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He became a national icon
playing one of the most loved

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but put-upon characters
in British comedy.

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Afternoon!

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Well, it was amazing to see
Richard become so successful.

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When I met him, I'm pretty sure
he was living in one room.

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Bloody hell! I do not believe it!

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Before this startling elevation,
he'd enjoyed a near faultless
30-year career as a character actor,

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a regular face in film,
theatre and television.

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I intend to preserve and protect
those values I hold most dear - the
simple values of human dignity...

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I immediately was struck by him
and immediately found him
a very funny actor.

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But he's not just an actor.

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He's a distinguished and
inspiring director of gritty
and challenging productions.

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He is probably the
busiest person I know.

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He's extraordinary. He literally
goes from one project to the next,
to the next, to the next.

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Today he continues to be one
of the most bankable names
in British television,

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and his huge success
hasn't diminished
his relentless desire to work.

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A lot of people say to me,
"Why are you still acting?"

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I say, "Because I enjoy it,
(a), and (b) I'm still learning.

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These are the many faces
of Richard Wilson.

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Thank you very much.

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By the age of 54,
Richard Wilson had

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built a significant body of work,
both as an actor and as a director.

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But in 1990, cast in a major new BBC
sitcom, he was about to experience
a profound change in his life.

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DOORBELL RINGS

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HE HUMS

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Good morning! Goodbye!

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I think it's an inspirational story
for actors.

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He was very well established,
very happy, had a good career, and
then suddenly he went off into...

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into space!

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I've never in all my life known
such shoddy bloody...

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Oi, you - Superman's grandad!

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One Foot In The Grave had a
huge impact in Britain and beyond,

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and the character of Victor Meldrew
became an unlikely cultural icon.

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Richard Wilson was catapulted into
the cauldron of British public life.

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And the winner is... Oh, good.

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Richard Wilson,
One Foot In The Grave.

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I mean, I love the fact that Richard
was taken to the national bosom
in that way. That was brilliant.

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I was hugely pleased when he
picked up a couple of BAFTAs.

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The winner is... Richard Wilson.

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It was certainly life-changing
for me insomuch that

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one became a bit of a celebrity -

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certainly recognised much more.

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But it allowed me into areas
of society that I'd never been in.

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For example, I was Rector
of Glasgow University

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for three years, which was a job that
I absolutely loved, because I'm
very passionate about education.

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And it opened all these doors -
and also, for the first time,
gave me financial security.

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Well, it was amazing to see
Richard become so successful.

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When I met him,

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even though he was an associate at

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the Oxford Playhouse, I'm pretty
sure he was living in one room.

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He worked all the time.

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In many ways because he lived so
simply, he could travel easily
and toured a great deal as well.

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So when the success happened,
it was fantastic.

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CRICKET COMMENTARY
It's caught at slip by Gooch!

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One comedy role transformed Richard
Wilson's life at a time when even

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the most successful actors were
being forced into the wings.

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But after finding his true
calling in his late twenties, his
passion for acting has never waned.

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He still considers it a privilege
to have been able to be an actor.

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He will still talk about

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the fact that he has had a life

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at one point in his life he never
thought would happen, and it has.

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Becoming one of Britain's biggest
stars was a major change
in Richard Wilson's life.

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But it was the culmination of a
dream that started in Greenock,

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on the west coast of
Scotland, in the 1940s.

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When this young boy
took to the stage
in the Lady Alice Primary School,

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little did he know how it
would shape his future.

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Our school had a stage,
which...

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in the gymnasium, which was turned
into a theatre by putting seats in.

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We had a proper stage, and I played
in the Princess And The Pea,
and I was the king.

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The king was quite a small part.

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I remember that I got one laugh.

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and I thought, "This is interesting.

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"I quite like this."

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As time went on, I began to think

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maybe being an actor
was quite good idea.

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Bitten by the bug to perform,
Richard Wilson kept his lofty
ambitions strictly to himself.

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In post-war Greenock,
a town dominated by heavy industry,
acting was not an option.

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I kept it pretty secret,
as I remember.

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I wasn't going to tell anyone
for fear they would laugh.

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Going into the theatre was strange.

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On the west coast of Scotland,
you'd be called a big sissy.

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On leaving school, Richard Wilson
mothballed any thoughts of acting

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and chose a respectable path
into the National Health Service.

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Training as a lab technician,
he became part of a crusade to
fight the scourge of tuberculosis.

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I was quite good at science
and I quite liked the idea of
working in medical work and

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doing good for people
and all the rest of it.

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When he was called up for
national service, Richard swapped

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the hospital labs of Glasgow for the
field hospitals of war-torn Malaya.

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Demobbed after his two years
in the Royal Army Medical Corps,

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Richard Wilson was keen to swap
bloody conflict for culture
and headed to London.

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I came to London to see
more theatre and to see cinema.

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I'd become very interested in cinema.

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When I came down, I, sort of,
lived in the National Film Theatre -

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then I caught up with will the
classics and it was just
a wonderful time.

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Now in his late twenties, Richard
was content performing in am-dram

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as well as holding down
his day job in Paddington Hospital.

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However, a chance meeting
reignited his dream of
becoming a professional actor.

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I met a girl at a party,
a student at RADA, and she said

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you only have to have lived in
London for a year to get a grant.

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I didn't know that.

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By the time I was 27,
I thought if I don't try now,
I'll never try, so I applied to RADA.

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I applied to the London
County Council, as it was then,

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and they paid all my fees
and I had a living grant.

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Otherwise, I couldn't have done it.

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I was absolutely thrilled,
of course, when I got in.

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The thing about RADA was that
there was a sort of mixture of ideas
being thrown at you.

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It was pretty open,
which I thought was very good.

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A lot of concentration on voice and
technical work, movement, restoration
movement, dance, everything.

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When he graduated in 1965,
Richard Wilson could now
called himself an actor.

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A new life beckoned
and within days of leaving RADA,

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he headed north to make his TV debut
on one of Britain's biggest shows.

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Does that hurt? Aye, it does.

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Will you be in court tomorrow

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to hear Moorcroft shoot done
the schoolteacher?

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I will not. Aye, young Finlay will.

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Oh, I bet he feels pretty sick now.

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Why? Well, nobody
likes the teacher, do they?

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It was the Andrew Cruikshank
version of Dr Finlay and they were

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always looking for fresh Scottish
faces and one of my teachers at RADA
had a friend who was directing one,

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so that's how
I managed to get the part.

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Excuse me.

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But it was in the radical theatre of
the late '60s that Richard Wilson
really began to develop as an actor.

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It all started at the end of one
of Edinburgh's long, dark lanes.

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The Traverse, as it suggests,
was a traverse, it was 30 seats on
one side and 30 seats on the other.

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It was a tiny, tiny little theatre.

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It was run by Gordon McDougall
at the time and it was
a really exciting place to be.

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I loved it.

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It was very intimate as well
and that was great for Richard
because he's an actor, um...

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who likes to be very close
to the audience
and he works very well in close up.

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It was during productions of
Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot
and Uncle Vanya by Chekhov

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that Richard's talent for
drawing comedy from the tragic
and the absurd emerged.

