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Who thought retirement could be so chaotic? Certainly not
cantankerous Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife Margaret.
But there's one thing to remember in the Meldrew household
- whatever can go wrong always does...
The
Pit And The Pendulum: Victor decides that Patrick's cherry
tree is the cause of his garden being dry and enlists a Neanderthal
gardener to cultivate the stray roots. This is the famous
episode where Victor is buried in his own back garden. It
also has a rather touching moment when events give a rather
bland telephone answer machine message a different meaning.
Descent Into The Maelstrom: Margaret collapses from
nervous exhaustion, but after a few days of Victor's loving
care decides to go back to work to get some peace and quiet.
This episode sees Victor's local dry cleaner getting his dinner
jacket mixed up with a gorilla suit, and Mr Sweeny spends
an evening on the Meldrew's kitchen floor when he puts his
back out while fixing their sink.
Hearts
Of Darkness: On a trip into the countryside, Victor stumbles
upon a home for the elderly, where the residents are being
abused by the staff, and hatches a plot for their liberation.
In the history of One Foot in the Grave, this is possibly
the darkest episode. The first half of the story sees Victor,
Margaret, Mrs Warboys and Nick Swainey on a day out, while
the second half sees Victor stumbling upon a old people's
home where the staff are mistreating the residents. This episode
also includes a blink and you'll miss it appearance of the
actress who provided the voice of Margaret's mother in The
Pit And The Pendulum.
Warm
Champagne: Margaret has arranged to meet up with Ben,
an acquaintance she made on holiday. She is surprised to find
another woman in her bed when she returns. And so is Victor.
In this episode a street light crashes through the Meldrew's
window resulting in their bedroom being flooded with light
at nights. This episode also highlights the problems with
holiday romances.
The Trial: Victor spends a day at home whilst on-call
for jury service. He contemplates his various ailments, gets
a letter from a disgruntled Jehovah's Witness and struggles
to save himself from a blow-by-blow account of Mrs Warboys's
holiday. This episode sees Victor home alone for the entire
30 minutes. It's amazing the things he will do to while away
the hours. He's already been sitting around at home for five
days waiting for a call from the courts.
Secret
Of The Seven Sorcerers: The Meldrews invite Patrick and
Pippa around for a friendly meal, but Patrick is distinctly
worried about what horrors might befall them. Victor also
has his conjuring friends over to go through their usual trick
testing.
The
second disc in this collection includes the Christmas Special
episode One Foot Foot in the Algarve. Victor, Margaret
and Mrs Warboys embark upon a hellish holiday in Portugal.
After collecting their hire car (with free hair conditioner),
they take a slow drive to their destination - along the way
making a quick stop for Victor to almost sell Mrs Warboys
into prostitution. They then have a brush with the local police
who throw them in, what they believe is, a cell in the local
police station. Mrs Warboys meets up with her Portuguese pen
friend who she has never met before. This episode also sees
Peter Cook guest star as Martin, an accident prone paparazzi
photographer.
The
only extra on this collection is an audio commentary with
writer David Renwick and Victor Meldrew himself, Richard Wilson.
This is not overly great as they spend the most part chatting
and laughing at what is going on on the screen. Although Renwick
does provide some interesting snippets of information every
now and then.
One
Foot in the Algarve also has an extended closing credits
sequence, which is interesting as we get to hear some additional
lyrics from the theme tune. I have to say that the Christmas
Special was the episode I enjoyed the most. Sure you could
see the jokes coming a mile away, but everything builds well,
especially Mrs Warboys's pen friend's little secret.
If
you are a fan of the show then this DVD release won't disappoint.
For £16 you really can't go wrong.
 
Darren
Rea
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