Annette Crosbie

Victor Meldrew’s complaints take up so much attention in One Foot in the Grave (1990) that Margaret could easily become an audience for them. Annette Crosbie gives her separate frustrations, while making the strain of their domestic life feel shared. We value her because Margaret remains worth caring about when the joke might only require somebody to put up with Victor. She is steady without making that steadiness seem easy. Her performance keeps the comedy interested in someone besides its loudest character.

Before Margaret, there were queens: Catherine of Aragon in The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1970) and Queen Victoria in Edward the Seventh (1975). The first was her television breakthrough; the second had her playing Victoria from youth to old age. That earlier work is worth remembering before “long-suffering wife” becomes the entire description of an actor whose familiar sitcom role arrived in 1990.

Richard Wilson is the essential partner in One Foot in the Grave, but Crosbie’s contribution goes beyond making his complaints funnier. We were moved by Margaret’s shared frustration, because Crosbie makes the effect of Victor’s behaviour on someone else matter. David Renwick’s plotting occasionally works too hard to produce another grievance, and the situations can become improbable. Crosbie keeps Margaret believable through these stretches, so there is still somebody whose response concerns us. Our patience with the plotting lasts longer because we care how she is managing.

Later film parts include Jessie in Calendar Girls (2003) and Granny in Into the Woods (2014), among the supporting roles that form another substantial part of her screen work. It is easy to call an actor reliable and leave the actual achievement unexplained. With Crosbie, the useful question is what would be lost if the supporting character were merely agreeable, or merely exasperated. Start with One Foot in the Grave, especially if you think the person listening has the easier job.