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That quality, that the whole
thing is tragic but also absurd,
was something that I think

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he responded to very quickly
and in a sense, it's a gift to have
somebody that has that ability

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to make you laugh
and feel very deeply
for the character at the same time.

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Whilst at the Traverse,
Richard Wilson was amongst

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a number of performers who caught
the attention of Sidney Bernstein,
the impresario behind Granada TV.

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It was his vision to form a
company of actors and writers

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whose creativity would energise
British TV drama.
It was called The Stables.

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It was the first company
in the country that was going
to do television and theatre.

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We were a repertory company that did
television, which was absolutely
unheard of and very exciting.

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So we had money to commission
plays, for example, which
repertory companies didn't have.

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We were able to develop new writers
and new plays in the theatre
and some of them went on

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into television
and Richard was part of
that company from '68 to 1971.

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The collaborative nature
of the company saw Richard
flourish on and off stage.

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In 1969, he was confident enough to
direct his first play and so began
another successful career path.

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It was about a ventriloquist,
an ageing ventriloquist,

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who had a great sex drive.

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Who is it? Task force.

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I don't want you.

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They asked me to get your groceries.

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Groceries?

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Did you say groceries?

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All the helpers who were sent round
to deal with him he attacked,
basically, as I remember.

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Maybe a tin of apricot jam.

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Apricot jam.

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Before you go, make sure there's
none down behind the bed there at
the back. I hide it there sometimes.

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Just have a look,
there's a good lass.

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Right over...

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Oh, God Almighty!

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When Granada ran into financial
difficulties in the early '70s,
The Stables Company was disbanded.

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But for Richard, the association
with Granada continued when he has
offered his first notable TV role

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as a flamboyant barrister
in a memorable
and long-running courtroom drama.

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00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:10,320
The idea was that on Wednesday,
you had the prosecution,

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on Thursday the defence
and on Friday, the summing-up

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and the verdict

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and the special thing
about it was that you had
real people in the jury.

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00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,440
Richard played Jeremy Parsons, QC.

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00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:26,520
Philip da Costa? Yes.

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00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,200
You're not just a rancher, are you?

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00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:30,040
I don't know what you mean, sir.

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00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:33,000
I should have thought
the question was quite simple.

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Shall I put it another way?

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Is ranching your only
business interest?

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00:14:37,080 --> 00:14:38,720
Oh, no, no.

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00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:40,880
You have other interests? Sure.

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00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:45,760
Jeremy Parsons was very
sarcastic, as I remember.

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00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:50,560
He could be quite nasty,
in his, er...

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00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:52,480
Well, of course barristers are.

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00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:55,760
What is cryptorchidism,
Senor Da Costa?

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Oh well... I...

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00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:59,040
Well?

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00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:02,520
I don't know.
You're quite sure? Sure I'm sure.

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00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,120
Well, paraphimosis?
What about paraphemosis?

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00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:08,120
Who knows?

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00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,240
Well, I trust you do, Mr Parsons.

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00:15:10,240 --> 00:15:11,200
Yes, my Lord.

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What he brought to it,

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which a lot of the other counsels
didn't, was quite a strong sense
of comedy,

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00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:28,280
that writers were able to give him
material that was more probing and

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00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:31,760
more...slightly more
absurd and way out.

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00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:36,200
Cryptorchidism is a condition
which either
one or both testicles are

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00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,760
retained in the body and have not
descended into the scrotum.

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00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,520
The resulting body heat usually
destroys the viability of the sperm.

194
00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:47,760
Yes, I take your point.
Paraphimosis, on the other hand,
is a disease of the penis and...

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00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:50,400
Spare us the details.

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00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:56,320
Richard became very popular with
audiences, but also with directors,

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00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:00,400
because generally speaking, as
it was such a fast turn around,

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00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:06,680
the actors wouldn't bother,
the actors playing the counsel
wouldn't bother to learn the script.

199
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,960
They would just have it in front
of them and refer back to it.

200
00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,560
But Richard would always
learn the script.

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00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:15,320
You could always get
a reaction shot on him.

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00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:19,280
He wouldn't be buried back in the
script looking at the next question.

203
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:24,640
Because you had your lines,
your questions in your note book,
which is absolutely

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00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:31,920
legitimate, I realised if you had
your head down too much of the time,
you weren't going to get into shots.

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00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:37,200
At a stroke, Richard Wilson
became a well known face for

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00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,640
the role of Jeremy Parsons
and his TV career took off.

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00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,320
His comic touch led to
regular supporting roles,
particularly in sitcoms,

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00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,520
working alongside Leslie Crowther
and Sylvia Syms in My Good Woman,

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00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,240
and opposite David Jason
in A Sharp Intake of Breath.

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00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:05,280
But his next comedy role moved him
a little closer to centre stage.

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00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,640
After years spent working in
hospital labs, he was well suited

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00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:11,720
to play Dr Gordon Thorpe
In Only When I Laugh.

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00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,480
I had a lot of doctors to go on,
because I had watched them
in hospital work.

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00:17:23,480 --> 00:17:25,640
But of course a lot of my
patients thought I was a doctor.

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00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,680
They used to call me "doctor"

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00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:30,720
when I was taking blood from them
and things like that.

217
00:17:30,720 --> 00:17:32,600
And I used to explain that I wasn't.

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00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:34,840
But then I got fed up,

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00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:38,680
because it took too long. So I used
to strut around in my white coat.

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00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:40,200
Oh dear, oh dear.

221
00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,480
Not for me to comment, of course.
Of course not.

222
00:17:44,480 --> 00:17:47,600
Not a pretty sight. I've seen
Christmas turkeys in better shape.

223
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:53,680
Not to worry, old chap,
you're in good hands now.

224
00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:56,640
Who did this to you? You did!

225
00:17:58,440 --> 00:18:04,720
Despite the show being a huge
hit for ITV, Richard found
his role less than taxing,

226
00:18:04,720 --> 00:18:06,880
a point he brought up
with the writer.

227
00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:10,000
I remember, I used to say to
Eric Chappell, because I was playing

228
00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:17,320
a doctor in a series about patients,
and I remember saying to Eric, look,
just write me another scene,

229
00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:22,600
we don't have to broadcast it,
but just do it in rehearsal.
Because I got so bored.

230
00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:26,440
I shouldn't really accept.
Thank you, Norman.

231
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:30,680
You know, there are days in medicine,
not very many, but from time to time,

232
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:33,000
everything seems worthwhile.

233
00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:40,880
Now, Mr Binns,
we need a few details. We don't
appear to have your sample. My what?

234
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,840
Your urine sample.
I've just given it to the doctor.

235
00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:56,200
But there were more substantial
roles for Richard to play
and each brought its own benefits.

236
00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:00,600
It was while appearing in a BBC
drama in 1978 that Richard first

237
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:06,240
worked with actor Anthony Sher,
who had become a lifelong friend
and regular collaborator.

238
00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:14,960
It was a series for the BBC
called Pickersgill People,
written by the late Mike Stott.

