Rome Antics

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The Goodies episode
"Rome Antics"
Episode № 43
Airdate 7 April 1975
(Monday — 9.00 pm)
Director
Producer
Guest star(s) Roy Kinnear as the
"Roman Emperor"
Oliver Gilbert as
"Attila the Hun"
Series V
February 10December 21, 1975
  1. The Movies
  2. Clown Virus
  3. Chubbie Chumps
  4. Wacky Wales
  5. Frankenfido
  6. Scatty Safari
  7. Kung Fu Kapers
  8. Lighthouse Keeping Loonies
  9. Rome Antics
  10. Fleet Street Goodies
  11. South Africa
  12. Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms
  13. The End
  14. The Goodies Rule – O.K.?
List of The Goodies episodes


Rome Antics is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In Queen Boadicea's Britain, the Ancient Goodies are wearing animal skins, and Graeme's spectacle frames are made from wooden twigs. They live in a small one-room stone house, which is very dark, and, so that they can have extra light in their house, Bill smashes some of the stones out from a wall with a club to make a hole.

The Romans are gradually taking over England, and even Tim states that the Romans' woad is better quality than the English woad is. Graeme and Bill are horrified at Tim's approval of Roman woad and refuse to touch the stuff — but Tim puts the Roman woad onto his face, anyway.

A Roman soldier arrives at their house on 'foot', and the Goodies hide from him. The soldier, however, turns out to be a messager, and he comments that the Emperor wants the Goodies to go to Rome. The Goodies attempt to ride to Rome on their wooden trandem, but they have trouble with the trandem so they travel to Rome on feet, instead. When they come to a cross-road, with three roads diverging from the one they are on, they are undecided as to which road they should take. However, there is a signpost with the word "Rome" pointing to each of the three roads. Also, the Goodies have a map with the words "All roads lead to Rome", so they decide to take different routes from each other — finally ending up at exactly the same spot as each other, at exactly the same time.

In Rome, the Emperor goes onto a balcony to talk to his subjects, but the Romans do not want to listen to him, and throw fruit and vegetables at him (which the Emperor then picks up, and, looking at the people outside the Palace, he asks them: "Did you throw that? ..... like it!").

The Emperor meets the Goodies and tells them that he wants them to take over the entertainment. When the Emperor later complains about his life, Tim comments that he would like to be Emperor — so the Emperor hands over the position to Tim (who immediately sets up vacation areas all over Rome and intends to invite people from all over to come to Rome). Graeme, who is in charge of entertainment, arranges it, including sending out invitations to people from other lands to come to Rome.

Meanwhile, the Vandals, who have also received the Goodies' invitation to go to Rome, are on the move, burning and pillaging everything in their wake. The Vandals are led by the ferocious and fearsome "Attila the Hun".

The Goodies go to the Colosseum to entertain the spectators, including throwing hoops onto nails, and, in so doing, inadvertently inventing the five Olympic Rings. The Vandals arrive and the Goodies make a hasty retreat away from the area, with Tim carrying a lit torch so they can see their way. As the Goodies run through the streets of Rome, the flaming torch burns clothes which are hanging on clotheslines. Emperor Tim also finds a violin in a glass case, with the words "Break glass in case of fire". Following the instructions, Tim breaks the glass and removes the violin, which he then plays — while, in the distance, the fire, which was accidentally started by Tim's torch, takes hold and burns Rome.

As they run away, life holds one final surprise for the Ancient Goodies.

[edit] Spoofs and imitations

[edit] Trivia

[edit] External link


The Goodies episodes (in alphabetical order)

2001 and a Bit | Alternative Roots | Animals | Animals Are People Too | The Baddies | Big Foot | Black and White Beauty |
Bunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms | Camelot | Caught in the Act | Cecily | Change of Life | Charity Bounce | Chubbie Chumps | Clown Virus |
Come Dancing | Commonwealth Games| | Culture for the Masses | Daylight Robbery on the Orient Express | Dodonuts | Earthanasia | The End |
Farm Fresh Food | Fleet Street Goodies | Football Crazy | For Those in Peril on the Sea | Frankenfido | Gender Education | Give Police a Chance |
The Goodies – Almost Live | Goodies and Politics | The Goodies and the Beanstalk | Goodies in the Nick | The Goodies Rule – O.K.? |
The Greenies | Holiday | Hospital for Hire | Hunting Pink | Hype Pressure | Invasion of the Moon Creatures | It Might as Well Be String |
A Kick in the Arts | Kitten Kong | Kung Fu Kapers | Lighthouse Keeping Loonies | Lips, or Almighty Cod | The Lost Tribe | The Movies |
The Music Lovers | The New Office | Pollution | Punky Business | The Race | Radio Goodies | Robot | Rome Antics | Royal Command |
Saturday Night Grease | Scatty Safari | Scotland | Scoutrageous | Snooze | Snow White 2 | South Africa | The Stone Age | Superstar |
That Old Black Magic | Tower of London | U-Friend or UFO? | Wacky Wales | War Babies | Way Outward Bound | Winter Olympics | Women's Lib |


The GoodiesThe Goodies TV series
Tim Brooke-TaylorGraeme GardenBill Oddie