"The Goodies" (1970) TV series 1970-1981

Creators:

Tim Brooke-Taylor
Graeme Garden
Bill Oddie

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | unknown

Release Date:

8 November 1970 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Long running British situation comedy with the vaguest of situations. The Goodies are a three man agency whose brief is to do 'anything...

Plot Keywords:

Slapstick | Surrealism | British | Sitcom | Trio

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Bill Oddie	...	Bill Oddie / ... (76 episodes, 1970-1982)
Tim Brooke-Taylor	...	Tim Brooke-Taylor / ... (76 episodes, 1970-1982)
Graeme Garden	...	Graeme Garden / ... (76 episodes, 1970-1982)

Also Known As:

Narrow Your Mind (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

30 min (76 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

The constant references to gibbons date back to the 1960s radio series "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again" which starred the Goodies alongside John Cleese, David Hatch and Jo Kendall. This explains the huge laugh in the "Radio Goodies" episode where Graeme calls their pirate ship "The Saucy Gibbon". The 1975 season contains graffiti references to "Funky Gibbon", scrawled on the wall near Graeme's computer. This was a novelty single recorded by the team that reached number four on the British charts.

Quotes:

Bill: We're all dead! Dead! D-E-D-D, DEAD!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (2008) (TV)

Classic English comedy from the 1970s!

'The Goodies' were one of the things that made growing up in the Seventies so much fun! This show may be dated fashion- and special effects-wise, but the humour is still as original and hilarious as ever.

Oddie, Garden and Brooke-Taylor shared a similar background and history to most of the Monty Python team. They also began as comedians while studying at University and various combination of Goodies and Pythons performed and wrote together for many television and radio comedies throughout the Sixties. Not long after Monty Python debuted on TV in 1969 The Goodies followed with their own series, which ended up lasting much longer. The Pythons aimed at adults, The Goodies at children, but for all their surface differences they shared a similar surreal Goons inspired wit, with an emphasis on wonderfully inventive sight gags.

Unlike Python, the show wasn't a sketch comedy. The basic premise was that out heroes would do anything, anywhere, anytime, which meant that they got into increasingly bizarre situations, which were often just an excuse for silly goings on and funny stuff. And the show WAS funny! Even today the best episodes stand up, and 'Kitten Kong', the unforgettable episode about a giant kitten terrorizing a city, must surely rank as one of THE highlights of television comedy, any decade!