It was written by David Renwick and stars Richard Wilson as Victor Meldrew, Annette Crosbie as his wife Margaret and features guest appearances by Hannah Gordon and Paul Merton.

The episode depicts the death of the series' protagonist, Victor Meldrew, in a hit-and-run road accident and his wife's efforts to deal with the driver who killed him.

The characters of Victor and Margaret returned in a short sketch for Comic Relief's Red Nose Day telethon on 16 March 2001.

While coming to terms with her husband's death as a hit and run victim, Margaret joins a church group clearing litter from roadsides.

Confiding to a priest, Father Blakey (William Osborne), Margaret pledges vengeance for Victor's death, vowing, "If they ever find the bastard who was at the wheel of that car I swear I'll kill him, with my bare hands if I have to and they can do what they like with me."

A group of pilgrims descend upon the Meldrews' home after misunderstanding Margaret's classified advertisement in her local newspaper of a picture of the Virgin Mary with "two small tears under her eyes".

Sitting alone while waiting for Limpy, the one remaining potential attendee, Victor is entertained by two cabaret performers (Ed Welch— who wrote the incidental music for all series —and Jean Challis).

She finds a scrap book of press cuttings surrounding Victor's death in Glynis's kitchen drawer and realises that her new friend is responsible for his demise.

He cites the final episode of the Only Fools and Horses 1996 Christmas specials "where the fantastic closing scenes of the Trilogy saw the Trotters walking up the Yellow Brick Road, only for them to return five years later".

[10] In June 1999, while Richard Wilson was performing in Waiting for Godot at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, Renwick informed him of his decision to kill off Victor.

[10] Annette Crosbie was saddened that the show was coming to an end because she enjoyed working on it, but she understood Renwick's feelings of being pressured to "top the last one".

[10] In an interview for the documentary Comedy Connections, Renwick says that killing off the protagonist "seemed to be the most natural and logical and appropriate end for the character in a show where we had tried to reflect the truthfulness of real life.

Her character was returning from visiting her terminally ill husband in hospital, which distracted her concentration from the road, "but her guilt and conscience is something from which she can't escape.

"[16] Scholar Brett Mills observes that it is "strongly implied" that Margaret enacted her vow, expressed earlier in the episode, to "kill whoever murdered her husband".

[17] Commenting upon the ambiguity of whether or not Margaret kills Glynis by overdosing her orange juice with tablets, Renwick believes it to be more stimulating to allow audiences to reach their own conclusions.

[20] Renwick persuaded her to return to work on the final series to provide continuity, but her health quickly forced her to resign from the show again.

[20] The cast and crew assembled in the Bridge Lounge at the BBC Television Centre for the read-through of all six episodes from the final series on 30 June 2000.

[2] One Foot had used Bournemouth since the show's beginning because of its favourable climate, easy access to London along with the lower costs compared to filming in the capital.

[23][24] The cold temperature on the night of the shoot and the various technical considerations meant that the scene did not have a big emotional impact upon the cast and crew during filming.

[2]Renwick outlined his concerns in a letter dated 19 May 2000 to Peter Salmon, the controller of BBC1: [The show] draws its rhythms and inspiration from reality and occasionally has the power to disarm the viewer with material that is darker or more reflective than they are used to ... Death may be tragic but it is commonplace, the eternal Truth.

Although it initially appears to be set before the final episode, the scene concludes with Victor picking up a video of the 1999 thriller film The Sixth Sense and, while commenting that he saw the ending coming, notices that Margaret is totally ignoring him, making him realize he is actually dead.

[28] It was alleged that Celador, the production company in charge of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, had rigged the show to spoil the BBC's expected high ratings for the sitcom's finale.

"[29] Commenting that killing off the protagonist "might seem an odd way for a sitcom to end," the British Film Institute's ScreenOnline says that in a series "where comedy and tragedy are so intertwined, it seems entirely appropriate.

"[30] The Daily Telegraph described the episode as displaying "an exhilarating flair for rapid change of comic gear" and commented positively on the scene in which pilgrims descend on the Meldrews' home.

[31] Rupert Smith in The Guardian called the episode "a satisfying ending to a series that never went out of its way to be cheerful", referring in particular to the open-ended scene of Margaret dropping the paracetamol into the glass.

[32] However, The Independent's Robert Hanks criticised the transitions into the flashbacks for being "clumsily signalled" and said that the direction and score of the paracetamol scene was not equal to the quality of the writing and acting.