239
00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:20,880
And it was different stories set in
this imaginary place, Pickersgill,

240
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:30,040
and the one we were in was called
the Sheik of Pickersgill, about
a very rich, young Arab sheik,

241
00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:36,640
which I played, coming to
an English language school,
which Richard was running.

242
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,360
Welcome, your highness.

243
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:44,320
Mackenzie Tooth, sir,

244
00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:47,240
pronounced Tyooth,
spelt tooth, as in mouth.

245
00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:48,880
'Scuse?

246
00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:50,520
Boss.

247
00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:52,800
Ah, fuck me.

248
00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,320
Yes. Well...

249
00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:03,240
He had no English at all, this sheik,
but he really came to watch football
and it was an extremely funny play.

250
00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:05,680
I remember he used to spit
quite a lot.

251
00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:12,360
I mean, you've already done
a year's study at Cowper College,

252
00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:14,920
I understood,
so you will have mastered...

253
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:18,720
Cowper College, yes, nice place.
Rubbish.
HE SPITS

254
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:23,240
Oh dear.

255
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:28,640
Every now and again he would
go pffut!, which Mackenzie Tooth
didn't take to much.

256
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,560
His father, king Fakmed - socialist!

257
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:35,200
HE SPITS

258
00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:39,080
So speak English, my son, he said.

259
00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,720
We just hit it off immediately.

260
00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:47,360
So well that we ruined
take after take with laughing.

261
00:20:47,360 --> 00:20:49,360
Hmm?

262
00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,280
Oh, well - aye, there is the rub.

263
00:20:57,200 --> 00:20:59,320
Well, yes. Yes.

264
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:01,440
Now.

265
00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:08,880
Richard was carving out a niche
for playing authority figures,
often with a comic edge.

266
00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:16,040
But he played it straight when he
was cast as a condescending
colonial governor

267
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:17,800
in the film
A Passage to India,

268
00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:22,440
working under the great
director, David Lean.

269
00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,960
Working with David was very exciting.
Really exciting.

270
00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:33,640
It was wonderful to see
his sort of visual eye and

271
00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:42,440
how keen he was on the visuals and
his eye for detail was extraordinary.

272
00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:48,320
He used to regale us with stories
of his early days. et cetera,

273
00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:52,880
which was wonderful. It was
wonderful to be working with him.

274
00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,040
# A wop bop a loo mop a lop bam bam
Tutti Frutti.. #

275
00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,120
Regular work followed
A Passage to India.

276
00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:02,720
But it was in 1987 that Richard
would redeploy his comic talents

277
00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:07,960
in a BBC comedy drama that launched
the talents of Robbie Coltrane
and Emma Thompson.

278
00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,160
# A wop bop a loo mop
a lop bam bam... #

279
00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:15,720
Tutti Frutti followed the troubles
of old-time rockers, The Majestics,

280
00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:21,680
as they struggled to keep body
and soul together, as well as
their chaotic tour on the road.

281
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,200
Fink, scummy rat fink!

282
00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:30,200
That's what Danny Boy saint is.

283
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:34,000
Get off that stage, careful,
you two timing, scummy rat fink!

284
00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:35,640
Me?

285
00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:37,680
I'm a two-timing rat fink?

286
00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,600
What about you? Where are you?

287
00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:44,600
Where I should be and you
shouldnae - on stage at The Pavilion
for The Majestics' sound check.

288
00:22:44,600 --> 00:22:48,280
Get that stupid guitar off
and get back to your knitting.

289
00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:53,040
It was after a chance TV viewing
that Tutti Frutti's writer,
John Byrne, became convinced

290
00:22:53,040 --> 00:22:58,200
there was only one man to play the
hapless and shifty band manager.

291
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:04,520
Richard Wilson, I had seen years
before in a play and I thought,
God, he's wonderful, that guy.

292
00:23:04,520 --> 00:23:06,960
And when we came to the part
of Eddie Clockerty,

293
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,960
Tony Smith and I were talking about
it and he said to me,

294
00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,960
there is only one guy
can play this part.

295
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,720
And I looked at him
and I said - and we both said it -

296
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,920
Richard, we both said it
simultaneously, Richard Wilson.

297
00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,920
So we both had the same idea.

298
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,600
Hello, Tommy.

299
00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,840
Eddie Clockerty.

300
00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:31,120
Listen, we might be able to
salvage The Majestics' Silver
Jubilee junket after all.

301
00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:37,440
I remember reading this man
Eddie Clockerty and thinking,

302
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,480
I have got to research this
character - I don't know anyone
like this.

303
00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:46,960
But then the more I read -
John's writing was so explicit and

304
00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:52,280
then we had the great Katy Murphy
came along very late in the casting.

305
00:23:52,280 --> 00:23:54,240
He never signed that, did he?

306
00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:56,120
That's yours with the lumpy milk.

307
00:23:56,120 --> 00:23:59,360
Of course he signed it -
he just didn't sign all of it.

308
00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:01,560
You could go to the Bar-L
for that, Mr Clockerty.

309
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:05,240
What, for making up for an
incompetent PA, Miss Toner?
Look at this.

310
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,040
He forgot to staple
the bottom 12 pages to the top sheet.

311
00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,280
I'm just trying to rectify a
clerical blunder, that's all.

312
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:17,560
I was Janice Toner, who

313
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:23,760
was the secretary to Richard
Wilson's character, Mr Clockerty.

314
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:27,720
Katy was wonderful to work with.
She had

315
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:31,040
never played anything that
big before, I don't think.

316
00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:33,280
And she just grasped it.

317
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:36,840
Vincent Diver. He doesn't sound
too pleased about something.

318
00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:38,320
Tell him I'm away home.

319
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:39,800
You've just told him.

320
00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:44,760
You're on a verbal warning, Janice.

321
00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:46,880
Aye, that'll be right.

322
00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:48,080
Vincent!

323
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:49,760
Richard's incredibly supportive

324
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,400
of me and incredibly kind and when
I did actually learn a lot about

325
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:59,840
acting, speaking to him, because he
is a wonderful director as well,
so he is very knowledgeable.

326
00:24:59,840 --> 00:25:01,720
You had a pleasant
enough journey through?

327
00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:03,480
Nice bunch of lads. Nice bunch.

328
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,400
No, keep that arm up.

329
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,200
Do you mind, sweetheart?

330
00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,520
Do I mind what?
Standing here like an idiot,

331
00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:13,320
holding on to the slack of your bum,
when I could be downstairs in the
bar having a last gin and tonic?

332
00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:18,200
What do you think? Pay no attention
to Miss Toner, Danny. She's going to
get her jotters when we get back.

333
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,520
Just try it.

334
00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:27,560
The writing was exceptional
and John wrote in the Scottish
vernacular. We didn't water it down.

335
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:32,200
I remember Anthony Howard, I think it
was, on some review programme saying,

336
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:36,440
I don't understand a word of it.
Just dismissed it.

337
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,280
Is that what you're
wearing, Miss Toner? Yeah.

338
00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,560
What's up with it? No, no, it's...

339
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:45,440
very eye-catching.

