The Good Life
Encyclopedia
The Good Life is a British
sitcom
produced by the BBC
that ran from 1975-1978. It was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde
. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom
. In the United States, it aired on various PBS stations under the title Good Neighbors.
, the only cast member with a high profile. Larbey and Esmonde were inspired by Larbey's 40th birthday, which they thought a milestone in most people's lives. They made the characters friends rather than enemies, creating comedy as their friendship was tried to its limit.
Peter Bowles
was originally to play the role of Jerry but was unavailable. He later starred opposite Penelope Keith
in To the Manor Born
. Hannah Gordon
was thought of to play Barbara, but she'd recently played a similar role in the BBC
sitcom My Wife Next Door
. Esmonde and Larbey chose Felicity Kendal
and Penelope Keith after seeing them on stage together in The Norman Conquests
. The location filming was in the North London
suburb of Northwood, although the series was set in Surbiton
, southwest London
. The producers searched extensively for a suitable pair of houses, eventually chancing on Kewferry Road, Northwood (Google street view http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kewferry+road+northwood&sll=51.616318,-0.43253&sspn=0.00022,0.000585&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kewferry+Rd,+Northwood+HA6,+United+Kingdom&t=h&layer=c&cbll=51.618354,-0.433914&panoid=RSHGEm-1Dj-sdktbwV94hw&ll=51.618354,-0.433914&spn=0.000219,0.000585&z=21&cbp=12,291.07,,0,15.63, the Leadbetters' house to the left). The grounds of the Goods' house were returned to their prior state after filming of each series' inserts, and livestock removed overnight.
for a company that makes plastic
toys for breakfast cereal packets. Their house is paid for so he and his wife Barbara adopt a sustainable
, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their home in The Avenue, Surbiton
. They turn their front and back gardens into allotment
s, growing soft fruit
and vegetable
s. They introduce chicken
s, pig
s (Pinky and Perky
), a goat (Geraldine) and a cockerel
(Lenin
). They generate their own electricity, using methane
from animal waste, and attempt to make their own clothes. They sell or barter
surplus crops for essentials they cannot make themselves. They cut their monetary requirements to the minimum with varying success.
Their actions horrify their kindly but conventional neighbours, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. Margo and Jerry were intended to be minor characters, but their relationship with one another and the Goods became an essential element. Under the influence of the Goods' homemade wine
, called "pea
pod burgundy", the strength of which becomes a running joke, their intermingled attractions for one another become apparent. Both couples are childless.
. He tells Tom he possesses only ten percent of Tom's talent. As the series progresses, he moves to within striking distance of the managing director's job. He is convinced that the go-it-alone attempt would fail and on several occasions pleads with Tom to come back. However, he grows to appreciate the character it has taken for Tom to leave the system. He is henpecked at home but has the strength to put his case.
and unafraid to challenge anyone who gets on her nerves, Margo also has a heart of gold. She involves herself with organisations such as the Pony Club and the Music Society, always wishing to play the lead role. Margo is occasionally made aware of her faults by others, including her husband, and is not too proud to apologise.
in front of The Queen
, The Duke of Edinburgh
and senior BBC management. The cast and crew were presented to The Queen and Prince Philip after the recording. The episode was originally broadcast in a 45-minute slot with footage either side of the 30-minute episode showing the Royal Party entering and exiting.
, and this novelised the first series. The second book, titled More of The Good Life, was published in 1977 also by Penguin, and featured three episodes from series two and four episodes from series three.
The Good Life was retitled Good Neighbors, to avoid confusion with a short-lived American sitcom of the same name, and was shown by most PBS
stations across the country starting in the early 1980s. By the late 1980s it was rarely seen but returned to PBS stations after the release of select episodes on VHS
by CBS/Fox Video
in 1998.
. Penelope Keith went on to star alongside Peter Bowles in To the Manor Born
, which broadcast a year after The Good Life ended. Paul Eddington joined Nigel Hawthorne
and Derek Fowlds
in Yes Minister
and its follow-up sequel Yes Prime Minister. Felicity Kendal, who had become something of a sex symbol with her tomboy character, complete with wellington boot
s, went on to join Elspet Gray
in Solo
, and Jane Asher
in The Mistress. Richard Briers later starred alongside Penelope Wilton
and Peter Egan
in the popular sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles
. In 1994 Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington reunited in the Channel Four adaptation of Mary Wesley
's The Camomile Lawn
.
