I wonder how many readers of The Plain Truth still find themselves pining for Victor Meldrew, late of the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave, and portrayed with such skill and vigour by Richard Wilson. Grizzly and grumpy he may have been, and yet a lot of us found ourselves becoming increasingly fond of him. Perhaps it is because those of us who have made it through to our sixties and beyond are often tempted to think of ourselves, like Victor, as strangers in an alien land. We try to pick our way through a world of alarming new technology and equally alarming new behaviour patterns.
Modern society is a complex phenomenon.
No wonder Victor Meldrew so often felt out of place and out of sorts. I wonder whether I was alone in feeling that the writer of the series, David Renwick, seemed to lose patience and sympathy with Victor towards the end. My wife and I actually wondered whether to stop watching - before the BBC made the decision for us. At about the same time, on ITV, Chief Inspector Morse was being finished off by a heart attack in a somewhat morbid final episode. I believe that our later years bring an opportunity, not only for retiring, but also for advancing.