Old Jokes: One Foot in the Grave, Comedy and the Elderly

Abstract

One Foot in the Grave ran from 1990 to 2000 on BBC1 and so can be seen as indicative of British television comedy in the 1990s. A total of 42 30-minute episodes were made, and the programme became a massive hit, its ratings increasing over its first two series so that by 1993, it was regularly being watched by 16 million viewers in the UK (Lewisohn 595). The programme concerns the trials and tribulations of Victor Meldrew, who, in the first episode, is forcibly retired from his job as a security guard when he is replaced by an electronic box. The series explores the ways in which people attempt to fill their lives, and find something useful to do, when forced out of work. Because Victor is an older person, the programme is often referred to as being about retirement, but the motivation behind the majority of its narratives arises because Victor does not wish to be retired and desires to be a productive member of society. The series can therefore be understood as an examination of changing labour patterns and treatment of older people, and the relationships that exist in contemporary labour markets in which ‘people aged 50–65 face widespread age discrimination from employers’ (Walker and Naegele 5).