In 2003, the BBC broadcast a mockumentary
entitled Life Beyond the Box: Margo Leadbetter
, describing Margo's life since the series had finished, although the original actors appear only in archive footage. In 2007, Briers and Kendal were reunited on ITV1
series That's What I Call Television in a mock up of the Goods' kitchen.
There are many organic gardening and self-sufficiency movements within the UK who continue to this day to claim that The Good Life was inspirational and influenced their own lifestyle changes. In many ways, the show was years ahead of its time in addressing ideas that were then far from mainstream.
entitled "Sick
" where Vyvyan (played by Adrian Edmondson
) rips apart the title page after the first 10 seconds of the opening credits of this show while criticising it as being too "bloody nice" and the actors being "Nothing but a couple of reactionary stereotypes confirming the myth that that everyone in Britain is a lovable middle-class eccentric!"
The growth of the hobby farm
concept has by some been connected to the success of TV shows like The Good Life.
The first UK (Region 2) DVD
release omits two episodes (the first episode from series 1 and one from series 3). http://www.bbcshop.com/Comedy/The-Good-Life-Series-1-DVD/invt/av9771, All four complete series have been re-released in their entirety on 29 March, 24 May, 19 July and 20 September 2010, the complete boxset has also been re-released.
All four series have been released in their entirety in Australia
(Region 4), albeit in NTSC format rather than the PAL format typical in Australia. The series 4 release (on two DVDs) also contains an interview with Richard Briers as well as the Royal Command Performance episode.
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...
sitcom
British sitcom
A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...
produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
that ran from 1975-1978. It was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde
Esmonde and Larbey
John Gilbert Esmonde and Bob Larbey were a British television comedy scriptwriting duo from the 1960s to the 1990s, creating popular situation comedies such as Please Sir! and The Good Life.-Larbey's life:Larbey was born in Clapham, South London in 1934 and made his writing debut for...
. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
. In the United States, it aired on various PBS stations under the title Good Neighbors.
Background
The Good Life was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey for Richard BriersRichard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, the only cast member with a high profile. Larbey and Esmonde were inspired by Larbey's 40th birthday, which they thought a milestone in most people's lives. They made the characters friends rather than enemies, creating comedy as their friendship was tried to its limit.
Peter Bowles
Peter Bowles
-Early life:Bowles was born in London, England, the son of Sarah Jane and Herbert Reginald Bowles. His father was a chauffeur and butler at a stately home in Warwickshire; but, upon the outbreak of World War II, he was seconded to work as an engineer at Rolls-Royce and moved the family to Nottingham...
was originally to play the role of Jerry but was unavailable. He later starred opposite Penelope Keith
Penelope Keith
Penelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
in To the Manor Born
To the Manor Born
To the Manor Born is a British sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special edition appeared in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by Peter Spence, the creator, while the 1981 finale was written by Christopher...
. Hannah Gordon
Hannah Gordon
Hannah Cambell Grant Gordon is a Scottish actress who is well known in the United Kingdom for her television work, including Upstairs, Downstairs, Telford's Change, My Wife Next Door, Joint Account and an appearance in the final episode of One Foot in the Grave.-Early life:Gordon was born in...
was thought of to play Barbara, but she'd recently played a similar role in the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
sitcom My Wife Next Door
My Wife Next Door
My Wife Next Door was a BBC sitcom written by Brian Clemens and Richard Waring that was first broadcast in 1972. It ran for just 13 episodes and focused on a couple, George Basset, , and Suzie Basset, . Each tries to start afresh after their divorce...
. Esmonde and Larbey chose Felicity Kendal
Felicity Kendal
Felicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
and Penelope Keith after seeing them on stage together in The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. The small scale of the drama is typical of Ayckbourn. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbour...
. The location filming was in the North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
suburb of Northwood, although the series was set in Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
, southwest London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The producers searched extensively for a suitable pair of houses, eventually chancing on Kewferry Road, Northwood (Google street view http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kewferry+road+northwood&sll=51.616318,-0.43253&sspn=0.00022,0.000585&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Kewferry+Rd,+Northwood+HA6,+United+Kingdom&t=h&layer=c&cbll=51.618354,-0.433914&panoid=RSHGEm-1Dj-sdktbwV94hw&ll=51.618354,-0.433914&spn=0.000219,0.000585&z=21&cbp=12,291.07,,0,15.63, the Leadbetters' house to the left). The grounds of the Goods' house were returned to their prior state after filming of each series' inserts, and livestock removed overnight.
