History Series / OneFootInTheGrave

* StockEpisodeTitles: Generally does quite well on distinctive titles, but uses two of the most common ones, "The Trial" and "Endgame", as well as a lesser example, "Dreamland".

* ExtremeOmnivore: Victor will eat just about anything and has a partiality to various bizarre and disgusting recipes, including [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce curry so hot]] [[UnaffectedBySpice that it would be inedible to anyone else]], squid in Stilton sauce, neat whisky alternating with handfuls of Smarties, and pizza topped with anchovies, chili peppers and pineapple. In fairness though that pizza actually would be okay if a normal amount of chili was used.

* ExtremeOmnivore: Victor will eat just about anything and has a partiality to various bizarre and disgusting recipes, including [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce curry so hot]] [[UnaffectedBySpice that it would be inedible to anyone else]], squid in Stilton sauce, neat whisky alternating with handfuls of Smarties, and pizza topped with anchovies, chili peppers and pineapple.

* IAteWhat: A recurring theme with Victor and Mrs. Warboys the usual victims.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot:
** The Meldrews had to move house in the first series 2 episode, due to the owners of the real-life house which had stood in for the Meldrews' house in the location scenes of series 1 wanting too much money to allow the BBC to keep on using it. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that the interior set for the second house is near-identical to the original one, only with the layout flipped around.
** The death of Nick Swainey's mother and his substantial weight gain in "Endgame" came about because his actor, Owen Brenman, had been required to put on weight for another role and didn't have time to lose it. He would eventually lose it by the time of the final series, with Nick lampshading his previous weight during his final episode.

* One was published in 1992; it contains many of the plotlines and jokes from the first three series but mixes them up so events from different TV episodes are juxtaposed in different ways. It also expands on a number of [[NoodleIncident Noodle Incidents]], for example telling us what happened on that holiday the Meldrews were setting off on at the end of "Return of the Speckled Band", and filling in the story of the mysterious "Stuart" mentioned in "Timeless Time". A couple of the storylines end very differently too; the alternate endings may represent nixed TV plots. In particular the storyline concerning the Meldrews taking a stranger to see a sitcom, thinking he's Jean's cousin Wilf, which on TV ends in mild embarrassment and no real damage done, goes enormously FromBadToWorse in the book.

* [[{{Novelization}} Novelisation]]: One was published in 1992; it contains many of the plotlines and jokes from the first three series but mixes them up so events from different TV episodes are juxtaposed in different ways. It also expands on a number of [[NoodleIncident Noodle Incidents]], for example telling us what happened on that holiday the Meldrews were setting off on at the end of "Return of the Speckled Band", and filling in the story of the mysterious "Stuart" mentioned in "Timeless Time". A couple of the storylines end very differently too; the alternate endings may represent nixed TV plots. In particular the storyline concerning the Meldrews taking a stranger to see a sitcom, thinking he's Jean's cousin Wilf, which on TV ends in mild embarrassment and no real damage done, goes enormously FromBadToWorse in the book.

* NotSoDifferent: Pippa points out to a grouchy, vengeful Patrick that he's beginning to turn into Victor, the man he despises. She's right, too. Patrick even starts [[PhraseCatcher using some of Victor's catchphrases]].
** Also, after being forced to stay together in an abandoned house for a while (and after a few glasses of whiskey) Victor and Patrick seem to put their differences aside and actually get along quite well. [[spoiler: Of course, barely a minute later something goes wrong and they end up back at square one.]]
** Margaret, despite often acting as the [[CloserToEarth more sensible and sociable of the couple]], can often prove to be just as bad tempered and oddball as Victor (and is far more likely to [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale vent it out on her spouse than vice versa]]).

* Flanderization: Mostly inverted for Victor. In series 1 he is more in line with his image in popular imagination of the nasty man: tying his nephews up in the garage, and snapping a man's walking stick. By later series he is more often the hero of a situation.

* SpoilingShoutOut: [[spoiler:The fact that the very last sketch with these characters ever has Margaret snarking that ''Film/TheSixthSense'''s TwistEnding is incredibly obvious makes TheReveal that Victor is DeadAllAlong and Margaret ignoring him is because he's a ghost and she can't hear him (just like in the movie) obvious to any knowing audience members about a minute in advance.]]

* ChekhovsGun: Early on in one episode, a struggling boxer is being talked down to by his father/manager for being too compassionate and easy-going. He then says that he is going to try and get him to lose his temper with just one person to bring out his "hidden aggression". Of course, anyone familiar with the show already knows exactly how this is going to end.
** Actually, this series is a succession of [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhov's Gunmen]] passing through ChekhovsArmoury. Quite often, even the most inconsequential details or objects, or scenes that just seem like throwaway gags, will return with a vengeance later in the episode. Victor catches fleas from the neighbour's cat? It's used at the end. Victor complains about the junk in his garden? Used at the end. Victor talks about someone losing their wig? Used at the end. HARD.

