Our take
A Boxing Day special with a creeping mystery at its heart: a stranger in the shed, lights in the sky and a parcel post of false limbs. It is one of the darker hours, with a tense final stretch, but the comedy holds, helped by Ray Winstone in a double role and a predatory boss who steals every scene she is in. The alarming last phone call lingers well past the closing titles.
What happens
Victor and Margaret return from a long weekend in Hamburg to find, to their horror, that a tramp has taken up residence in their garden shed. Margaret soon has the police escort him away, but their problems do not end there: false limbs and various surgical support garments start arriving through the letterbox. Meanwhile strange bright lights have been seen outside at night, and Mr Swainey's mother claims she has been away visiting Jupiter, abducted by aliens. Next door, Patrick has a new boss, a voracious company director who sexually harasses him, but Pippa makes him put up with it for the high pay, and Patrick is shocked when she announces that she has recently hired Victor as her gardener. Victor becomes calmer and happier in the job, which Margaret finds deeply unnerving. Then a local CID officer calls on Margaret with some alarming news about their recent visitor from the shed, and a phone call brings even greater alarm.
Can the kids watch it?
Not rated by the BBFC on its own; with sexual harassment played for laughs and a menacing stranger, it is best for 12 and over.
Cast and crew
Starring
- Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew
- Annette Crosbie as Margaret Meldrew
- Doreen Mantle as Mrs Warboys
- Owen Brenman as Nick Swainey
- Angus Deayton as Patrick Trench
- Janine Duvitski as Pippa Trench
Guest stars
- Ray Winstone as Vagrant & Millichope
- Lucy Davis as Mrs. Blanchard
- Rula Lenska as Fenella Fortune
- Roli Okorodudu as Primary School Teacher
- Elizabeth Chambers as Dog Owner
Writer
- David Renwick
Director
- Susan Belbin