Cast
- Richard BriersRichard BriersRichard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
— Tom Good - Felicity KendalFelicity KendalFelicity Ann Kendal, CBE is an English actor known for her television and stage work.Born in 1946, Kendal spent much of her childhood in India, where her father managed a touring repertory company. First appearing on stage at the age of nine months, Kendal appeared in her first film, Shakespeare...
— Barbara Good - Penelope KeithPenelope KeithPenelope Anne Constance Keith, CBE, DL is an English actress.Having started her television career in the 1950s, Penelope Keith became a household name in the United Kingdom in the 1970s when she played Margo Leadbetter in the sitcom The Good Life...
— Margo Leadbetter (née Sturgess) - Paul EddingtonPaul EddingtonPaul Eddington CBE was an English actor best known for his appearances in popular television sitcoms of the 1970s and 80s: The Good Life, Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Early life:...
— Jeremy "Jerry" Leadbetter - Reginald MarshReginald Marsh (actor)Reginald Marsh was an English actor who is best remembered for starring in many British sitcoms from the 1970s onwards.-Early life and career:...
— Andrew/Sir - Moyra FraserMoyra FraserMoyra Fraser was an Australian-born British actress and ballet dancer, who is best known for playing Penny in the long-running sitcom As Time Goes By. Her sister was the actress Shelagh Fraser...
— Felicity, Sir's wife (series 1)
Plot
On his 40th birthday, Tom Good is no longer able to take his job seriously and gives up work as a draughtsmanTechnical drawing
Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....
for a company that makes plastic
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
toys for breakfast cereal packets. Their house is paid for so he and his wife Barbara adopt a sustainable
Sustainable living
Sustainable living is a lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual's or society's use of the Earth's natural resources and his/her own resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprint by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet...
, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their home in The Avenue, Surbiton
Surbiton
Surbiton, a suburban area of London in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, is situated next to the River Thames, with a mixture of Art-Deco courts, more recent residential blocks and grand, spacious 19th century townhouses blending into a sea of semi-detached 20th century housing estates...
. They turn their front and back gardens into allotment
Allotment (gardening)
An allotment garden, often called simply an allotment, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-professional gardening. Such plots are formed by subdividing a piece of land into a few or up to several hundreds of land parcels that are assigned to individuals or families...
s, growing soft fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s. They introduce chicken
Chicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
s, pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s (Pinky and Perky
Pinky and Perky
Pinky and Perky is an animated children's television series first broadcast by the BBC in 1957, revived in 2008 as a CGI animation.-Original series:...
), a goat (Geraldine) and a cockerel
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
(Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
). They generate their own electricity, using methane
Methane
Methane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
from animal waste, and attempt to make their own clothes. They sell or barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
surplus crops for essentials they cannot make themselves. They cut their monetary requirements to the minimum with varying success.
Their actions horrify their kindly but conventional neighbours, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. Margo and Jerry were intended to be minor characters, but their relationship with one another and the Goods became an essential element. Under the influence of the Goods' homemade wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, called "pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
pod burgundy", the strength of which becomes a running joke, their intermingled attractions for one another become apparent. Both couples are childless.
Tom Good
Tom works as a draughtsman, a job he dislikes. He feels his life is meaningless, nothing more than work and consumption. Becoming self-sufficient is his idea, but Barbara, after concerns, supports him. Tom is determined to succeed at self-sufficiency, and is mostly cheerful about his new lifestyle. Tom is obstinate and pigheaded, often to Barbara's detriment or irritation. During the few times that he is pessimistic, Barbara becomes the optimist.Barbara Good
Barbara is a normal, middle-class housewife when the series begins. While she sometimes wilts under Tom's determined and dominant nature, her sharp tongue puts her on an equal footing. She is the heart of the enterprise, while Tom's engineering brain designs and builds what they need. She yearns for lifestyle and luxuries but her own determination to succeed, with Tom's single-minded persuasion, keeps her going.Jerry Leadbetter
Jerry works for JJM, having joined on the same day as Tom. Through cunning and good self-promotion rather than talent, he has risen to senior managementManagement
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
. He tells Tom he possesses only ten percent of Tom's talent. As the series progresses, he moves to within striking distance of the managing director's job. He is convinced that the go-it-alone attempt would fail and on several occasions pleads with Tom to come back. However, he grows to appreciate the character it has taken for Tom to leave the system. He is henpecked at home but has the strength to put his case.
