--- title: "One Foot in the Grave" year: 1990 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/one-foot-in-the-grave" fi1m_score: 83 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-16T21:45:58.479884+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T21:45:59.278772+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # One Foot in the Grave (1990) Created by David Renwick · 30m · Comedy **Fi1m score: 83** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Victor Meldrew has the time to complain, and the worrying thing is how often we agree > Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie make David Renwick’s retirement comedy sharply funny and unexpectedly painful. The plotting occasionally strains to create another grievance, but the performances give us ample reason to stay with this difficult company. ## Synopsis Retirement brings little peace for Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson), whose temper turns the frustrations of suburban life into arguments. Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie) and Nick Swainey (Owen Brenman) are among the people around him as ordinary annoyances give way to increasingly absurd trouble. Victor has plenty to object to and little inclination to keep quiet about it. His anger fills the days that retirement is supposed to make restful, while the people sharing those days have their own reasons for finding everyday life difficult. ## Review *One Foot in the Grave* is a sharply funny comedy about retirement, with enough feeling beneath the complaints to make its occasional plotting clumsiness worth forgiving. David Renwick, the creator and writer, takes Victor Meldrew’s bad temper seriously, including its effect on the people around him. The anger is funny because it is disproportionate, but it does not feel invented simply to finish a joke. Victor is difficult company, and the writing lets him remain so. Richard Wilson plays Victor Meldrew without smoothing away the unpleasantness. He makes the fury feel as though it has been building for longer than the present irritation deserves, which makes even an unreasonable complaint understandable. We laughed at his rage, then felt sorry for him; the hurt remains visible when the outburst ought to have exhausted it. Crucially, that sympathy does not depend on Victor becoming agreeable. Annette Crosbie, as Margaret Meldrew, gives us a reason to care about somebody other than Victor. She makes the frustrations feel shared, while keeping Margaret distinct from the man whose complaints take up so much attention. Her steadiness is especially useful when the situations become improbable, because she gives us a person to believe in before asking us to accept the joke. Her performance makes the effect of his behaviour on somebody else matter. The suburban setting helps. These are surroundings associated with a manageable life, so the series’ surreal silliness feels like an intrusion into somewhere people expected to be left alone. Within the familiar television comedy built around an irritable man, the writing allows a surprising amount of cruelty and unhappiness. When it moves towards tragedy, the change works because the two leads have already persuaded us that these people can be hurt. Directors Susan Belbin, Christine Gernon and Sydney Lotterby are at their most effective when the performers have room to make those feelings uncomfortable. The comedy needs us to stay with Victor long enough for a justified objection to become an exhausting one. That requires judgement about how long to let an outburst continue, and the performances generally receive the attention they need. The programme’s half-hour format also suits a character whose company is easier to enjoy in limited doses. The plotting is less dependable. Some of the absurdity feels arranged too insistently, with the effort to produce another complication becoming more noticeable than the complication itself. When a chain of events is clumsy, we start to notice how hard David Renwick is working to give Victor something to shout about. The actors remain persuasive through those stretches, which helps considerably, though we occasionally wish the writing would trust an ordinary irritation to be enough. We would still recommend it warmly, though the cruelty calls for a warning. The jokes can leave an unpleasant feeling behind, and the series has little interest in making Victor harmless for the sake of comfort. Anyone expecting retirement to provide a cosy subject may need a little adjustment. Try an episode when there is still enough patience in the household for someone else’s complaints. *Fi1m score 83, published 16 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (2) - **The Independent**, James Rampton (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights Victor Meldrew's explosive rage as the core of the show's humor, likening the comedy of cruelty and sarcasm to Fawlty Towers and Blackadder. Richard Wilson's performance gives the character a believable, unredeemed grouchiness, and the writing is praised for seamlessly shifting from comedy to tragedy. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/television-home-on-the-rage-james-rampton-on-maxwell-s-missing-money-music-from-the-movies-and-an-angry-old-man-1470251.html) - **The Times** (70/100, inferred): The critic welcomes the DVD release of the complete first series as long overdue, praising its surreal suburban silliness and dystopian vision of everyday British life. They highlight the grounded performances by Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie that make the characters sympathetic despite clumsy plotting. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/one-foot-in-the-grave-series-1-pg-983klv53zx8) ## Details - **Created by:** David Renwick - **Creator:** David Renwick - **Director:** Susan Belbin, Christine Gernon, Sydney Lotterby - **Writer:** David Renwick - **Producer:** Susan Belbin - **Cast:** Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew; Annette Crosbie as Margaret Meldrew; Owen Brenman as Nick Swainey; Roger Hammond as Mr Gillespie; Michael Robbins; Diana Coupland; Richard Lumsden; John Cater - **Runtime:** 30m - **Release (the US):** 4 January 1990 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. Also available in: AT, DE, GB, IE. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Fawlty Towers* (1975), Fi1m 90: For the mounting exasperation, intricate mishaps and refusal to make rudeness cosy — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/fawlty-towers.md) - *Curb Your Enthusiasm* (2000), Fi1m 84: Another furious man finds that being right rarely improves his situation — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/curb-your-enthusiasm.md) - *A Man Called Ove* (2015): A suburban grouch whose hostility makes room for grief and reluctant affection - *The Ladykillers* (1955): Domestic respectability meets criminal incompetence, with a similarly cheerful appetite for cruelty - *Wild Tales* (2014), Fi1m 83: Ordinary grievances grow vicious in stories that take bad temper alarmingly seriously — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wild-tales.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/one-foot-in-the-grave