'''Victor''': ... She fell off a cliff!\\

* CordonBleughChef: Subverted by Victor who, unlike most men in sitcoms, actually appears to be pretty good at cooking most of the time. His propensity for spicy food can sometimes catch people off-guard, though, and seafood most definitely isn't his forté, despite being a fairly good cook, he [[ExtremeOmnivore isn't so discerning]] about what he actually ''eats''.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: Subverted in one episode, which begins with Margaret in a graveyard writing a letter to a relative, which alludes to 'horrible events'. It is heavily implied that Victor is dead, with the events of the letter being shown in a flashback. It even shows the name "Victor Meldrew" on the gravestone that she is visiting. When she returns home, she picks up Victor's hat and a voice-over of Victor is heard saying his catchphrase. We assume that this is in Margaret's head...until she opens the door to the living room, whereupon it turns out that Victor was Alive All Along. Turns out that the grave she was visiting belonged to Victor's father, and the 'events' simply referred to the typical mishaps that they have to deal with in every episode.]]

** [[spoiler: The special that came after the final episode at least lifts the blackness of the ending into a gray area as it shows that Victor had, somehow, not known he had been dead for quite some time and seems to completely forgot he got hit by a car. When he realised it, he seemed more in shock at the revelation than actually depressed. It also provides good evidence that Margaret did NOT kill the woman at the end of the final episode as it shows her seemingly going about her life as she always did. For a show that went out of its way to punish the Meldrews for every minor infraction there could be, there's no way she could have gotten away with murder.]]

* CordonBleughChef: Subverted by Victor who, unlike most men in sitcoms, actually appears to be pretty good at cooking most of the time. His propensity for spicy food can sometimes catch people off-guard, though, and seafood most definitely isn't his forté.

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. The series never says explicitly where the Meldrews live, but it's implied that they live in a town on the Eastern outskirts of the Greater London area. In any case, the series also acknowledges the existence of other places in the UK, including the Midlands town of Kettering, which is where Margaret's mother lives.

* CallBack: Usually in the form of Patrick mentioning things that Victor has done (or he ''thinks'' Victor did) in previous episodes.
* CannotTellAJoke: In "The Man Who Blew Away", Victor opens up a Christmas cracker and realises they've been tampered with when he finds a joke insulting him. He seems particularly offended by the fact that the joke isn't even coherent from start to finish.
-->'''Victor''': Question: "What's the difference between Victor Meldrew and a chef who keeps dropping his pancakes?" Answer: "They're both useless tossers!" [...] It doesn't even work. Look, it's got, "What's the difference between..." And then it says we're both useless tossers. How is that the difference? That's not the difference. That's what we've got in common!

** Creator/RichardWilson has long been [[YourSecretsSafeWithMeSuperman hounded to repeat this phrase]]. When he made a guest appearance on ''Series/FatherTed'', he only agreed to say the line on the condition that he got to beat the title character up (which he did, twice) after Ted shouted it at him. Supposedly he now repeats the line only at charity events.

*** "What in the name of ''sanity''" is another one that seems to crop up often too, espectially when something particularly mental happens, such as someone taking his word too literally and planting a small palm tree bonsai in his downstairs toilet.

%%* ReallyDeadMontage: See above.

* RememberedTooLate: In "Hole in the Sky", Victor visits a Mr Croker to return £80 that the latter dropped in the street. When Pippa turns up and is very familiar with Mr Croker, Victor thinks she's having affair and HilarityEnsues. Of course Mr Croker is actually Pippa's ''brother'' -- which really should have occurred to Victor as a ''possibility'' at least, considering he already knew Pippa's family name was Croker, and he'd even spent some "quality time" with her dad. He naturally makes a fool of himself before he realises.

* SoundEffectBleep: Used to hilarious effect in "Hole in the Sky". When the angry woman goes up into the loft, you can still hear faint bleeps long after her voice has become completely muffled and unintelligible.

** "The Trial" (series 4), set entirely in Victor and Margaret's home while Victor waits for a jury duty call

** The two UsefulNotes/ComicRelief episodes; one with Victor in the bath and the other at the bedside of a relative in a coma.

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Averted. The series never says explicitly where the Meldrews live, but it's implied that they live in a town on the outskirts of the Greater London area. In any case, the series also acknowledges the existence of other places in the UK, including the Midlands town of Kettering, which is where Margaret's mother lives.#

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In early episodes, Margaret acts more as a comic foil to Victor's misfortunes. Examples include fearfully asking if a cat found frozen in their freezer is definitely dead and mentioning a friend who died of a terminal illness. When Victor reminds her that the woman actually fell from a cliff, Margaret retorts she only did so because "she went to the seaside to convalesce". In later episodes, she develops into a more complex character.

* TransatlanticEquivalent: ''{{Cosby}}'' (US), ''Mit einem Bein im Grab'' (Germany), ''En fot i graven'' (Sweden) and ''Met één been in het graf'' (Holland).

* TransatlanticEquivalent: ''{{Cosby}}'' (US)