Margo Leadbetter
Margo is unable to understand her neighbours' life but their friendship is important to her. Margo Sturgess, as she was, was bullied at school for having no sense of humour. A social climber, staunchly ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
and unafraid to challenge anyone who gets on her nerves, Margo also has a heart of gold. She involves herself with organisations such as the Pony Club and the Music Society, always wishing to play the lead role. Margo is occasionally made aware of her faults by others, including her husband, and is not too proud to apologise.
Andrew and Felicity
Andrew, "Andy" or "Sir", is managing director of JJM. He does not know anything about Tom ("Mr Ummm of the Fourth Floor"), but once Tom leaves, Andy becomes desperate to bring Tom back. His wife, Felicity, is more relaxed. She is one of the few characters to support Tom and Barbara and believes trying to be self-sufficient is exciting. She says, "I wanted to do something exciting when I was young, and then I met Andrew and that was the end of that." They have one son, unseen, called Martin. Andrew calls Tom and Barbara "Tim and Fatima", making out he did not remember their names. However, in the episode "Anniversary", he admits he has always known their names but pretends to forget — "an old executive ploy to put people at a disadvantage."Unseen characters
Several characters are mentioned but unseen. Margo is at odds with Miss Dollie Mountshaft, dictatorial leading light of the Music Society. The overweight Mrs Dooms-Paterson is an equally dictatorial acquaintance and a fellow member of the Pony Club. Mr and Mrs. Pearson, the Leadbetters' gardener and housekeeper are mentioned in several episodes.Episodes
The Good Life aired for four series and two specials from 4 April 1975 to 10 June 1978. The final one-off episode, "When I'm Sixty-Five", was a Royal Command PerformanceRoyal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
in front of The Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
, The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
and senior BBC management. The cast and crew were presented to The Queen and Prince Philip after the recording. The episode was originally broadcast in a 45-minute slot with footage either side of the 30-minute episode showing the Royal Party entering and exiting.
Novelisations
Two novelisations of The Good Life were written, both by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. The first, simply entitled The Good Life was published in 1976 by Penguin BooksPenguin Books
Penguin Books is a publisher founded in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane and V.K. Krishna Menon. Penguin revolutionised publishing in the 1930s through its high quality, inexpensive paperbacks, sold through Woolworths and other high street stores for sixpence. Penguin's success demonstrated that large...
, and this novelised the first series. The second book, titled More of The Good Life, was published in 1977 also by Penguin, and featured three episodes from series two and four episodes from series three.
Other countries
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
The Good Life was retitled Good Neighbors, to avoid confusion with a short-lived American sitcom of the same name, and was shown by most PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
stations across the country starting in the early 1980s. By the late 1980s it was rarely seen but returned to PBS stations after the release of select episodes on VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
by CBS/Fox Video
CBS/Fox Video
CBS/Fox Video was a home video company formed and established in 1982, as a merger between 20th Century Fox Video, formerly Magnetic Video Corporation, and CBS Video Enterprises....
in 1998.
After The Good Life
After the success of The Good Life, the three cast members who were little-known beforehand were given their own "vehicles" commissioned by the then Head of Comedy and producer of The Good Life, John Howard DaviesJohn Howard Davies
John Howard Davies was an English television director and producer and former child actor.Davies was born in Paddington, London, the son of the scriptwriter Jack Davies...
. Penelope Keith went on to star alongside Peter Bowles in To the Manor Born
To the Manor Born
To the Manor Born is a British sitcom that first aired on BBC1 from 1979 to 1981. A special edition appeared in 2007. Starring Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, the first 20 episodes and the 2007 special were written by Peter Spence, the creator, while the 1981 finale was written by Christopher...
