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

User Rating:

7.9/10   

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	...	Himself / ... (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:

When the show moved from the BBC to ITV in 1981, London Weekend Television commissioned a six part series which turned out to be the last outing for the show.

Quotes:

Graeme: [holding a sheaf of paper in his hand] Just look at these end of year expenses!
Tim: Yeah, you're right.
[looks up]
Tim: Bill?
Bill: [lounging on the sofa] Yeah?
Tim: You're fired!
Bill: Okay.
[sitting up]
Bill: What?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Screenwipe: (#3.3)" (2007)

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!