Rising Shows
Launch app →
One Foot in the Grave poster

One Foot in the Grave (1990)

Comedy · Drama

One Foot in the Grave is a BBC television sitcom series. The series features the exploits of Victor Meldrew and his long-suffering wife, Margaret. The programmes invariably deal with Meldrew's battle against the problems he creates for himself. Living in a typical household in an unnamed English suburb, Victor takes involuntary early retirement. His various efforts to keep himself busy, while encountering various misfortunes and misunderstandings are the themes of the sitcom. Despite its traditional production, the series supplants its domestic sitcom setting with elements of black humour and surrealism.

IMDb rating
7.9 (8,128 votes)
Episode average
8.0 ↑ +0.1 vs IMDb
Seasons
6
Language
EN
Type
TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

Browse shows by rating shape → Open in Rising Shows app → View on IMDb

Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 6 seasons indexed

Cast

Seasons

Season 1 (1990)

7.68 avg 6 episodes 7.5 → 7.8 29 min avg

Ep 1: 7.5 · 258 votesEp 2: 7.6 · 227 votesEp 3: 7.7 · 218 votesEp 4: 7.8 · 209 votesEp 5: 7.7 · 206 votesEp 6: 7.8 · 195 votes
Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Alive and Buried7.5258
2The Big Sleep7.6227
3The Valley of Fear7.7218
4I'll Retire to Bedlam7.8209
5The Eternal Quadrangle7.7206
6The Return of the Speckled Band7.8195

Season 2 (1990)

7.92 avg 6 episodes 8.0 → 7.8 29 min avg

Ep 1: 8.0 · 202 votesEp 2: 7.8 · 182 votesEp 3: 7.8 · 201 votesEp 4: 7.8 · 197 votesEp 5: 8.3 · 212 votesEp 6: 7.8 · 189 votes
Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1In Luton Airport No-One Can Hear You Scream8.0202
2We Have Put Her Living in the Tomb7.8182
3Dramatic Fever7.8201
4Who Will Buy?7.8197
5Love and Death8.3212
6Timeless Time7.8189

Season 3 (1992)

8.13 avg 6 episodes 8.1 → 8.4 30 min avg

Ep 1: 8.1 · 185 votesEp 2: 8.0 · 183 votesEp 3: 7.9 · 181 votesEp 4: 8.3 · 214 votesEp 5: 8.1 · 177 votesEp 6: 8.4 · 187 votes
Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1Monday Morning Will Be Fine8.1185
2Dreamland8.0183
3The Broken Reflection7.9181
4The Beast in the Cage8.3214
5Beware the Trickster on the Roof8.1177
6The Worst Horror of All8.4187

Season 4 (1993)

8.33 avg 6 episodes 8.3 → 8.3 29 min avg

Ep 1: 8.3 · 196 votesEp 2: 8.1 · 171 votesEp 3: 9.0 · 277 votesEp 4: 8.3 · 187 votesEp 5: 8.0 · 203 votesEp 6: 8.3 · 176 votes
Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1The Pit and the Pendulum8.3196
2Descent Into the Maelstrom8.1171
3Hearts of Darkness9.0277
4Warm Champagne8.3187
5The Trial8.0203
6Secret of the Seven Sorcerers8.3176

Season 5 (1994)

8.03 avg 6 episodes 8.3 → 8.1 31 min avg

Ep 1: 8.3 · 181 votesEp 2: 8.1 · 155 votesEp 3: 8.2 · 165 votesEp 4: 7.4 · 172 votesEp 5: 8.1 · 168 votesEp 6: 8.1 · 167 votes
Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1The Man Who Blew Away8.3181
2Only a Story8.1155
3The Affair of the Hollow Lady8.2165
4Rearranging the Dust7.4172
5Hole in the Sky8.1168
6The Exterminating Angel8.1167

Season 6 (2000)

8.08 avg 6 episodes 7.8 → 8.7 34 min avg

Ep 1: 7.8 · 152 votesEp 2: 7.8 · 149 votesEp 3: 8.1 · 166 votesEp 4: 7.7 · 155 votesEp 5: 8.4 · 156 votesEp 6: 8.7 · 241 votes
Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#TitleRatingVotes
1The Executioner's Song7.8152
2Tales of Terror7.8149
3The Futility of the Fly8.1166
4Threatening Weather7.7155
5The Dawn of Man8.4156
6Things Aren't Simple Any More8.7241

Episode ratings and vote counts from IMDb. Poster, overview, and streaming data from TMDB. Data refreshed 2026-10-03.

Want to discover more shows by their rating shape? Browse Rising Shows →