The Goodies

[FitzroyRamone]

How good is it to have the Goodies back on at 7.00 each night on UKTV!

Possibly the most underrated comedy show.....ever!

 

[funkyfreo]

How good is it to have the Goodies back on at 7.00 each night on UKTV!

Possibly the most underrated comedy show.....ever!

Who underrates The Goodies????

 

[FitzroyRamone]

Who underrates The Goodies????

I think it's underrated in that you never hear The Goodies discussed in the same context as other English comedy programs (eg Monty Python & Fawlty Towers). Watching the episodes that have been on thus far (not to mention those on DVD) indicate this program has aged beautifully like a fine Red, still seems pretty fresh despite the hundereds of times this show has been shown in the 70's & 80's.

 

[Munga]

Geez I remember the goodies. Must have last been on tv more than 10 years ago.

Pretty much the only thing I remember from it is:

"All we are saying......is give police a chance...."
funny sh*t

 

[gerta]

Damn... I need paytv

 

[sherb]

Geez I remember the goodies. Must have last been on tv more than 10 years ago.

Pretty much the only thing I remember from it is:

"All we are saying......is give police a chance...."
funny sh*t

That episode was on last night.

It is great to have the show back on, I haven't seen it for so long.

I used to love The Goodies back in the 70's and, having seen a couple of the episodes again this week, my opinion hasn't changed.

 

[The Hippie]

Who underrates The Goodies????

The Poms themselves, for one. Read quite a few articles about the tour here and they've said there is still a huge following here from the numerous repeats we've had over the years, but in England the show was never repeated and basically drifted from the veiwers minds.

 

[Destructive]

I saw them last night in Sydney. All I kept thinking was " On that stage is a part of my childhood" .

 

[- PC -]

IMO the reason the Goodies are underrated in England and not here in Australia is the ''class'' distinction. Monty Python et al came from a university comedic background whereas the Goodies came from a science/environmental background and drifted into comedy.

I loved the Goody Goody Gumdropssssss

We werent a big ABC family and IIRC it was on at 6pm same time as the news so we didnt see many till they were repeated earlier

 

[Lidge]

From yesterday's Age newspaper. (Also a feature in today's edition of the Herald Sun)

Still Goodies . . . but oldies
By Michael Winkler

He was the brains of the outfit: the nerveless scientist who understood computers but found time to perform wacky impersonations. He was megalomaniacal, patronising and crazy as a loon - so those of us whose pre-pubescent selves chose Graeme as our favourite Goodie might profitably ponder our motivations.

Mind you, Tim was a cowardly royalist fop, and Bill was a rotund hairy oik, so choosing either of them as your favourite was hardly a guarantee of good mental hygiene. But you had to choose one, because for a certain generation of Australians, "Who's your favourite Goodie?" was as important a question as "Kingswood or Falcon?" or "Sherbet or Skyhooks?"

It is 35 years since the BBC took a punt on a sitcom and The Goodies became a television classic, loved around the world, particularly in Australia, where it was a staple for many years.

"I don't have any decent explanation for why The Goodies was so big in Australia, except that the ABC showed it a lot," Graeme Garden says from his home in the Cotswolds. "It was broadcast even more often there than in the UK."

Capitalising on residual affection for the three unlikely heroes from No Fixed Abode, Cricklewood, the Big Laugh festival in Sydney invited the Goodies to come to meet their fans. Their reunion stage show will tour several Australian cities, including Melbourne.

"The ABC showed it quite early in the evening, so a lot of kids grew up with it. We'll be meeting them grown up. We've come to disappoint your fond memories, really," Garden says.

Graeme fans might be relieved to know that he displays none of the bombast that marked his Goodies character, although he does share some of the abstractedness.

"Graeme fans? Hmm. I have met one or two people who were Graeme fans. Matt Lucas from The League of Gentlemen (TV show) came up to me after we did a reunion performance at the National Film Theatre and said I was his favourite because I was 'a bit mad'. The look in his eye, I could see that he meant it.

"I don't know what a typical Graeme fan would be. A bit scary, probably. Tim was always nervous his fans might be ultra right-wingers who thought he really was a toffy-nosed git who belonged to the (British) National Party or some such terrible organisation. I think they are better judges than that, to be honest. Tim's character is the furthest away from what he's really like of the three of us."

And Bill fans? "You mean the human ones? They're quite like Bill I guess. They would have been hippies in the old days. He had music fans as well - there is a subset of people who took his music very seriously indeed.

"I'm not terribly musical. I used to play the guitar until my kids got better than me, then I stopped in a sulk. The banjo I learnt at one point." What does one play on the banjo? "Banjo music. That's why I stopped."

Garden was a member (and later president) of the famed Cambridge University Footlights Club in the late-'60s heyday of John Cleese, Eric Idle and David Hatch. With Bill Oddie he wrote the radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again; they collaborated again on episodes of Dr in the House and then wrote The Goodies together from 1970.

In 1981 after 11 productive years The Goodies left the BBC for London Weekend Television, a shift roughly as seismic as John Howard joining the Refugee Action Collective. It was an unhappy move, their stay lasting just seven episodes.