340
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,240
Oh good.

341
00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:53,120
Is that us, then?
Do you not want to take a coat,
just in case it rains?

342
00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,960
If it's your pals in the
miner's welfare in Methil
you're bothered about, don't.

343
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,240
I'll be tucked up nice and
cosy in my bed with a good book.

344
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,120
John Byrne's Tutti Frutti
walked away with six BAFTAs

345
00:26:04,120 --> 00:26:09,160
and Richard Wilson's reputation
for a distinctive comedy touch
was significantly enhanced.

346
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:13,200
The winner is
Peter Hayes for Tutti Frutti.

347
00:26:15,400 --> 00:26:17,240
Lora Blair for Tutti Frutti.

348
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:20,160
Sandy Anderson

349
00:26:20,160 --> 00:26:21,720
and John Byrne for Tutti Frutti.

350
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:23,280
Tutti Frutti.

351
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:27,200
I think it just

352
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:28,880
hit the spot.

353
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:31,040
In terms of

354
00:26:31,040 --> 00:26:33,000
the fact that people

355
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:34,920
talked about it the following day.

356
00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:40,240
It went out on a Tuesday night,
it was on the graveyard slot
on the BBC at that time. BBC1.

357
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:43,440
And people were talking about it
the following day.

358
00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:51,160
But there was another writer who had
played by far the most significant
role in Richard's career.

359
00:26:53,680 --> 00:27:00,360
His scripts sparked Richard's rise
from solid second billing to the
pantheon of British comedy greats,

360
00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:02,600
where only a handful
of performers exist.

361
00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:11,480
However, back in the 1980s, writer
David Renwick looked to Richard
to play the foil to Peter Cook,

362
00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:13,760
in the movie Whoops Apocalypse,

363
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:19,680
a satirical swipe
at the deeply divisive
Conservative policies of the 1980s.

364
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:24,680
The entire country has gone stark
staring raving...

365
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,760
Morning. Morning Prime Minister.

366
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:34,320
I first became aware of Richard's
work generally, I think, watching
him in Only When I Laugh.

367
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,280
He played those kind of

368
00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:38,960
sort of authority figures
with, I don't know,

369
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:41,600
a kind of
ineffectual pomposity to them.

370
00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,840
I immediately was struck by him
and found him a very funny actor.

371
00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:47,840
What we need now is a
radical job-creation programme.

372
00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:54,400
Now I have devised one here
that will create half a million new
jobs in its first year of operation.

373
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,040
Basically,
the scheme works like this.

374
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,200
Every week, 10,000 working
people jump off a cliff,

375
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,320
thus creating 10,000 new jobs.

376
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:10,920
We knew he was of the left, so he
was kind of politically sound and he
seemed ideal material for that role.

377
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:16,480
Now some people argue this crisis
is as a result of Government
mismanagement and under-spending.

378
00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,400
Well, they could not be more wrong.

379
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:26,480
Hear, hear. Because we all know what
really causes unemployment in
this country, don't we gentlemen?

380
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:30,760
Unemployment in this country
is caused by pixies.

381
00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:36,480
Anything that was trying to do down
Margaret Thatcher, I accepted

382
00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,840
with open arms.

383
00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:47,000
Because by this time I was a member
of the Labour Party and hated
Margaret Thatcher and her government.

384
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:53,080
I think that kind of anarchic
comedy, which was very wild, very
surreal in a lot of cases, works

385
00:28:53,080 --> 00:28:57,320
better the straighter
the performances are within it.

386
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:00,560
And people like Richard
are just gold dust

387
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,640
in that respect,
because they do give it
such a kind of weight.

388
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,320
It wasn't a very
successful film, unfortunately.

389
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:13,600
But it was great to do.

390
00:29:13,600 --> 00:29:16,840
And of course started
my relationship with David.

391
00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:21,920
The following year, writers David
Renwick and Andrew Marshall
looked to Richard Wilson again

392
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:28,120
for their sitcom that satirised
the charging juggernaut
that was '80s tabloid journalism.

393
00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:35,040
# Paper, paper,
give us your daily news... #

394
00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,800
We really just want to get
the knives into the

395
00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:41,640
scurrilous activities
of the press at that time

396
00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,960
and prior to that time and since
that time. Nothing has changed.
Nothing whatsoever.

397
00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,240
Hello, good morning, Dicky.
How are you today?

398
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,520
I just ran into Greg Kettle in the
lift, who said he was on his way to

399
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,600
investigate a story that tennis
player Boris Becker was a lesbian.

400
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:04,200
Based on the somewhat flimsy
evidence that he's been
seen going out with women.

401
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:09,040
Now this is just the kind
of pernicious pap that Mr Rathbone
brought me into stamp out.

402
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,160
David Renwick had been a journalist

403
00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:17,000
and he said everything was true
that happened in Hot Metal.

404
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:24,880
It was. It was having a real swipe
at press barons and tabloid papers.

405
00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:32,440
As well as taking broad swipes at
the barely-legal excesses of the
press, the series also served as

406
00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,880
a perfect showcase
for Richard Wilson's comic timing.

407
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:39,320
No, I do not propose to bring back
topless girls in the Crucible.

408
00:30:39,320 --> 00:30:42,160
To be frank, I find naked bosoms
quite distasteful...

409
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:45,000
Well, stop tasting them then!

410
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,680
..quite distasteful
and an insult to women

411
00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,360
and I intend to preserve and protect
these values I hold most dear.

412
00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:53,240
The simple values of human dignity.

413
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:59,000
Humphrey Barclay,
who produced the show, said,
"Who is it funny to cut to?"

414
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,600
Answer, not very many people,
not many actors.

415
00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:03,400
Richard obviously is one of those.

416
00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:06,080
This is a job for the experts.

417
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:07,520
Ah, come in, come in.

418
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,720
'He put Richard entrapped
inside a magic box'

419
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:16,240
from which he's being removed
by Ali Bongo.

420
00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,760
It's just very funny
to see Richard's face
poking out of that hole.

421
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:21,960
We'll have the skewers
out of you in no time.

422
00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:23,880
Right, Mr Bongo!

423
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,200
I can't make it funny
unless it's well written.

424
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,200
David would always say that yes,
the writing was there,

425
00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:40,600
but he needed an actor
who had that extra whatever.

426
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:49,600
Hot Metal only ran for two series
but it strengthened a bond between
David Renwick and Richard Wilson

427
00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,440
that would reach a whole new level
on their next project.

428
00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,120
As well as the continuing
on-screen success,

429
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,040
Richard was also prospering
as a director,

430
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,880
regularly taking the helm
in theatre and television plays.

431
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:07,960
It's enormously nourishing to him,

432
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,640
the directing career.

433
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,080
He takes great pride in it

434
00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,400
and has great love for it.

435
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:19,360
It's really from Richard that I've
learnt the way I work as an actor.

436
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:21,320
I think he's incredible.

437
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,960
He's by far and away
the best director

438
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:27,200
that I've worked with
in my 30-year career.

439
00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:30,840
He doesn't try to control you.
He allows you to blossom.

