Richard Wilson – 23 October 2015, Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
With a television career spanning exactly 50 years this year, including two of this country’s funniest sitcoms “Only When I Laugh” and “One Foot in the Grave”, myself and my boyfriend were honoured to have front row seats at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, for an evening with Richard Wilson OBE this evening.
This unique fundraising event wasn’t just about Richard though, he also had the audience almost rolling in the aisles as he reprised his role as Victor Meldrew, a character killed off quite literally in 2001 after 44 episodes, who the audience were delighted to know is still battling with the irritations of life as he performed in almost it’s entirety the series 3 episode “The Trial” (aka the one with the yucca plant in the toliet), which can be seen in its full original television format below (which received over 18 million viewers when first broadcast).
After more memorable clips from the sitcom, Richard came back on stage as himself to chat with Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Daniel Evans, about both his career in acting and directing, on stage and in television, including questions via Twitter and the audience on the “Father Ted” episode, what it was like filming “Only When I Laugh”, him wishing he could have had a cameo appearance in “Yes Minister” and “Fast Show” and how he really feels about strangers shouting “I don’t believe it” at him on a daily basis.
This one off evening raised over £17,000 (including £700 from the auction of Richard’s script for the evening) to support Sheffield Theatres, a registered charity, to support their ongoing work on stage and with people across Sheffield. It also proved that Richard Wilson definitely hasn’t got one foot in the grave and left me “H.A.P.P.Y., I know I am, I’m sure I am, I’m H.A.P.P.Y.“