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The Goodies

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Not an obvious Fortean trio, I'll grant you, but reading the Patrick Moore and Watership Down threads reminded me of the episode where they did vegetarianism and Patrick got killed whilst dressed as a rabbit.

They also did a take on Close Encounters which I quite enjoyed.

Don't think we'll ever see their like again on TV, it's too PC a line which the Goodies could tend to cross. But I still think that The Goodies and the Beanstalk is one of the best TV comedies.
 
Just why don't the BBC repeat them?? Bill oddie once hinted at a conspiracy.
 
Blueswidow said:
Just why don't the BBC repeat them?? Bill oddie once hinted at a conspiracy.
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I think it's down to the content. One show has a joke with regard to 1,000 puppies being sold to an !"£$%^ Resaurant (fine in it's day but a bit risky now). That'd probably receive quite a few complaints. A shame really as 99% of what they did is still top-notch today.
 
Nah, that wouldn't be it. We get much the same sort of thing all the time here. (Less kind people than myself might suggest that there's a lot of derivative material out there.)

In fact, Australia did repeat them regularly until about 15 or so years ago. Much longer than the BBC.

Tim Brooke-Taylor, while visiting for a Goodies Con of all things, also complained that the BBC not only wouldn't repeat them, thus depriving the three of them of repeat royalties, but also wouldn't release them on video (whis is now happening).
 
At least 4 videos, containing 3 episodes each, have been released over the years.

Perhaps the 'Beeb' might still have a bee in their bonnet over 'The Goodies' moving to London Weekend Television during the early 80's.
 
Goodie, Goodie, Yum Yum!

Spike Milligan used to complain quite bitterly about the BBC's lack of interest in giving his old 'Q' series another airing. May have been 'non-PC content,' or the Beeb's famous meaness and laziness in re-negotiating fees and repeat contracts.

"BBC2. Serious About Comedy." The present BBC2 comedy head seems to be a particularily humourless, jobsworth. The few successes they've had recently have been, either ancient repeats (at strange times), or so mysoginistically envenomed, you have to wonder about the agenda. Is it supposed to be 'ART'?

Even the constant looping of 'The Good Life,' is beginning to look like somebody's idea of punishment, or at least, contempt for the viewer.

Bring back Armando Ianucci.
 
Frobush said:
Perhaps the 'Beeb' might still have a bee in their bonnet over 'The Goodies' moving to London Weekend Television during the early 80's.
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I've a bee in my bonnet about that too. At the Beeb they were side-achingly funny (didn't some guy laugh so hard he had a heart attack and died watching the 'Eccie Thump' episode?), then they went to London Weekend for -like- one series that barely raised the slightest grin during its entire run. IIRC, they changed the entire format of what they were doing, eschewing the sub-Python insanity, the ridiculous dialogue, the music and the speeded up camera-work in favour of something like plot and subtlety. And either it just didn't work (ie. wasn't funny), or the audience just weren't willing to give it a proper go. Moral: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
Re: Goodie, Goodie, Yum Yum!

AndroMan said:
Even the constant looping of 'The Good Life,' is beginning to look like somebody's idea of punishment, or at least, contempt for the viewer.

Bring back Armando Ianucci.
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After a while even Felicity can't carry that show. At least, not fully dressed.

(Armando Ianucci was last seen on The 99p Challenge on Radio 4. Not currently airing. I tell you, if it weren't for Radio 4 audio on demand, I'd be stuck with endless repeats of The Clitheroe Kid on Radio National.)
 
I heard Tim Brooke-Taylor on the radio a few months ago. He said that the BBC had been considering re-running the Goodies, but the idea was cancelled when the current head of programming took over. Seems she simply doesn’t like it.
 
One of my earliest memories is watching The Goodies in the early seventies being bombed by a goose with golden eggs! I must of been about 4 years old and thats stayed with me for 30 years!
Another thing about The Goodies was the design of the name - it was the same design as Spangles! It always made me smile!
On a slightly fortean note, about 10 years ago there was a display of Spangles in my local Woolworths! I hadn't seen them for years, and yet the next time I went in, it was gone! Was it just a nostalgic dream, or an early-seventies flashback?
 
The giant kitten! The highlight of my childhood viewing memories!And didn't they have a home computer too?