440
00:32:30,840 --> 00:32:36,040
He just gives you
complete confidence in yourself
and your abilities.

441
00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,880
In 1990, Richard Wilson faced one
of his biggest creative challenges

442
00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:50,080
when he devised and directed
a feature-length drama for the BBC.

443
00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,440
It dealt with the emotional toil
of soldiers sent home to convalesce

444
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,040
in country houses after losing limbs
in the slaughter of World War I.

445
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,800
It was a subject
very close to Richard's heart.

446
00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:12,480
My father had
fought in the First World War and had
told me a little bit about it.

447
00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,520
A lot of the grand houses
were turned into hospitals

448
00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:21,200
because there was a flood of wounded
and not enough space.

449
00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:23,640
ALL: Morning, sir.

450
00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:25,680
Good morning. Don't get up.

451
00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,680
And also because of my experience
in Singapore,

452
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:32,120
where I was dealing
with battle casualties,

453
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:37,080
I always felt that it hadn't
been dealt with properly before.

454
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:39,680
All right now,
you tell me if it hurts.

455
00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,000
Relax. Lie back.

456
00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:46,920
Were you in the line long?

457
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:48,280
Just a year, sir.

458
00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:52,320
'I felt that the people who were
playing the wounded should be'

459
00:33:52,320 --> 00:33:57,960
played by disabled people, not
by actors who were just pretending.

460
00:34:00,200 --> 00:34:01,800
Hurts everywhere, sir.

461
00:34:01,800 --> 00:34:04,440
Yes, I know, try and relax.

462
00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:08,760
'This was so much his project
from the start'

463
00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,800
and his fascination as well
with those well-bred young ladies

464
00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:14,520
who became VAD nurses

465
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,040
and these shattered young men,

466
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:20,320
often physically
and mentally shattered,

467
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:22,920
who were coming back
from the Front.

468
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,400
There's the most astonishing scene,

469
00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:29,880
which is right at
the beginning of the film when I,

470
00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,880
as this young nurse,
arrive to be interviewed

471
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:35,520
and I'm standing
in the hallway, waiting,

472
00:34:35,520 --> 00:34:40,200
and I look out of the window
and there is the parade ground.

473
00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:43,040
One! One! One!

474
00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:47,240
One! One! One! One! One!

475
00:34:47,240 --> 00:34:50,360
But of course,
they all have their crutches,

476
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:55,520
and the sergeant major
is shouting, "One! One! One!

477
00:34:55,520 --> 00:35:00,560
One! One! One! One!

478
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:05,240
And a bigger anti-war statement
I don't think I've ever seen
on the screen in fiction.

479
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:09,680
It won the first prize
at the Banff Film Festival.

480
00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:14,920
I had been invited to go to Banff
to accept a prize and I was working

481
00:35:14,920 --> 00:35:18,120
and I couldn't go
and I was so frustrated.

482
00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:22,200
It was the first time I'd won
a prize for any television work.

483
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,920
I was really upset
that I couldn't get to Banff.

484
00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:35,240
During the production of Changing
Step, Richard Wilson received
a comedy script in the post.

485
00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:39,760
It was from David Renwick,
who had co-written Whoops Apocalypse
and Hot Metal.

486
00:35:39,760 --> 00:35:45,760
The script was for a new BBC sitcom
with the unpromising title
One Foot In The Grave.

487
00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,920
It may have been well before
at the soaring success
and the countless awards,

488
00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:56,800
but even at this early stage,
David Renwick knew success lay
in the comedic talents of one man.

489
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:04,760
I wrote One Foot In The Grave
very much with Richard in mind,

490
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,200
having worked with him on those
two other projects

491
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:10,360
and knowing how strong he was,

492
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,720
how great he was to work with,
just on a personal level.

493
00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:15,440
That counts for a huge amount.

494
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:19,560
And he wasn't such a star name,

495
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,440
such a commodity that he
was likely to be unavailable.

496
00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:29,280
Famously, he turned it down,
so that set us back considerably.

497
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,680
Well, it was partly vanity,
I suppose.

498
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:38,840
I think the part of Victor, he was 60
and I was, I think, 55 at the time,

499
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:44,520
and I just hadn't seen myself
playing older people yet.

500
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:49,000
After reading more scripts,
Richard's reservations disappeared,

501
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,680
but the BBC were also
voicing their doubts.

502
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:54,880
There were some
dissenting voices within the BBC -

503
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:57,080
I won't name them, quite high up -

504
00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:00,600
who felt that Richard
was really only destined

505
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:04,480
to be a "second banana",
as they would have called it,

506
00:37:04,480 --> 00:37:07,880
in the same way that they
said that about David Jason.

507
00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:10,360
Fortunately, in those days,
you could actually

508
00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,760
have arguments about it and,
on occasion, win those arguments.

509
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:18,840
I doubt that would happen today.
And so good sense did prevail.

510
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:22,320
Fortunately, the producer
assigned to it, Susie Belbin,

511
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:24,960
was a huge fan of Richard's work
to start with,

512
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:27,360
so she was championing him
from the start.

513
00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,240
# They say I might as well
face the truth

514
00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,000
# That I am just
too long in the tooth... #

515
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:42,800
The sitcom revolved around Victor
Meldrew, a man who felt the pain
of life's daily grind very keenly.

516
00:37:42,800 --> 00:37:48,160
This made all the worse by
being cast aside into the purgatory
of early retirement.

517
00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,600
Of course,
the biggest problem of all was,

518
00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,440
how do you ever replace a man
like Victor Meldrew?

519
00:37:53,440 --> 00:37:55,600
Well, basically, with this box.

520
00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,720
Box? I know! Isn't it amazing what
they can come up with these days?

521
00:38:00,720 --> 00:38:02,560
It does everything you used to do,

522
00:38:02,560 --> 00:38:04,840
except complain about
the air conditioning.

523
00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,560
The omens weren't particularly, erm,

524
00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,480
auspicious at the beginning there.

525
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,240
There were the traditional
kind of press responses.

526
00:38:14,240 --> 00:38:18,400
"It should be
One Script In The Bin,"

527
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:21,000
"I'd like to kick the other foot
in the grave,"

528
00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:22,640
and all this kind of stuff.

529
00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:26,120
You know, there were people
who said that Richard was wasted,

530
00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:29,960
who basically loved him
in Tutti Frutti
and that's where it should stop.

531
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:34,640
I remember being a little bit
disappointed, I suppose.

532
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:39,360
But it was doing well enough
to do another series

533
00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:41,960
and then another series.

534
00:38:41,960 --> 00:38:47,800
Susie Belbin, the producer
and director, she always said,

535
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,680
"Just wait, it will click."

536
00:38:50,680 --> 00:38:53,880
And, of course, she was right.

537
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:56,600
A lot of people did come late to it.

538
00:38:56,600 --> 00:39:00,240
Although the viewing figures for
the first two series were modest,

539
00:39:00,240 --> 00:39:05,400
One Foot In The Grave
did eventually establish itself
with the British public.

540
00:39:05,400 --> 00:39:08,360
They grew to love a character
who fought manfully

541
00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,040
to live a life of dignity
and free of idiotic interference.

