It Might as Well Be String is an episode of the British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 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.

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

Plot

The Goodies have become Advertising Men and Tim is horrified at the lies they tell about the products they advertise.

Tim wants them to advertise about string, because he is of the opinion that string is pure.

Later, Tim watches his favourite television programme Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.- Content :...

, and is again horrified — this time because string is a failure as a product. Then he discovers that some mysterious men are making a lot of money by keeping a stockpile of string, so that the world is dependent on them. When he attempts to discuss the situation with Graeme and Bill, he finds that they have gone, and left replicas of themselves to fool him. Tim also learns that Graeme and Bill are the men behind the scheme. Tim is furious and intends to put Graeme's and Bill's string empire out of business. However, along the way he runs into many obstacles — including Bill and Graeme, themselves.

Quotes

Quote 1

• Graeme (reading from a blackboard with the letters 'A', 'B', 'C' and 'D' written on it, and showing what is written about each letter — from 'D' to 'A'):

D is for 'Dumb' — (housewives – bless them)

C is for 'Clever'

B is for 'Brilliant'

A is for 'Advertising men'

Quote 2

• Tim ('TBT'): "From today 'BO', 'GG' — save time — call you 'BOGG'."

Spoofs and cultural references

• Tomorrow's World
  Tomorrow's World
  Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.- Content :...
  
  
• Mr Kipling's "exceedingly good" Cakes ads
• Manikin cigars ads
• 1970s Milk Tray ads
• Hai Karate after shave ads (the original star of these ads, Valerie Leon, is in the Goodies episode)
• Captain Birdseye fish finger ads
• Minced Morsels dog food ads with Clement Freud
• The inevitable Heinz Baked Beans boy adverts (seen in previous series of The Goodies)