Victor Meldrew
| Victor Meldrew | |||||||||||
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Victor Meldrew as seen in the first episode
of One Foot in the Grave |
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| One Foot in the Grave character | |||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Richard Wilson | ||||||||||
| Duration | 1990–2000 | ||||||||||
| First appearance | "Alive and Buried" (4 January 1990) |
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| Last appearance |
"Things Aren't Simple Any More" (20 November 2000) |
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| Created by | David Renwick | ||||||||||
| Introduced by | Susan Belbin | ||||||||||
| Profile | |||||||||||
| Occupation | Security guard (retired) | ||||||||||
| Home | 37 Wingate Drive in an unnamed town (Series 1) 19 Riverbank in an unnamed town (Series 2–6) |
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| Father | Victor Meldrew Sr. (deceased) |
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| Brothers | Alfred Meldrew |
| Wife | Margaret Pellow (1958–2000) |
| Sons | Stuart Meldrew (deceased) |
| First cousins | Geoffrey Ivor Rodger Alice (in-law) |
Victor Meldrew is a fictional character in the BBC One sitcom One Foot in the Grave, created by David Renwick and portrayed by Richard Wilson. The character epitomised the archetypal grumpy old man. Meldrew is a foil for the bothersome aspects of children, cars, animals, power cuts and next-door neighbours (his particular example being Patrick Trench, played by Angus Deayton). The character was created specifically for Wilson, with whom Renwick had worked on the series Hot Metal, though Wilson initially turned the part down as at 53, he felt he was too young to play the 60-year-old Meldrew. Renwick considered Les Dawson for the part before Wilson changed his mind.
In the first episode, the cantankerous Meldrew, aged 60, is forced into retirement as a security guard (which he describes as "being replaced by a box"). The series follows Meldrew as he tries to fill his new-found leisure with odd jobs and unusual idiosyncrasies, or to get a new job. However, he regularly finds himself mistreated, misunderstood or simply the victim of bad luck, which leads to his 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 "I don't ...". According to Wilson, this is because series creator Renwick wanted to avoid overusing it.. Other frequently used expressions of exasperation are "Unbe-lieeeve-able!", "What in the name of bloody hell?!" and "In the name of sanity!" Victor is something of a hypochondriac, keeping a medical book with him to look up every ailment he believes has befallen him. (Margaret describes it as "browsing through to see what he can die of next".)
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 tragicomedy character, not bitter and grumpy by nature, but driven to it due to his habit of attracting trouble. Renwick once pointed out in an interview that the name "Victor" is ironic, since he almost always ends up as the loser.
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