542
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:19,120
Let's face it, if you've got
your health, what else is there
possibly to worry about?

543
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:23,480
I mean, you just don't know
how well off you are...

544
00:39:27,000 --> 00:39:32,320
What in the name of bloody hell?!

545
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,920
I do not believe it!

546
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:44,040
He was just a wonderful mixture of
standing up for the common man

547
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:48,520
and fighting against society,

548
00:39:48,520 --> 00:39:50,800
fighting against authority.

549
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:58,280
Absolutely bloody hideous!

550
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:02,560
It's much more sensible wearing
a loaf of bread on top of your head!

551
00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:05,120
How anyone could... Hello, yes!

552
00:40:05,120 --> 00:40:08,280
I'd like to speak to the manager,
please, and quick about it.

553
00:40:08,280 --> 00:40:09,880
Meldrew.

554
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:13,360
No, he doesn't,
but he bloody well will shortly!

555
00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:21,120
I never really tried to analyse too
much why One Foot was so successful,

556
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,520
because I just obeyed
David's scripts.

557
00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:29,400
He wrote it,
and he wrote it extremely well.

558
00:40:32,520 --> 00:40:34,400
You never know...

559
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,680
whether to drink this stuff
or clean the windows with it.

560
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:50,120
"Caution - this medication can
lead to darkening of the stool."

561
00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:57,000
'I remember, I think it was'

562
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,160
Mark Lawson that said that

563
00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,840
David Renwick
was the Beckett of the sitcom.

564
00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:04,720
Which is a wonderful compliment.

565
00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:06,160
And I think he was right.

566
00:41:07,240 --> 00:41:09,120
My God!

567
00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:11,880
"Colon tumour -

568
00:41:11,880 --> 00:41:15,280
"often no symptoms
in the early stages."

569
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,480
Exactly what I've got!

570
00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:19,360
'I'm not sure it was ever written'

571
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,800
as a particularly mainstream
kind of show.

572
00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:27,480
It looked like it. You know,
it had the sofa and the chairs
and the sort of comfortable setting.

573
00:41:27,480 --> 00:41:31,680
But actually it had
a very dark, macabre side.

574
00:41:31,680 --> 00:41:33,960
This is the end to
a perfect week, isn't it?

575
00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:37,040
To come home and find your
husband has taken up necrophilia!

576
00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:42,120
Excuse me!

577
00:41:42,120 --> 00:41:46,240
Do you mind if I ask what
you're doing here?

578
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:49,000
SHE SCREAMS

579
00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:52,680
I think there are some
that still think of it

580
00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,840
as a rather comfy, sofa-based show.

581
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:59,400
But if you actually
analyse what's going on,

582
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:04,040
there's quite a lot of
unpleasantness and bleakness
to the whole thing.

583
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:12,000
It was just great to get
a David Renwick script in the post

584
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:16,720
and see what he was up to,
what he had planned.

585
00:42:16,720 --> 00:42:19,480
A lot of it, for Victor,

586
00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:21,800
'quite painful.

587
00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,960
'Quite unpleasant.'

588
00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:28,200
"Dear Mrs Meldrew,
have filled in the hole now,
hope it is to your satisfaction.

589
00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:29,840
"It certainly is to mine."

590
00:42:40,800 --> 00:42:42,360
Margaret?

591
00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:46,080
Victor?

592
00:42:46,080 --> 00:42:48,120
What are you doing?

593
00:42:48,120 --> 00:42:49,480
What am I doing?

594
00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,000
I'm wallpapering the spare bedroom!

595
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,120
What the bloody hell
does it look as if I'm doing?

596
00:42:55,120 --> 00:42:59,120
I never shied away from
being as vicious as I possibly could

597
00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,160
against Victor. I'm not sure
Richard resisted that either.

598
00:43:03,160 --> 00:43:06,240
I think the comic imperative
would always dictate

599
00:43:06,240 --> 00:43:09,360
that you want to be as nasty
to him as possible,

600
00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:13,120
because therein lie the greatest
laughs, and hopefully that way,

601
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:16,560
you'll engender
the audience's sympathy.

602
00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:25,920
Afternoon!

603
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:32,200
As One Foot In The Grave
became enormously successful,

604
00:43:32,200 --> 00:43:35,600
Richard Wilson became
inseparable from his character.

605
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:36,680
Where's that glass?

606
00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,800
'In terms of his performance,
he compared favourably
with the finest around.'

607
00:43:40,800 --> 00:43:42,280
They're talking about us.

608
00:43:42,280 --> 00:43:45,800
I just caught the words
"arsehole think he's playing at".

609
00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:51,080
It's gone quiet.
I wonder what's happening.

610
00:43:55,080 --> 00:43:58,800
The other actor that I had worked
with most closely before Richard

611
00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:00,000
was Rowan Atkinson.

612
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:03,000
I did his stage show with him
for several years.

613
00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:07,200
And Richard and Rowan both had
a slightly similar approach

614
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:10,440
to comedy acting, which was really
to sort of regard it

615
00:44:10,440 --> 00:44:12,840
as the same as
any other kind of acting.

616
00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:15,880
I'll tell you exactly what
the problem is, Mr Sturgeon!

617
00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:19,140
I was working in the garden when he
arrived, so I asked him if,

618
00:44:19,140 --> 00:44:22,380
for the time being, he'd put
it in the downstairs toilet for me.

619
00:44:22,380 --> 00:44:26,440
And do you know what he's done?
He's only planted it in the pan!

620
00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:33,320
Victor Meldrew quickly entered
popular culture as a byword

621
00:44:33,320 --> 00:44:37,800
for any joyless outburst
or act of ineffectual rage.

622
00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:42,440
And as the public and Her Majesty's
press blurred fact with fiction,

623
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:44,640
one recurring line stuck fast.

624
00:44:44,640 --> 00:44:47,080
PHONE RINGS

625
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,040
I don't believe it!

626
00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,640
I do not believe it!

627
00:44:54,640 --> 00:44:57,600
I don't believe it!

628
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,320
It was never meant
to be a catch phrase.

629
00:45:00,320 --> 00:45:03,160
It was just that
he used to say it quite a lot.

630
00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:05,640
And eventually it was
picked up by the press.

631
00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:12,760
It was only when it appeared
in print, "I don't believe it,"

632
00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:18,200
with the seven E's,
that I became aware that I was
using it quite a lot.

633
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:20,960
And when we discovered
that "I don't believe it"

634
00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:24,680
was being picked up on quite the
way it was, I started to ration it.

635
00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:28,960
So he wouldn't say it very often,
or he would say a half one.

636
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,360
"I don't be..." or "I d..."

637
00:45:32,640 --> 00:45:36,320
The public love a catch phrase, and
they can plague actors for years.

638
00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:39,560
And Richard Wilson suffered
like the rest of them.

639
00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:44,400
But on one notable occasion,
he played along
to brilliant comic effect

640
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,480
in another sitcom, of all places.

641
00:45:48,480 --> 00:45:52,760
God almighty!
Look who it is - it's that actor.