, which broadcast a year after The Good Life ended. Paul Eddington joined Nigel Hawthorne
Nigel Hawthorne
Sir Nigel Barnard Hawthorne, CBE was an English actor, perhaps best remembered for his role as Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Permanent Secretary in the 1980s sitcom Yes Minister and the Cabinet Secretary in its sequel, Yes, Prime Minister. For this role he won four BAFTA Awards during the 1980s in the...
and Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds
Derek Fowlds is an English actor, known for playing Bernard Woolley in popular British television comedies Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister and Oscar Blaketon in the long-running ITV police drama Heartbeat....
in Yes Minister
Yes Minister
Yes Minister is a satirical British sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn that was first transmitted by BBC Television between 1980–1982 and 1984, split over three seven-episode series. The sequel, Yes, Prime Minister, ran from 1986 to 1988. In total there were 38 episodes—of which all but...
and its follow-up sequel Yes Prime Minister. Felicity Kendal, who had become something of a sex symbol with her tomboy character, complete with wellington boot
Wellington boot
The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, shitkickers, or rainboots are a type of boot based upon leather Hessian boots...
s, went on to join Elspet Gray
Elspet Gray
Elspeth Jean Gray, Baroness Rix is a Scottish actress, known for her work on British television in the 1970s and '80s...
in Solo
Solo (TV series)
Solo is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1981 to 1982. Starring Felicity Kendal, Solo was written by Carla Lane, a writer well known for having previously written the sitcom Butterflies....
, and Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
in The Mistress. Richard Briers later starred alongside Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
and Peter Egan
Peter Egan
Peter Egan is a British actor known for playing smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. He is married to retired actress Myra Frances.-Early life:...
in the popular sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles
Ever Decreasing Circles is a British situation comedy which ran on BBC1 for four series from 1984 to 1989.It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and reunited them with Richard Briers, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies,...
. In 1994 Felicity Kendal and Paul Eddington reunited in the Channel Four adaptation of Mary Wesley
Mary Wesley
Mary Wesley, CBE was an English novelist. During her career, she was one of Britain's most successful novelists, selling three million copies of her books, including 10 best-sellers in the last 20 years of her life.-Background:...
's The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn
The Camomile Lawn is a novel by Mary Wesley about the lives of Richard and Helena Cuthbertson and their five nieces and nephews; Calypso, Walter, Polly, Oliver and Sophy. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the Cornish cliffs in the garden of the main characters' aunt's...
.
In 2003, the BBC broadcast a mockumentary
Mockumentary
A mockumentary , is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself...
entitled Life Beyond the Box: Margo Leadbetter
Life Beyond the Box: Margo Leadbetter
Life Beyond the Box: Margo Leadbetter is a 2003 BBC Television comedy docudrama telling the life of Margo Leadbetter from The Good Life.-Synopsis:The film describes Margo's life since The Good Life finished...
, describing Margo's life since the series had finished, although the original actors appear only in archive footage. In 2007, Briers and Kendal were reunited on ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
series That's What I Call Television in a mock up of the Goods' kitchen.
There are many organic gardening and self-sufficiency movements within the UK who continue to this day to claim that The Good Life was inspirational and influenced their own lifestyle changes. In many ways, the show was years ahead of its time in addressing ideas that were then far from mainstream.
In popular culture
The Good Life features in an episode of The Young OnesThe Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
entitled "Sick
Sick (Young Ones episode)
"Sick" was the eleventh episode of British sitcom The Young Ones. It was written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer, and directed by Geoff Posner...
" where Vyvyan (played by Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Edmondson
Adrian Charles "Ade" Edmondson is an English comedian. He is probably best known for his comedic roles in the television series The Young Ones and Bottom , for which he also wrote together with his long-time collaboration partner Rik Mayall.-Early life:Edmondson, the second of four children, was...
) rips apart the title page after the first 10 seconds of the opening credits of this show while criticising it as being too "bloody nice" and the actors being "Nothing but a couple of reactionary stereotypes confirming the myth that that everyone in Britain is a lovable middle-class eccentric!"
The growth of the hobby farm
Hobby farm
A hobby farm is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are merely to provide some recreational land, and perhaps a few horses for the family's children...
concept has by some been connected to the success of TV shows like The Good Life.
DVD releases
The complete series of The Good Life is available in the US (Region 1) under the title Good Neighbors. Series 1 - 3 were released as a box set in 2005; Series 4 was released in 2006 and includes the Royal Command Performance.The first UK (Region 2) DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release omits two episodes (the first episode from series 1 and one from series 3). http://www.bbcshop.com/Comedy/The-Good-Life-Series-1-DVD/invt/av9771, All four complete series have been re-released in their entirety on 29 March, 24 May, 19 July and 20 September 2010, the complete boxset has also been re-released.
All four series have been released in their entirety in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(Region 4), albeit in NTSC format rather than the PAL format typical in Australia. The series 4 release (on two DVDs) also contains an interview with Richard Briers as well as the Royal Command Performance episode.
External links
- Opening Titles at BBC Cult