes they did.

Quote: Yellows 586 @ June 3 2009, 12:16 PM BST

They didn't need to kill him off though.

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Agreed.

Quote: sardines @ June 3 2009, 12:20 PM BST

It stops an atrocious 15 years on Christmas Special, so yes they did.

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David Renwick said he didn't want the pressure of people who keep asking if they are going to do anymore which was one of the reasons he killed Victor off. If people ask him to do more, all he has to say is no, not sure what the big deal is, how hard is it to say no.

Quote: Jacob Loves Comedy @ June 3 2009, 12:28 PM BST

If people ask him to do more, all he has to say is no, not sure what the big deal is, how hard is it to say no.

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Quite difficult if people are waving large wads of money at you or work's dried up. By doing this he made sure he'd never be tempted.

True. But with his track record I'm sure he's not short of money at this stage in his career. BBC sitcom writers at the top end get at least 20,000-50,000 per episode.

It's not difficult to say no. Gervais and Merchant did it when they were offered "silly money" to do more of The Office.

Quote: Jacob Loves Comedy @ June 3 2009, 12:46 PM BST

It's not difficult to say no. Gervais and Merchant did it when they were offered "silly money" to do more of The Office.

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Ah, but they have each other to help keep the agreement. If saying 'no' was so easy people wouldn't smoke.

I'm currently on episode 2 of the 4th series of this. Was never really into it at the time of broadcast, but it's fortunately held up very well. Apart from the overall excellence of the series, one notable aspect of the writing is that David Renwick writes such superb female characters.

Quote: Jacob Loves Comedy @ June 3 2009, 12:46 PM BST

It's not difficult to say no. Gervais and Merchant did it when they were offered "silly money" to do more of The Office.

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Yes, but they were being offered silly money to do other things at that point. It's very easy to have principals when you're being offered 100k plus to do whatever the hell you like.

Quote: Yellows 586 @ June 3 2009, 12:16 PM BST

Last few series were a little bit disappointing for me but it set such a high standard. They didn't need to kill him off though.

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People die - that's life.