Re spangles-I think they were re released by Woolies about ten years ago but din't attract enough interest to keep them going.
 
I used to like the Old English flavour spangles.

Carole
 
carole said:
I used to like the Old English flavour spangles.

Carole
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Ooooh!

Major salivation event.... :D

Back to the Goodies ... anyone else remember the one when aliens were turning everyone into Scots, so that they could win Wimbledon - everyone knows Scots are crap at tennis....

The kitten up the PO tower... Ecky Thump... The funky gibbon!...

Yes, the Goodies nowadays are definitely not PC - and I, personally, don't give a shit... BRING BACK THE GOODIES!!!!!
 
Agree entirely!

Apart from anything else The Goodies was partly responsible for forming my sense of humour: was allowed to watch it at the tender age of about seven, which proved invaluable when I was first adjudged ready to see Monty Python (at about eight :)).

Yeah, bring back The Goodies, and bring them back now!
 
DerekH said:
Back to the Goodies ... anyone else remember the one when aliens were turning everyone into Scots, so that they could win Wimbledon - everyone knows Scots are crap at tennis....
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Aye! Laddie! But, it wuz actually the terrrrible Monty Python team, taking the piss out of their Scots producer (Ian Naughton?), and spoofing SciFi 'B' movies, at the same time.

Weren't the aliens, blancmanges and this couple had to eat them all? :p
 
The Goodies, Milligan's 'Q' series, and Kenny Everett - all great stuff apparently not worth repeating on terrestrial TV, let alone putting onto video/DVD :rolleyes: I also tire of the endless 'The Good Life' reruns - I'm with what Vyvyan from the 'The Young Ones' says about it all:

NO!! No! We're not watching the bloody Good Life!! Bloody bloody bloody!! I hate it!! It's so bloody nice! Felicity 'Treacle' Kendall and Richard 'Sugar-Flavored-Snot' Briars!! What do they do now?! Chocolate bloody Button ads, that's what!! They're just a couple of reactionary stereotypes, confirming the myth that everyone in Britain is a lovable, middle-class eccentric - and I - HATE - THEM!!

:D
 
The one thing that sticks with me about Kitten Kong is the way that this little kitten was wandering through London, wreaking devastation wherever it went, and the audience still responded with Pavlovian "Awwwwww"s at how cute it was.

And it was pretty funny.

It is unlikely we will see anything like it again. Or, if we do, it's going to be such a rip-off it will be unwatchable.
 
Helen said:
They're due to come out on DVD soon, IIRC.
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Finally, the DVD is out this week. Which high street store is selling at at the cheapest price?
 
Jersey based PLAY.COM are selling it for £17.99 postage free in the UK. That's £7 off the RRP.
 
The plot synopses bring back a few memories

Disc 1
TOWER OF LONDON
1st BBC Transmission: 8 November 1970
The Goodies' first assignment is to find out who is stealing the Beefeaters' beef - and more importantly, why? To steal the crown jewels is the answer, but when the Goodies set a trap, the burglar turns out to be the last person they'd suspect.
Guest Cast:
George Baker
Music by Bill Oddie & Michael Gibbs
Film Direction by Jim Franklin
Produced by John Howard-Davis

GENDER EDUCATION
1st BBC Transmission: 31 December 1971
Mrs. Desiree Carthorse asks the Goodies to produce a "Gender Education Film", but dismisses it as too rude without even watching it (her usual practice). Bill rebels against the sheer niceness of it all and begins producing video nasties for the BBC - until he blows up the BBC Television Centre.
Guest Cast: Beryl Reid, Richard Wattis
Film Direction by Jim Franklin
Produced by John Howard-Davis

KITTEN KONG
Montreux '72 Special
1st BBC Transmission: 9 April 1972
The Goodies are running a veterinary clinic, and Graeme develops a super pet food to boost the animals' health - and the size of a hitherto harmless fluffy little kitten.
Guest Cast: Michael Aspel, Corbet Woodall, Milton Reid
Music by Bill Oddie & Michael Gibbs
Film Direction by Jim Franklin
Produced by John Howard-Davis

