Victor Meldrew
Encyclopedia
Victor Meldrew was a fictional character
in the popular BBC One
sitcom
One Foot in the Grave
. Created by David Renwick
and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man. Meldrew is a foil for the bothersome aspects of children, cars, animals, power cuts
or next-door neighbours (his particular example being Patrick Trench, played by Angus Deayton
).
The pensioner is most famous for his catchphrase, "I don't believe it!", an expression of discontent which was actually used fairly infrequently. Quite often, he stops short at "don't". According to Wilson, this is because series creator Renwick wanted to avoid overusing it.. Other frequently used but lesser-known expressions of exasperation include "What in the name of bloody hell?!" and "In the name of sanity!"
Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" is ironic, since he almost always ends up as the loser. Victor is also something of a hypochondriac, keeping a medical book with him to look up every ailment he believes has befallen him.
The series was so successful that in the UK
the term a Victor Meldrew has become a euphemism for a bitter and complaining elderly man. However, both Renwick and Wilson himself have disagreed that Victor is an example of this stereotype; Wilson himself once said in an interview that he was a "normal man in a world full of idiots", and he is shown to be more of a tragic comedy character, not bitter and grumpy by nature, but driven to it after becoming embroiled in complex misunderstandings, the victim of bureaucratic vanity and, at times, sheer bad luck.
Apparently misanthropic, Victor is sometimes depicted as an honest and sympathetic character. In the episode "Warm Champagne", his long-suffering wife Margaret defends him. When Margaret contemplates having an affair with Ben, a man she meets on holiday, Ben puts Victor down and accuses him of being insensitive. Margaret replies that Victor is in fact the most sensitive person she's ever met. If he weren't so sensitive, he wouldn't be upset by the smallest of things, and that is the reason she loves him. In the episode, "Hearts of Darkness", Victor chanced upon a nursing home
where the elderly residents were suffering severe abuse at the hands of the nurses. As revenge, Victor drugged the staff and cemented them into a nearby field, in a manner similar to scarecrows. In the episode "Timeless Time" it is implied that Victor and Margaret had a son named Stuart, but for a reason never stated he died.
In the final episode, "Things Aren't Simple Any More", Meldrew is killed after being hit by a car. This eliminated any realistic possibility of a seventh series. Passers-by left bouquets of flowers in homage at the railway bridge in Shawford
, a small village in Hampshire
, England
, the filming location.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the popular BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave
One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series written by David Renwick. The show ran for six series, including seven Christmas specials, two Comic Relief specials, over an eleven year period, from early 1990 to late 2000...
. Created by David Renwick
David Renwick
David Peter Renwick is an English television writer, best known for creation of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek....
and played by Richard Wilson, the character was the archetypal grumpy old man. Meldrew is a foil for the bothersome aspects of children, cars, animals, power cuts
Power outage
A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
or next-door neighbours (his particular example being Patrick Trench, played by Angus Deayton
Angus Deayton
Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster. He is best known for his role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering neighbour Patrick Trench in the comedy series One Foot in the Grave...
).
Character
In the first episode, Meldrew is forced into retirement as a security guard, even though he is only sixty years old. The series follows Meldrew as he attempts to fill his new-found leisure with odd jobs, unusual idiosyncrasies, or to get a new working job. However, he regularly finds himself mistreated, misunderstood or simply the victim of bad luck, which regularly leads to him complaining heartily.The pensioner is most famous for his catchphrase, "I don't believe it!", an expression of discontent which was actually used fairly infrequently. Quite often, he stops short at "don't". According to Wilson, this is because series creator Renwick wanted to avoid overusing it.. Other frequently used but lesser-known expressions of exasperation include "What in the name of bloody hell?!" and "In the name of sanity!"
Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" is ironic, since he almost always ends up as the loser. Victor is also something of a hypochondriac, keeping a medical book with him to look up every ailment he believes has befallen him.
The series was so successful that in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the term a Victor Meldrew has become a euphemism for a bitter and complaining elderly man. However, both Renwick and Wilson himself have disagreed that Victor is an example of this stereotype; Wilson himself once said in an interview that he was a "normal man in a world full of idiots", and he is shown to be more of a tragic comedy character, not bitter and grumpy by nature, but driven to it after becoming embroiled in complex misunderstandings, the victim of bureaucratic vanity and, at times, sheer bad luck.
Apparently misanthropic, Victor is sometimes depicted as an honest and sympathetic character. In the episode "Warm Champagne", his long-suffering wife Margaret defends him. When Margaret contemplates having an affair with Ben, a man she meets on holiday, Ben puts Victor down and accuses him of being insensitive. Margaret replies that Victor is in fact the most sensitive person she's ever met. If he weren't so sensitive, he wouldn't be upset by the smallest of things, and that is the reason she loves him. In the episode, "Hearts of Darkness", Victor chanced upon a nursing home
Nursing home
A nursing home, convalescent home, skilled nursing unit , care home, rest home, or old people's home provides a type of care of residents: it is a place of residence for people who require constant nursing care and have significant deficiencies with activities of daily living...
where the elderly residents were suffering severe abuse at the hands of the nurses. As revenge, Victor drugged the staff and cemented them into a nearby field, in a manner similar to scarecrows. In the episode "Timeless Time" it is implied that Victor and Margaret had a son named Stuart, but for a reason never stated he died.
In the final episode, "Things Aren't Simple Any More", Meldrew is killed after being hit by a car. This eliminated any realistic possibility of a seventh series. Passers-by left bouquets of flowers in homage at the railway bridge in Shawford
Compton and Shawford
Compton and Shawford is a civil parish in the City of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The word compton means village in a combe and aptly describes the settlement as it primarily consists of a long street on the side of a chalk valley....
, a small village in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the filming location.