One foot on the stage.

The biography of Richard Wilson. Every so often a television series becomes not only a much-loved national institution, but also a barometer of our times. In the 1990s it has undoubtedly been One foot in the grave. Not far short of one third of the British population tuned into David Renwick's creation, but as one critic noted, the series would be unimaginable "without the super performance of Richard Wilson, who became, in the process, one of the biggest and best-known stars of the century." On...