Alternative Roots is an episode of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 television series The Goodies

The Goodies (TV series)

The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...

— a BAFTA

British Academy of Film and Television Arts

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...

-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.

This episode is also known as "The Goodies Find Their Roots" and "Hoots, Toots and Froots".

As always, the episode was written by members of The Goodies.

Prologue

During the episode, the Goodies also appear as their ancestors:

• Tim Brooke-Taylor
  Tim Brooke-Taylor
  Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor OBE is an English comic actor. He became active in performing in comedy sketches while at Cambridge University, and became President of the Footlights club, touring internationally with the Footlights revue in 1964...
  
   also appears as 'Kounty Kutie'
• Graeme Garden
  Graeme Garden
  David Graeme Garden OBE is a Scottish author, actor, comedian, artist and television presenter, who first became known as a member of The Goodies.-Early life and beginnings in comedy:...
  
   also appears as 'Keltic Kilty'
• Bill Oddie
  Bill Oddie
  William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
  
   also appears as 'Kinda Kinky'

Plot

The Goodies tell of the time when their ancestors were young men, and how their ancestors met for the first time.

Graeme's family were Highlander

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

s who lived in bleak conditions in Scotland, where initiation of the young men of the village included being dunked in porridge

Porridge

Porridge is a dish made by boiling oats or other cereal meals in water, milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish...

 and catching a wild sporran

Sporran

The Sporran is a traditional part of male Scottish Highland dress. It is a pouch that performs the same function as pockets on the pocketless Scottish kilt....

. Bill's Northern England

Northern England

Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...

 family sold fruit. Tim, whose ancestors were also English, concludes that they were noble, because the family had its own Coat-of-Arms; Bill reinterprets the Coat of Arms and shows Tim that his ancestors were in fact sheep stealers. None of the Goodies ancestors knew each other at this time.

Then, a bus went around the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, taking up all of the young men of the villages — first of all Graeme's ancestor 'Keltic Kilty' was rounded up, with all of the other young men from his village — then Bill's ancestor 'Kinda Kinky' was rounded up, with all of the other young men from his village — and, finally, Tim's ancestor 'Kounty Kutie' was rounded up, with all the other young men in the same sheep 'trade'.

All of the young men who had been captured were then put up for auction as entertainers, and eventually everyone had been bought — apart from 'Kounty Kutie', 'Keltic Kilty' and 'Kinda Kinky', who were forced to work together as entertainers, including on "The Black and White Minstrel Show".

Spoofs and cultural references

• Roots
  Roots (TV miniseries)
  Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
  
  
• The Black and White Minstrel Show
  The Black and White Minstrel Show
  The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran on BBC television from 1958-1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment and variety show presenting traditional American minstrel and Country songs, as well as show and music hall numbers,...