One foot on the accelerator lands Victor in court

Victor Meldrew may have one foot in the grave, but Richard Wilson, the actor who plays him, had managed to put the other one down hard on the pedal - and found himself with both feet in the dock, charged with speeding. He then proceeded to insert another foot into his mouth.

Bicester magistrates were taken aback last month, when a defendant called Iain Carmichael Wilson appeared before them, and turned out to be the star of the sitcom, One Foot in the Grave. But unlike the relentlessly ill-tempered pensioner, Wilson was reported to be "super".

"He was not at all like Victor Meldrew," beamed a court official. "But he did dress like him. He had a tweed suit on and a flat cap. He was laughing and joking with everyone in the waiting room, and said: 'Here I am joking with you and I am for the chop.' He was super. Superb."

The 61-year-old actor was fined pounds 140 and banned for a fortnight, having been caught driving his Mercedes at 101mph on the M40 in Oxfordshire. He admitted the offence, and thought he had escaped without publicity.

"How did you find out? I thought no one knew," the actor told local reporters last week. "Yes, I was driving at a 101mph. I was in a rush - I was late for a meeting. But I have learned my lesson. I shall drive at 28mph on the motorway from now on."

Wrong lesson. The police say that should he be spotted doing such a low speed for no good reason, "he would certainly be stopped and charged with careless or dangerous driving".