642
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:58,440
Who? You know, your man
from One Foot In The Grave,
the "I don't believe it" man.

643
00:45:58,440 --> 00:46:00,880
I was a greater admirer
of Father Ted,

644
00:46:00,880 --> 00:46:03,600
and they were
great admirers of One Foot.

645
00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:08,360
So when they asked,
I was only too pleased.

646
00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:13,520
Do you know what he'd love? What?
He'd love it if somebody came up
to him and said his catch phrase.

647
00:46:13,520 --> 00:46:17,640
Oh yeah, Ted, he'd love that.
You should definitely do that.

648
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:19,760
Should I?

649
00:46:19,760 --> 00:46:23,000
And, of course,
a lot of people remember that

650
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,640
much more than they remember
One Foot In The Grave,

651
00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:29,240
'because they were Father Ted fans.'

652
00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:33,160
I don't believe it!

653
00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:49,720
After ten years
and six dazzling series,

654
00:46:49,720 --> 00:46:52,240
in which
Victor Meldrew's daily routine

655
00:46:52,240 --> 00:46:54,080
took every wrong turn possible,

656
00:46:54,080 --> 00:46:57,960
the character would suffer
one last cruel twist of fate.

657
00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:00,200
None of which perturbed
the star himself.

658
00:47:00,200 --> 00:47:04,040
'I don't think a main character
in a sitcom had ever died before'

659
00:47:04,040 --> 00:47:10,680
and David thought that was
a very suitable way to go.

660
00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:17,680
But also it meant he wouldn't be
pestered into writing more,

661
00:47:17,680 --> 00:47:20,880
because I remember I was doing
Waiting For Godot

662
00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:25,360
for the second time in Manchester
and David came to see it.

663
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:29,600
He said,
"I'm thinking of killing off Victor,"

664
00:47:29,600 --> 00:47:31,920
and I said, "Yeah, kill him."

665
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,000
'It was just becoming'

666
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,320
a little bit of a routine

667
00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:53,960
in a sense of trying to
find new ways of being angry

668
00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,080
and keeping it fresh.

669
00:47:56,080 --> 00:48:00,280
To have a sympathetic, realistic
character like that killed off,

670
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:02,000
I felt was probably a first,

671
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,680
and that would be one reason
I thought it was a good idea.

672
00:48:05,680 --> 00:48:09,720
But mainly just to
make it unequivocally final.

673
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:18,480
Throughout the elevation
to national stardom,
Richard's workload increased.

674
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:23,560
The parts flooded in
and Richard was most fulfilled
when he was working flat out.

675
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:30,160
Most actors worth their salt
want to do different parts

676
00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,040
and play different roles.

677
00:48:32,040 --> 00:48:35,240
That's what they train for
and that's what they want to do.

678
00:48:35,240 --> 00:48:37,240
They're happier when they're working.

679
00:48:39,320 --> 00:48:44,000
And because of long spells out of
work, you grab any chance you can get

680
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,200
because you want to meet new
directors and all the rest of it.

681
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:53,720
But as one of the most successful
and recognisable faces in Britain,

682
00:48:53,720 --> 00:48:57,360
he now had to bear
an unfamiliar burden of expectation,

683
00:48:57,360 --> 00:48:59,200
to deliver instant success.

684
00:49:00,840 --> 00:49:06,320
It was worrying, in a sense, that
that pressure was on your shoulders

685
00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:09,000
and I suppose also that

686
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:15,680
I was most suited to
Eddie Clockerty and Victor Meldrew

687
00:49:15,680 --> 00:49:18,600
and some of the other characters
I was attempting,

688
00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,600
maybe I didn't quite have
the scope to deal with them.

689
00:49:25,640 --> 00:49:28,040
Away from the screen
and back in theatre,

690
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:31,640
Richard continued to seek out
challenging material to direct.

691
00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:38,200
In 2004, when he worked
yet again with Antony Sher,

692
00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:40,000
he'd be tested to the extreme,

693
00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:42,280
attempting the near-impossible task

694
00:49:42,280 --> 00:49:44,880
of dramatising the horrors
of the Holocaust.

695
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:55,880
It was my good fortune to be
deported to Auschwitz only in 1944.

696
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:59,960
That is,
after the German government decided,

697
00:49:59,960 --> 00:50:03,560
owing to the growing scarcity
of labour,

698
00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:06,640
to lengthen the average lifespan

699
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:10,640
of the prisoners
destined for elimination.

700
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:13,720
Well, I had done an adaptation

701
00:50:13,720 --> 00:50:16,600
of Primo Levi's great book

702
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,240
If This Is A Man,
which is his account of

703
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:22,480
having been in Auschwitz.

704
00:50:22,480 --> 00:50:26,360
And I'd written it
as a one-man piece.

705
00:50:26,360 --> 00:50:29,800
I'd always thought of Richard
as directing it.

706
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:33,120
When Tony asked me to direct this,

707
00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:37,520
I was extremely flattered
that he'd asked me.

708
00:50:37,520 --> 00:50:43,000
Straightaway, I realised
it was such a simple, lean script

709
00:50:43,000 --> 00:50:46,640
that it should be done
in an empty space.

710
00:50:46,640 --> 00:50:49,000
Death begins

711
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,040
with your shoes,

712
00:50:51,040 --> 00:50:54,360
your wooden-soled shoes.

713
00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:58,040
At first,
they're like instruments of torture.

714
00:50:58,040 --> 00:51:02,280
After a few hours' marching,
you already have painful sores.

715
00:51:02,280 --> 00:51:05,200
These quickly become infected.

716
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:09,360
And then you're forced to walk
with a kind of shuffle

717
00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:12,040
as if dragging a convict's chain.

718
00:51:12,040 --> 00:51:14,080
This is the strange gait of the army

719
00:51:14,080 --> 00:51:16,360
which returns
each evening on parade.

720
00:51:16,360 --> 00:51:21,880
If the sores get worse,
you start arriving last everywhere

721
00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:23,640
and everywhere, you'll get hit

722
00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:26,080
and you can't run away
when they chase you.

723
00:51:26,080 --> 00:51:29,520
It's beyond ordinary emotions,
isn't it,

724
00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:34,000
because the experience
is beyond ordinary experience.

725
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:40,680
And because Primo Levi
the was a chemist by profession,

726
00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:47,800
he had this scientific observation
of these incredibly inhumane things

727
00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:51,080
that were happening,
even when they're happening to him.

728
00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:54,440
Each of us, as he comes out naked,
must run the few steps

729
00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:56,120
between the two doorways,

730
00:51:56,120 --> 00:51:59,680
hand his card to the SS man
and return to the dormitory.

731
00:51:59,680 --> 00:52:03,680
In a fraction of a second, with
a glance at your front and your back

732
00:52:03,680 --> 00:52:05,680
the SS man will judge your fate

733
00:52:05,680 --> 00:52:08,960
and pass your card to one side
or the other

734
00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,760
and this will mean life or death.

735
00:52:11,760 --> 00:52:15,840
It was wonderful to watch when
it started off at the National

736
00:52:15,840 --> 00:52:18,920
and people came in.

