one foot in the grave

summary
the grumpy complainer and accident prone victor meldrew takes early retirement and finds he has too much time on his hands. his long suffering wife and neighbours just have to grin and bear it.

main characters

Victor Meldrew played by Richard Wilson
Victor finds himself constantly battling against all that life throws at him, as he becomes entangled, like the pawn he is, in the Machiavellian plots. From being buried alive, to being legally prosecuted for attacking a feisty pit bull terrier with a collection of coconut meringues, Victor tries to adjust to life after his infamous replacement by a "box" at his place of employment, alas to no avail.
Victor is a tragic comedy character however, and sympathy is directed towards him as he becomes embroiled in complex misunderstandings and, at times, sheer bad luck. The audience sees a philosophical ebb to his character, however, along with a degree of optimism on his behalf, yet after a while his polite appearance when events get the better of him, and a full verbal onslaught is delivered.

Margaret Meldrew played by Annette Crosbie
The long-suffering wife of Victor and kind-hearted individual, she tries to maintain a degree of calmness and to rise above her husband's frustrations. However, she too often engulfed into the same folly and often vents her anger, usually at Victor who bears the brunt of it all. In early episodes, her character acts more as a comic foil to Victor's misfortunes, for example asking if a cat found frozen in their freezer is definitely dead and mentioning a friend who died because of a terminal illness who actually, as Victor says, fell off a cliff, retorting to him that she only did so because "she went to the seaside to convalesce".
In later episodes, she develops into a more complex character. She is shown to be fiercely protective of her marriage to Victor, becoming easily suspicious and jealous.

Patrick Trench played by Angus Deayton
Patrick, along with his wife Pippa, dwelt next door to Victor; he would almost certainly catch Victor engrossing himself in seemingly preposterous situations, all of which in their context seemed perfectly acceptable. The couple's relationship with their neighbours begins badly after Victor mistakenly believes Patrick and Pippa are distant relations rather than the next-door neighbours who had been leaving for a lengthy holiday the day that Victor and Margaret moved in. This and later incidents cause Patrick to suspect that Victor is quite insane, possibly bordering on malicious, and he often responds to Victor in similarly vindictive ways as a means of "getting even" with Victor, for example by complaining via post-it notes.

Pippa Trench played by Janine Duvitski
The wife of Patrick sought friendly relations with the Meldrews and after a while, became good friends with Margaret. The two women usually attempt to get the two men to make peace with one another at least once per series. Eventually, a move of house is considered, fronted by Patrick, but as they settle in to their new setting, they soon realise that the Meldrew curse still envelopes them.

Jean Warboys played by Doreen Mantle
Mrs Warboys was a friend of Margaret (and a rather annoying one in Victor's eyes) who attached herself to the Meldrews, accompanying them on many of their exploits. In the early series she was married to Chris, who left her for the private detective whom she had hired when she suspected him of having an affair. It was later revealed that they had divorced.
She would often bear the brunt of Victor's temper due to muddled misunderstandings and partly due to her aloof nature. One such occasion saw her goading Victor into taking a dog, as it's owner had just died. She had not told him that it was stuffed, much to the annoyance of Victor who had spent time constructing an expensive kennel for it. She would often bore the Meldrews with her cravings for showing them her complete collection of holiday pictures at the most unwelcome of times. Doreen Mantle described her character as "wanting to do the right thing but always finding out that it was the wrong thing".

Nick Swainey played by Owen Brenman
The excessively cheerful and often oblivious individual who resided on the other side of the Meldrews from the Trenches. He remains continuously optimistic with regards to anything; even his being told to 'piss off' by Victor is laughed off. However, since this little run-in he later befriended Victor. A kind-natured individual, Mr Swainey cared, for many years, for his bed ridden senile mother, whom the audience never actually saw. This is not to say that he doesn't drop his guard - for on one occasion we do observe his apparent depression. Following his mother's death, he moved house near to the end of the series, but only went as far as the other side of Victor's house, into the Trenches' old house.