In the intervening quarter-century, Garden has written novels, children's books, numerous plays and television programs. He has been a quiz host, a history show presenter and stage actor, and has scripted, directed and presented training and information films. He is into his fourth decade as a team member for I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue, a program that he devised for BBC Radio 4.

"Of everything I have done, the most fun to do is radio in front of an audience. They're a part of the conspiracy, they can see you but nobody else can. You don't have to learn any lines, and by and large you don't have to fall over very much."

As the DVD (eight vintage episodes including perennial favourites such as Kitten Kong and The Goodies and the Beanstalk) sales attest, residual affection for the tragicomic triumvirate is not far below the surface in Australia. Key members of the international Goodies fan club are Australians, and a Queenslander has established a website devoted to logging every edit the ABC made when the program was first broadcast in this country.

"As part of the stage show we thought it would be fun to show some of the bits which were deemed unacceptable for broadcast in Australia. "Very mild stuff, such as saying 'I'm knackered'. Apart from that, I guess people will want to come along and see if we're still alive." Although the youngest of the three Goodies, Garden is feeling his age.

"I think I am due for a hip replacement. It's creeping up on me, and feels a bit clunky."

Garden trained as a doctor but has never practised. Asked an impertinent question about how he justifies spending his life making jokes rather than saving lives, he answers, "I don't think I would have done it as well. It's an interesting question - whether you've contributed more to the vast store of human enjoyment by doing comedy or by being a doctor, but the answer for me is that I don't think I would have been as successful or as happy being a doctor."

Various Goodies have pointed out that they are one of the few acts - comedy or musical - to disband without acrimony after a successful run. Tim Brooke-Taylor works intermittently on television and regularly on radio, although he had a comparatively lean time in the 1990s. Bill Oddie recently suffered a debilitating period of clinical depression, but he has carved his own niche as a wildlife advocate, an extension of his longstanding interest in all things ornithological.

"Tim and I work together on radio so I see him regularly," Garden says. "Bill is never in the country, he's always off chasing birds in South America or something."

Garden's contemporary comedy enthusiasms include three British television series: Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen and Spaced. "I've seen a little of Kath & Kim. It doesn't translate at all, but they are two very funny ladies."

The Goodies - Still Alive on Stage, at Hamer Hall, Tuesday, March 8 (two shows). Tickets from Ticketmaster.

 

[Kingpin]

Awesome show!!
Used to watch every episode and hadn't seen it on telly here since the late 1980's, when it was shown at 6pm on Channel 2.
Great to see it back on UKTV, sat down with my girlfriend's 2 year old son and watched it the other night and he was p*ssing himself laughing at bits of it.

 

[Andrew Mc]

I saw them last night in Sydney. All I kept thinking was " On that stage is a part of my childhood" .

Likewise - I went to the first Melbourne show last night. Had a great time too (as did everyone else I think).

 

[lenny&carl]

I can never ever get enough of Graham pretending to be attacked by some furry creature that he's holding.

 

[jim boy]

Likewise - I went to the first Melbourne show last night. Had a great time too (as did everyone else I think).

I was at that show as well. TBH I was a little disappointed, having been a long time goodies fan I've generally watched most things on them that have come out. Recently I saw a program called 'Comedy Connections', which looks at the origins at various tv comedy shows including Red Dwarf, The Young Ones and the Goodies. It seemed that their stage act was pretty much a regurgitation of the 'Goodies' episode. Being stuck up in the clouds in the balcony didn't help either.

 

[Valkyrie]

I can never ever get enough of Graham pretending to be attacked by some furry creature that he's holding.

Nose vole? I see no nose vole...

 

[celtic_pride]

It's a pity that they will never be able to release the series on DVD in season box sets due to Michael Jackson.

 

[moistie]

It's a pity that they will never be able to release the series on DVD in season box sets due to Michael Jackson.

How has Micheal Jackson caused the Goodies to not be released in series box sets?

 

[celtic_pride]

How has Micheal Jackson caused the Goodies to not be released in series box sets?

He owns the rights to most of the Beatles songs, and a lot of goodies episodes have Beatles music inside them, and it's nearly impossible to get clearance for them.

 

[Katthawk]

He owns the rights to most of the Beatles songs, and a lot of goodies episodes have Beatles music inside them, and it's nearly impossible to get clearance for them.

well that all sucks... whoever said it was part of childhood was right... they seem different but funnier now. Memories... oops. I still think Graham was the funniest because he was flat faced with the joke. Monty python the second all of it.

 

[Jabba]

The Poms themselves, for one. Read quite a few articles about the tour here and they've said there is still a huge following here from the numerous repeats we've had over the years, but in England the show was never repeated and basically drifted from the veiwers minds.

I had a friend who bumped into Tim Brooke-Taylor whilst waitresing in London. He couldn't believe anyone would ever recognise him due to the above.

 

[Valkyrie]

Did anybody watch last night's old black and white episode about the doping scandal at the ballroom dancing championships? I swear the woman playing Penelope Fay was the grandmother from absolutely fabulous.

 

[the fly]

Did anybody watch last night's old black and white episode about the doping scandal at the ballroom dancing championships? I swear the woman playing Penelope Fay was the grandmother from absolutely fabulous.

I watched it today. It was the grandmother from Ab Fab who played Penelope Fay.