One Foot In The Grave. Image shows from L to R: Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie), Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson). Copyright: BBC
One Foot In The Grave

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

Episode menu

Series 6, Episode 5 - The Dawn Of Man

Victor's hobby of fishing leads to an encounter with humanity at its most primitive. Patrick's gay brother, Nigel, comes to visit and Victor is asked to give a speech to the WI.

Further details

Victor has gone fishing and sees a man throwing rubbish into the river. He's enraged by this and so follows him to the pub where he distracts him so he can tip maggots into the offender's food. This only confirms his theories as to the modern world: after receiving a letter from one of Margaret's cousins jokingly asking Victor to speak at a local Women's Institute meeting, he has unfortunately taken the query seriously and is busy making notes on his philosophy of the modern world and reverse evolution.

Patrick's gay twin has been staying with him and Pippa, who's been driven mad by the whole experience of having the moaning brothers in the house with her, and rushes to escape to the relative sanity of Margaret's company at the first chance she gets. Victor hires a film on video - The Full Monty - but accidentally asks for "anything stronger"; whilst he's referring to a carrier bag, the man at the shop thinks he's referring to the video! Margaret watches it in horror and assumes it fell out of Pippa's handbag and belongs to Patrick's twin...

After a fight with some garage door installers, Patrick decides to relax in the bath with a bottle of wine; unfortunately, in his increasingly inebriated state he manages to sit on the cork, leaving Pippa with a slightly tricky and somewhat gruesome task!

Meanwhile, following the death of his mother Mr. Swainey has moved - but only two doors along, into Patrick and Pippa's old house! Showing some prospective purchasers his old property, he introduces them to the Meldrews, leading to a very violent altercation.

Broadcast details

Date
Monday 13th November 2000
Time
9pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
30 minutes

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Sunday 20th February 2011 3:10pm Gold
Sunday 20th February 2011 9:05pm Gold
Sunday 31st July 2011 11:05am Gold
Sunday 31st July 2011 3:05pm Gold
Tuesday 9th August 2011 11:20am Gold
Tuesday 9th August 2011 4:40pm Gold
Friday 28th October 2011 10:00am Gold
Friday 28th October 2011 4:40pm Gold
Thursday 1st December 2011 7:25pm Gold
Saturday 4th February 2012 10:05am Gold
Tuesday 6th March 2012 12:40pm Gold
Tuesday 6th March 2012 6:40pm Gold
Friday 18th May 2012 1:00pm Gold
Friday 18th May 2012 7:00pm Gold
Saturday 30th June 2012 12:25pm Gold
Tuesday 21st August 2012 9:00pm Gold
Wednesday 22nd August 2012 12:25am Gold
Saturday 9th March 2013 11:15am Gold
Sunday 10th March 2013 7:40am Gold
Wednesday 26th June 2013 3:40pm Gold
Thursday 27th June 2013 10:15am Gold
Thursday 5th December 2013 7:55am Gold
Thursday 5th December 2013 1:40pm Gold
Friday 20th December 2013 5:25pm Drama
Saturday 29th March 2014 12:15pm Gold
Sunday 30th March 2014 9:05am Gold
Saturday 5th April 2014 5:40pm Drama
Sunday 6th April 2014 5:20pm Drama
Saturday 31st May 2014 2:40pm Gold
Sunday 1st June 2014 12:40pm Gold
Friday 5th September 2014 9:00pm Yesterday
Saturday 6th September 2014 7:00pm Yesterday
Friday 5th June 2015 12:00pm Gold
Friday 5th June 2015 5:40pm Gold
Saturday 10th October 2015 4:00pm Drama
Thursday 29th October 2015 2:00pm Gold
Saturday 9th January 2016 11:40am Gold
Monday 15th February 2016 12:40pm Gold
Sunday 20th March 2016 6:20pm Gold
Monday 21st March 2016 2:00pm Gold
Wednesday 21st December 2016 10:45pm Yesterday
Thursday 22nd December 2016 8:40pm Yesterday
Friday 17th February 2017 10:00am Gold
Saturday 11th March 2017 5:00pm Drama
Thursday 16th March 2017 8:00am Gold
Thursday 29th June 2017 9:45pm Yesterday
Friday 30th June 2017 4:20pm Yesterday
Tuesday 10th October 2017 10:40pm Yesterday
Wednesday 11th October 2017 10:40am Yesterday
Tuesday 13th April 2021 11:40pm Yesterday
Wednesday 14th April 2021 9:40pm Yesterday
Saturday 24th July 2021 9:25pm Yesterday
Saturday 27th November 2021 1:15pm Drama
Sunday 12th December 2021 9:50pm Yesterday
Saturday 29th January 2022 8:00pm Yesterday
Saturday 9th April 2022 2:20pm Drama

Cast & crew

Cast
Richard Wilson Victor Meldrew
Annette Crosbie Margaret Meldrew
Owen Brenman Nick Swainey
Angus Deayton Patrick Trench
Janine Duvitski Pippa Trench
Guest cast
Nicholas Frost (as Nick Frost) Mr. Gleeson
Geoffrey Perkins Nigel
Stewart Harwood Shopkeeper
Writing team
David Renwick Writer
Production team
Christine Gernon Director
Jonathan Paul Llewellyn (as Jonathan P. Llewellyn) Producer
Mark Lawrence Editor
Linda Conoboy Production Designer
Jacky Levy Costume Designer
Geoff Harrison Director of Photography
Vanessa White Make-up Designer
Chris Kempton (as Christopher Kempton) Lighting Designer
Eric Idle Composer
Ed Welch Composer
Will Charles Lighting Designer
Katie Thompstone 1st Assistant Director

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