The Goodies (TV Series) Scatty Safari (1975) User Reviews

Scatty Safari

[Prismark10 · 8/10 · 26 March 2024]

I doubt Scatty Safari will ever be repeated on television. It features two nonces, both regarded as National Institutions in that era. Now persona non grata.

The Goodies are really having a dig at zoos or safari park. Bill Oddie was always a keen conservationist.

The Goodies run a safari park full of celebrities. Dick Emery, the Pythons. Morecambe and Wise have a scrap with Mike and Bernie Winters. They even got Basil Brush. The star attraction is Tony Blackburn but he falls ill and needs to be put down.

They need to get a replacement. The man for the job is Rolf Harris. He is very popular with the Young Generation (a dance troupe of the time.) In fact they find a few Rolf's who create a mini Rolf.

Rolf is a hit with the crowd and that leads to merchandising opportunities. However there is always a risk that the country could be overrun with Rolfs.

As always this is full of the Goodies zaniness. Of course as time goes on, people will forget a lot of the celebrities that the Goodies make fun of. At least Tony Blackburn and Basil Brush are still about. One of them is never going to get Yew treed. Boom Boom!

"And don't the kids just love him!"

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 13 April 2007]

The Goodies run a safari park with a difference - no animals. Coach-loads of tourists pay to see figures from the world of showbiz and light entertainment, such as Danny LaRue, Brian Rix, Steptoe & Son, the 'Gumbies' from 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' and so on. On losing their star attraction - Tony Blackburn ( ! ) - they elect to replace him with Rolf Harris. Travelling to the Australian outback, they pursue Rolf in a Land Rover and bring him down with a hypodermic dart.

Back in England, the Australian Rolf is mated with the Russian Rolf to produce ( wait for it ) - Little Rolf. The diminutive Rolf becomes so popular the other celebrities grow jealous and set him ( and the other Rolfs ) free. London becomes infested by Rolf Harrises, all behaving like the rats from 'The Pied Piper Of Hamelin'. As the crisis worsens, Her Majesty The Queen issues a challenge - stop the Rolfs in return for the hand of Prince Charles in marriage. Oh, and there are O.B.E's thrown in too. Guess who volunteers for the job?

Hilarious episode from the Goodies' star year - 1975.

Marty Feldman and Dick Emery are glimpsed briefly in the Goodies' safari park, courtesy of stock footage. A neat gag has Morecambe and Wise battling their on screen comedy rivals Mike and Bernie Winters. That frequent target of the Goodies' humour - Tony Blackburn - appears for the first time in the show as himself. Note the cheer from one section of the studio audience when Tony is shot dead by a big game hunter! But Blackburn's humiliation is nothing compared to that heaped upon poor Rolf Harris. Ironically, Rolf is still getting television work, which is more than can be said for the Goodies themselves. Asked about this show many years later, Rolf said he wasn't offended and would have participated if asked.

Funniest moment - there are so many its hard to know where to begin. The Goodies' trip to Australia is especially amusing, seeing how the first person they encounter is a convict. The finale in which the Rolf Harrises go on the rampage is as sidesplitting now as it was in 1975. My personal favourite though is Bill showing off his collection of 'Rolf' merchandise. As well as balloons and stickers bearing the legend "We Have Seen Little Rolf", he has a walkie-talkie doll. Singing 'tie me kangaroo down, sport', it takes a couple of steps and falls off a table, its head coming off completely. An accident no doubt, but a happy one.