Trivia / One Foot in the Grave

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: In the final-series episode "Tales of Terror", Victor tests positive for blood in the stool after eating black pudding. This was thought to be an old wives' tale at the time, but subsequent studies have found that consumption of black pudding really can cause false positives — in fact, if you go for such a test now, they tell you not to eat black pudding beforehand for exactly this reason.
• Acting for Two:
  • Angus Deayton also played an uncredited TV presenter in "Monday Morning Will Be Fine".
  • Owen Brenman also played Skip Hoberman in "The Dawn of Man".
• Creator Backlash: Contrary to popular belief, the Meldrews' house burning down in "In Luton Airport No-One Can Hear You Scream" did not happen because the house used in Series 1 was no longer available (the owners did ask for a higher fee, but not to the point it would have been unaffordable); David Renwick just thought it would make an interesting idea for an episode. He came to regret it later, because he preferred the original house to its replacement.
• Fake Brit: An interesting example - Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie are two Scottish actors playing an English couple, but Not Even Bothering with the Accent. Retconned in the novelisation where Victor is said to come from Dundee. (Not an Actor-Shared Background; Richard Wilson is from Greenock, a satellite town of Glasgow.)
• Playing Their Own Twin: Christopher Ryan as the McKendrick brothers in "Hole in the Sky".
• Friendship on the Set: The relationship between Richard Wilson and Angus Deayton was the polar opposite of their characters. The two became extremely close friends over the course of the series and Wilson even became the godfather to Deayton's son.
• Self-Adaptation: Series creator David Renwick wrote the novelization and adapted four of the episodes for radio.
• Shrug of God: David Renwick has said he has no idea what Margaret's decision was in the final episode. (Annette Crosbie is quite sure she did it.)
• Throw It In!: Despite his disdain for saying Victor's most famous catchphrase, Richard Wilson let the Rule of Funny take precedence and added quite a few instances of "I don't believe it!" that weren't originally called for in the scripts.
• Torch the Franchise and Run: Toward the end of the run, David Renwick was openly stating he was struggling to come up with ideas for the show, and in any case he was more interested in working on other projects such as Jonathan Creek. He'd already tried to bring the show to a conclusion with the 1997 Christmas Special "Endgame", but had been talked out of it, and only agreed to a final season on condition that he could kill Victor off.
• Trolling Creator: Particularly in season 5, the synopses that Renwick provided to listings mags weren't always entirely truthful, e.g. "Victor helps a Dutch girl get back on her feet." (Actual storyline: Victor repairs a Dutch marionette.) The trolling hit a peak with the billing for "Rearranging the Dust" which claimed "Margaret and Victor visit their solicitor to discuss a separation." In the episode, the reason for their visit isn't mentioned until more than two-thirds of the way through, and it turns out that they're actually there to make wills.
• Uncredited Role: Angus Deayton as the TV presenter in "Monday Morning Will Be Fine".
• Underage Casting: Richard Wilson initially turned down the role because he thought he was too young to play a 60-year-old character, as he was only 54 when the series was first broadcast. It was almost offered to comedian Les Dawson before Wilson changed his mind.
• What Could Have Been: There was nearly a one-man stage show based on the Bottle Episode "The Trial". Unfortunately Richard Wilson was hospitalized shortly before it was due to take place and the whole run had to be cancelled.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Christopher Ryan plays a plumber in the first series and the identical twins who carry out the Meldrews' loft conversion in the fifth. The plumber is never named, so it could be one of the brothers, but the link is never made explicit, and regardless he plays at least one new character.
  • Enn Reitel is Starkey in the first Christmas special and the tramp who turns his nose up at Victor's jumper in "Dreamland".

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