GOODIES AND BEANSTALK
1st BBC Transmission: 24 December 1973
Cricklewood, 1973: Poverty stricken, the Goodies sell their trandem for a tin of beans - which, when planted, grows into a giant beanstalk leading up Mt Everest to the giant's castle where golden eggs are laid. But before the Goodies can become rich, they must battle with the Giant.
Guest Cast: Alfie Bass, Eddie Waring, John Cleese, Corbet Woodall, Arthur Ellis
Music by Bill Oddie & Michael Gibbs
Produced by Jim Franklin


Disc 2
KUNG FU CAPERS
1st BBC Transmission: 24 March 1975
Bill reveals he is a master of the ancient Lancashire martial art of Ecky-Thump. The effectiveness of Ecky- Thump leads to a craze sweeping the nation, which Bill intends to exploit by taking over t'Parliament. The only way to stop him is by adding remote control his secret weapon - black puddings.
Guest Cast: Michael Barratt
Music by Bill Oddie and Michael Gibbs
Produced by Jim Franklin

LIGHTHOUSE KEEPING LOONIES
1st BBC Transmission: 31 March 1975
The Goodies are employed for a little light house keeping, and are subsequently stranded in a lighthouse. When they run out of oil for the lamp they dig for some - and send the lighthouse into orbit.
Guest Cast: Corbet Woodall, Patrick Moore
Music by Bill Oddie and Michael Gibbs
Produced by Jim Franklin

EARTHANASIA
1st BBC Transmission: 22 December 1977
To solve the world's problems, it is agreed to blow it up at midnight on Christmas Eve. The Goodies spend their last minutes trying to come to terms with their inner feelings and forgetting a mass of birthdays.
Music by Bill Oddie & Dave McRae
Production Jim Franklin, Bob Spiers

SATURDAY NIGHT GREASE
1st BBC Transmission: 21 January 1980
Tim is locked up after touching a woman at a disco, against the no mixed dancing rules. Bill's Disco Bilius (so exclusive that there are no patrons) runs a mixed dancing competition so that, as there will be no competitors, the prize money put up by the BBC willdefault to Bill. But the BBC is hanging onto it's money, so Tim is bailed out to win the prize for him.
Music by Bill Oddie & Dave McRae
Production Jim Franklin, Bob Spiers
 
Damn my new credit card arrives the same day as The Goodies come out....somebody tell me not to buy it, I can't really afford it but I really, really want it!
 
Re: Androman's comment about a month ago

So, Androman, now they have brought back Armando Ianucci, what did you think?
 
Hmmm DVD *drool*

Somebody help me, for I am but a weak Goodies fan.:(

Blues: Don't buy it! (did that help?)
 
Hahaha, I remember John Cleese as a genie in the 'Beanstalk' episode refusing to give the Goodies any wishes and taunting them with the words 'Kids' programme!'

I was about 12 when the Goodies were first on TV and my brother and I used to be on our VERY best behaviour towards 'Goodies' time.

I saw a satty TV prog about Bill Oddie's songwriting career a few months back. He wrote all the Goodies' songs and several of them charted. The Goodies on Top Of The Pops doing 'Funky Gibbon'........ Lordy.................
 
Re: Hmmm DVD *drool*

Originally posted by Caroline [/i

Blues: Don't buy it! (did that help?)
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No, I brought it......its great, brings it all back, i now realise that I was always a little bit in love with Graham Garden. He had it all, intelligence, wit, talent *sigh*
 
Blues, Graeme doesn't go for the likes of you (or me!)

Don't you remember him in soft focus, skipping ecstatically through the meadows with his beloved computer- which was the size of an upright piano?

I too liked him best. He is a doctor and sometimes works as a GP.
What a great doctor to have- you could tell when he was in because the trandem would be outside!
 
Slight tangent...

Just discovered that 1970s editions of I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again are being repeated on BB7 (digital radio) at 12:30 on a Friday at the moment. Cast includes all 3 Goodies plus John Cleese -amongst others- and today at least the script was by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.

And it featured the Bill Oddie song Cactus In My Y-Fronts, which I hadn't heard since it was used on an ep. of The Goodies! I hear nothing Goodies-related for nearly 2 decades until I start reading this thread, and then BAM! I'm suddenly tripping over Goodies-related stuff.

Meanwhile the current FT has a piece on Jung and Synchronicity...
 
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