737
00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:25,280
It took about four or five minutes
for them to realise

738
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:29,240
that Tony wasn't going to
do anything other than this

739
00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:34,960
and then he just managed to
suck them in, and the stillness.

740
00:52:34,960 --> 00:52:40,040
The stillness in New York, which
has a very huge Jewish population

741
00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:45,720
of course, the stillness in New York
was extraordinary. Extraordinary.

742
00:52:45,720 --> 00:52:49,320
The audience were absolutely
with him.

743
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:57,520
Richard Wilson's ability to
balance challenging theatre work

744
00:52:57,520 --> 00:53:00,720
and popular mainstream
television exhibits a versatility

745
00:53:00,720 --> 00:53:04,040
that's a result of his
continuing passion for the craft.

746
00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:06,800
If you begin acting late

747
00:53:06,800 --> 00:53:09,280
and if you train late
and if you start late,

748
00:53:09,280 --> 00:53:11,480
I think you always
think to yourself,

749
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:13,440
"How wonderful, I'm doing this,"

750
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:16,160
and I think
he has a real sense of that,

751
00:53:16,160 --> 00:53:19,160
that he's privileged
to be able to do it.

752
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:24,680
He's probably the busiest person
I know. He's extraordinary.

753
00:53:24,680 --> 00:53:28,560
He literally goes from one project
to the next, to the next,
to the next.

754
00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:34,880
It can be performing or producing or
directing or writing or whatever.

755
00:53:34,880 --> 00:53:41,480
He has many, many talents
and he never seems to allow himself
any break in between,

756
00:53:41,480 --> 00:53:47,240
which is extraordinary, and all at
the age of 145, I think he is now.

757
00:53:47,240 --> 00:53:49,320
It's remarkable.

758
00:53:50,480 --> 00:53:53,480
A lot of people say to me,
"Why are you still acting?"

759
00:53:53,480 --> 00:54:00,040
And I say, "Because I enjoy it,
A, and B, I'm still learning."

760
00:54:00,040 --> 00:54:03,880
And I think a lot of people think
that's a sort of false humility.

761
00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:06,640
"How can you still be learning?"

762
00:54:06,640 --> 00:54:11,400
But acting is such a complex
and complicated creature.

763
00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:19,760
In 2007, at the tender age of 70,

764
00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:23,000
Richard Wilson
continued his education

765
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:26,840
when he accepted a part
in a magical family drama,

766
00:54:26,840 --> 00:54:30,240
a genre that forced him to work
outside of his comfort zone.

767
00:54:33,560 --> 00:54:37,320
Doing something like Merlin

768
00:54:37,320 --> 00:54:38,840
was quite testing.

769
00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:40,880
HE CLEARS HIS THROAT

770
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:58,000
It was a bit of a shock
that I was being offered a part

771
00:54:58,000 --> 00:55:04,760
in a long-running drama
and the fact that it was
science-fiction-based fantasy.

772
00:55:04,760 --> 00:55:07,440
And it just seemed
too good to turn down.

773
00:55:09,920 --> 00:55:13,160
I got your water.
You didn't wash last night.

774
00:55:13,160 --> 00:55:16,000
Sorry. Help yourself to breakfast.

775
00:55:29,680 --> 00:55:32,080
'Merlin is a young Merlin.'

776
00:55:32,080 --> 00:55:38,000
I play his mentor and I was very
fortunate in the actor they cast

777
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:45,040
as Merlin, Colin Morgan,
was quite new to television,
but just a brilliant actor.

778
00:55:50,040 --> 00:55:53,760
Are you using magic again? No.

779
00:55:53,760 --> 00:55:56,680
What's all this, then?

780
00:55:56,680 --> 00:55:59,800
Richard is the one person
I enjoy doing scenes with

781
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:01,440
the most in the show.

782
00:56:01,440 --> 00:56:05,880
The whole cast,
we get on so well together

783
00:56:05,880 --> 00:56:10,040
but I always look forward to a day
when I'm doing scenes with Richard.

784
00:56:10,040 --> 00:56:13,680
What did your mother
say to you about your gifts?

785
00:56:15,480 --> 00:56:17,240
That I was special.

786
00:56:17,240 --> 00:56:19,200
You are special,

787
00:56:19,200 --> 00:56:22,200
the likes of which
I've never seen before.

788
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:23,640
What do you mean?

789
00:56:23,640 --> 00:56:29,360
Well, magic requires incantations,
spells, it takes years to study.

790
00:56:29,360 --> 00:56:33,800
What I saw you do
was elemental, instinctive.

791
00:56:33,800 --> 00:56:37,640
What's the point if it can't
be used? That, I do not know.

792
00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:41,800
'When you're working with him
was an actor,'

793
00:56:41,800 --> 00:56:44,160
he'll offer advice sometimes

794
00:56:44,160 --> 00:56:48,640
but it's never what you'd feel
a director doing it.

795
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:53,120
It's always in a way which
inspires you and makes you go...

796
00:56:53,120 --> 00:56:57,400
He'll say, "Try the line that way,"
or if you did it a certain way,

797
00:56:57,400 --> 00:57:01,000
he'll go, "That was really good,
the way you did that,"

798
00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:02,440
and as a young actor,

799
00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:06,680
you'd be foolish to ignore advice
from someone like Richard.

800
00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:08,560
I always feel with younger actors,

801
00:57:08,560 --> 00:57:14,040
they're much more open
to listening to new ideas

802
00:57:14,040 --> 00:57:20,840
and I think that we have
several young actors in Merlin

803
00:57:20,840 --> 00:57:25,440
and they are all, considering
they've not done a series before,

804
00:57:25,440 --> 00:57:29,360
they are all up there
and ready for it and well-trained.

805
00:57:29,360 --> 00:57:32,760
I thick the training of
young actors, by and large,

806
00:57:32,760 --> 00:57:34,960
is very healthy in this country.

807
00:57:40,960 --> 00:57:43,880
After more than 40 years
of uninterrupted work,

808
00:57:43,880 --> 00:57:46,520
Richard Wilson has no plans
to retire or fade away.

809
00:57:51,200 --> 00:57:54,240
Perhaps, in recognition of
the significant role

810
00:57:54,240 --> 00:57:55,560
that a school play had

811
00:57:55,560 --> 00:57:58,720
in introducing him to
the wonders of a life on stage,

812
00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:01,000
his workload may be
about to increase.

813
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:05,000
I haven't done a lot of teaching,

814
00:58:05,000 --> 00:58:09,200
but maybe the time
has come that I should.

815
00:58:12,760 --> 00:58:15,760
But I still think of myself
as a working actor,

816
00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:19,000
a director, actor/director.

817
00:58:19,000 --> 00:58:20,880
I don't have any plans to retire.

818
00:58:20,880 --> 00:58:24,920
I don't think I'd be any good
at retiring as such,

819
00:58:24,920 --> 00:58:28,560
as long as my health
stands me in good stead.

820
00:58:37,280 --> 00:58:40,320
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

821
00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:43,400
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk