The Goodies

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The Goodies

The Goodies — (left to right)
Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden
a screenshot from the title sequence
of the BBC TV series
Nationality: British
Genre: Sketch comedy, Surreal humour
Media
Television, Theatre, Audio Recordings
Years active
(1970-1982) (2005-)
Members
Tim Brooke-Taylor
Graeme Garden
Bill Oddie
Notable works
The Goodies television series (1970-1982)
The Goodies — stage shows (2005-)
Other notable works
(starring all three Goodies)
I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again (1964-1973) (25th anniversary special 1989)
Broaden Your Mind (1968)
Official website
The Official Goodies Rule — OK!
This article discusses the Goodies trio and the origins of their comedy TV series
For information about the television series, see The Goodies (TV series)

The Goodies are a trio of British comedians (Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie), who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.

Contents

[edit] Cambridge University

The three actors in The Goodies met as students at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, where Tim Brooke-Taylor was studying law, Graeme Garden was studying medicine, and Bill Oddie was studying English. It was as undergraduate students at the University that Tim, Bill and Graeme also met John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle, who would later become founding members of Monty Python. This group of students became close friends and studied together, including Tim Brooke-Taylor and John Cleese (who were both law students, but at different colleges within the university) swapping lecture notes, which gave them a more complete perspective on mutual subjects than they would have if they had only studied with their own colleges. They all became members of the prestigious Cambridge University Footlights Club, with Tim Brooke-Taylor becoming president in 1963, and with Graeme Garden succeeding Tim as president in 1964.[1] [2]

Graeme Garden was himself succeeded as the Footlights Club president in 1965 by Eric Idle, who had initially become aware of the Footlights Club when he auditioned for a Pembroke College "smoker" for Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie.

[edit] Career before The Goodies

Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie were cast members of the highly successful 1960s BBC radio comedy show I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which also featured John Cleese, David Hatch and Jo Kendall, and lasted until 1973. I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again resulted from the successful 1963 Cambridge University Footlights Club revue A Clump of Plinths. After having its title changed to Cambridge Circus, the revue went on to play at West End in London, England, followed by a tour of New Zealand and Broadway in New York, United States of America (including an appearance on the top rating Ed Sullivan Show).

They also took part in various TV shows with other people, including Tim Brooke-Taylor in At Last the 1948 Show (with John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman), and Tim Brooke-Taylor taking part in Marty (with Marty Feldman, John Junkin and Roland MacLeod). Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie took part in Twice a Fortnight (with Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Jonathan Lynn), before Tim, Bill and Graeme worked on the late 1960s TV show Broaden Your Mind (of which only about ten minutes survives).

[edit] The Goodies television series

The Goodies was created and co-written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie.

The music for the show was written by Bill Oddie, and The Goodies' theme music was co-written by Bill Oddie and Michael Gibbs. The show also benefited greatly from the input of director Bob Spiers.

The television series ran from November 1970 to February 1982 on BBC 2, with 70 episodes, mostly thirty minutes in length except for two forty-five minute Christmas specials (The Goodies and the Beanstalk and The Goodies Rule – O.K.?). The costume designer for this episode was famous BBC costume designer Dee Robson.

It was one of the first shows in the UK to use chroma key and one of the first to use stop-motion techniques in a live action format. Other effects include hand editing for repeated movement, mainly used to make animals "talk" or "sing", and play speed effects as used in the episode "Kitten Kong".

The threesome travelled around on, and frequently fell off, a three-seater bicycle called the trandem.[3][4] One of these trandems was later cycled across Africa, a trip immortalised in the resultant book Three Men on a Bike.

Although The Goodies are well known for performing spectacular but comedic stunts, it was Tim Brooke-Taylor who performed most of them.

The Goodies was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1976, as the Best Light Entertainment Programme, but lost out to Fawlty Towers.

The Goodies never had a formal contract with the BBC, and when the BBC Light Entertainment budget for 1980 was exhausted by the production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy TV series, they signed a contract with London Weekend Television for ITV. However, after one half-hour Christmas special ("Snow White 2") in 1981, and a six-part series in early 1982, the series was cancelled. In recent interviews the cast suggest the reasons were mainly economic — a typical Goodies sketch was more expensive than it appeared.

[edit] TV series: releases and repeats

[edit] In Britain
The Goodies' humour earned it an unfair reputation as a "children's" programme
The Goodies' humour earned it an unfair reputation as a "children's" programme

Unlike most long-running BBC comedy series, The Goodies has not enjoyed extensive repeats on terrestrial television in the UK, the BBC in fact refusing to allow them since 1986 because the controller of the BBC during the 1980s did not personally like the series. The series also appeals to children for its visual humour, with the result that, in Britain, it is often incorrectly described as a children's programme. Therefore, the series has never enjoyed the same artistic respect as contemporaries such as Peter Cook and the Monty Python team. Also, when the BBC released two videos of the series in the 1990s, the BBC did not seem enthusiastic about promoting them.

In the late 1980s, the pan-European satellite-channel Super Channel broadcast a couple of episodes and the short-lived Comedy Channel broadcast some of the later Goodies episodes in the early 1990s. Later UK Gold screened many of the earlier episodes, often with commercial timing cuts. The same episodes subsequently aired on UK Arena, also cut. When UK Arena became UK Drama, later UKTV Drama, The Goodies was dropped along with its other comedy and documentary shows.

The cast finally took matters into their own hands and arranged for the release of a digitally-remastered "best of" selection entitled The Goodies ... At Last on VHS and Region 0 DVD in April, 2003. A second volume, The Goodies ... At Last a Second Helping was released on Region 2 in February, 2005. Series 9 was released on Region 2 as The Goodies - The Complete LWT Series on 26 March 2007.

They also presented the Christmas 1976 Disney Time from the toy department of Selfridges store in London. It was broadcast on Boxing Day at 5.50pm.

In 2004, an episode of the BBC documentary series Comedy Connections was devoted to the Goodies.

Christmas 2005 saw a 90-minute Goodies special, including a documentary about the series, Return of the Goodies, broadcast on BBC Two. However, only clips of the series were shown, rather than any full episodes.

Early on in 2006 a single episode about the Winter Olympics was broadcast on BBC Two but was not followed by any more.

In February 2007, the 1982 LWT series was repeated on pay-TV channel Paramount 2.

[edit] In Australia

In Australia, the series has had continued popularity and many Australians are surprised to learn of its absence from British screens. It was repeated through the 1970s and 1980s by the ABC — although, as the show was typically broadcast in the 25-minute 5:30 p.m. children's timeslot (6.00 p.m. in Queensland), portions often had to be cut. The unedited episodes were repeated frequently on the pay television channel UK.TV during the 1990s and early 2000s. The DVDs are available in Australia under different titles to the UK releases: The Goodies: 8 Delicious Episodes and The Goodies: A Tasty Second Helping, respectively. The Goodies' DVDs are also available in a box set with a commemorative booklet (The Goodies: The Tasty Box). This collection contains the same 16 episodes as the original two DVD releases but with additional material such as commentaries on several episodes and the original scripts of some episodes in PDF format. Picture quality has been greatly improved using digital restoration techniques and the episode Come Dancing, which was originally thought to only have survived in black and white, is presented in low-band colour from a chroma-keyed video recording. The Comedy Channel Picked up the rights to The Goodies. These started Sunday 25 November, at 10pm AEST as part of the Best of British Comedy Block, and again on Sunday 2 December, then from Monday. The Goodies move to the 4pm timeslot on Mondays-Fridays, excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Eve.

[edit] In the United States and Canada

In the United States, the series was shown widely in syndication during the late 1970s and early 1980s, but has been little seen since. It was shown also on PBS stations, sometimes in tandem with Monty Python's Flying Circus. The series was also shown in Canada on the CBC national broadcast network during those same years, in the traditional "after school" timeslot.

[edit] In Germany

In Germany, The Goodies was shown in the late seventies as part of the variety show Engelbert and the Young Generation. The show was dubbed into German, and, because the jokes were more visual than dialogue based, it translated very well.

[edit] Episode List

Main article: List of The Goodies episodes

[edit] Goodies books

As well as being very successful on the TV screen, in their heyday The Goodies also produced successful books, e.g.:

  • The Goodies File
  • The Goodies Book of Criminal Records
  • The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie

[edit] Goodies songs

The Goodies also had a string of successful chart singles penned by the musically talented Oddie.

In 1975, they chalked up five hit singles in twelve months including "The Inbetweenies" and "Funky Gibbon" (both songs are performed during the episode "The Goodies – Almost Live".

"Funky Gibbon" reached number 4 in the charts in Britain, and The Goodies made an appearance on Top of the Pops with the song. They also performed it during the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick).

[edit] Other collaborations

Tim Brooke-Taylor was a writer/performer on the television comedy series At Last the 1948 Show (which also included John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman in the cast), in which Bill Oddie guest starred in some of the episodes. The famous "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch was co-written by the four writers/performers of the series — Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Marty Feldman. The sketch was one of the few that survived the destruction of the series (by the tapes being wiped), by David Frost's Paradine Productions (which produced the series). The sketch appears on the DVD of At Last the 1948 Show. It is fortunate that any episodes remain after their wholesale destruction — and these were only saved because John Cleese discovered to his horror that the tapes for "At Last the 1948 Show" were being destroyed and fought to save the remaining five episodes from suffering the same fate. There were originally thirteen episodes of the series altogether — so more than half of the series have been lost to posterity (all the surviving material was released on DVD in 2005).

Tim Brooke-Taylor was a cast member of the television comedy series Marty with Marty Feldman and John Junkin — a compilation of the two series of Marty has been released on a DVD with the title of It's Marty.

Brooke-Taylor was also a cast member of John Cleese's special How to Irritate People.

Along with John Junkin and Barry Cryer, Brooke-Taylor was a regular cast member of the long running Radio 2 comedy sketch show Hello, Cheeky!, which ran from 1973 to 1979. The series also transferred to Yorkshire Television for two series in 1975 and 1976.

Tim Brooke-Taylor also appeared on BBC's hospital comedy TLC, as well as the sitcoms You Must Be The Husband (with Diane Keen and Sheila Steafel), and Me and My Girl (with Richard O'Sullivan and Joan Sanderson). He also played in a televised pro-celebrity golf match opposite Bruce Forsyth.

Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie were writers/performers on the television comedy series Twice a Fortnight (which also included Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Jonathan Lynn in the cast).

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden were writers/performers on the television comedy series Broaden Your Mind, with Bill Oddie joining them for the second series.

The three writers and performers also collaborated on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman, where they played various (voice) roles.

Bill Oddie has occasionally appeared on the BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, on which Garden and Brooke-Taylor are regular panellists.

Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie worked on the television comedy Doctor in the House: they co-wrote most of the first series and all of the second.

In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central and ITV. The show was set in an international space station in the near future.

Garden was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World. Brooke-Taylor appeared as a guest in one episode, and during the game "I Couldn't Disagree More" he proposed that it was high time The Goodies episodes were repeated. Garden was obliged by the rules of the game to refute this statement, and replied "I couldn't disagree more...it was time to repeat them ten, fifteen years ago." This was followed by uproarious applause from the studio audience.

In 2004, Garden and Brooke-Taylor were co-presenters of Channel 4's daytime game show Beat the Nation, in which they indulged in usual game show "banter", but took the quiz itself seriously. Oddie hosts a very successful series of nature programmes for the BBC.

[edit] Goodies reunion shows

[edit] 2005 Australian reunion shows

The trio reunited in Australia for The Goodies (Still A)Live on Stage as part of Sydney's Big Laugh Comedy Festival in March 2005. The show toured the country, visiting Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra and selling out most of the 13 performances. [5]

A further Australian tour by the Goodies, sans Bill, took place during November and December 2005. [6]

[edit] 2006 UK reunion shows

Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden took their Goodies Live show to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe festival. The show was similar to the second leg of the Goodies Australian tour, with Bill Oddie participating via video (due to his many filming commitments).[7]

The show was performed at the Paramount Comedy Festival in Brighton in October [8]

[edit] Cultural influence

 This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (June 2007)

It may be argued that The Goodies' antics brought the surrealist adventure traditions of The Goon Show to the television screen without diverting into areas of coarseness or topical satire to the same extent as other British television series like Till Death Us Do Part, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Not Only But Also, Not the Nine O'Clock News or, much later, The Young Ones. There were satirical episodes of The Goodies including: "South Africa" (apartheid) — "Punky Business" (punk) — and "Gender Education" (satirising Mary Whitehouse's influence on television).

The Goodies appealed to adults on an intellectual level, and also had a level of appeal to children as a consequence of its visual humour and slapstick. Although there are similarities to the television series The Monkees, with the group members employing music, slapstick comedy, bad puns and camera tricks; and all living in the same house together and working together — a tradition also borne out of the films of The Beatles — The Goodies owes nothing to either. Instead, the comedy of The Goodies originated with the Cambridge University Footlights Club's revues.[1][2]

The Official Goodies fan club's (Goodies Rule-OK!) newsletter, is called the Clarion & Globe. It was named after the newspaper in The Goodies' episode "Fleet Street Goodies" (a.k.a. "Cunning Stunts").

During the 1970s Cor!! comic, released by Fleetway publications, had a Goodies comics strip. When the comic later merged with Buster, the Goodies did not move across, although the TV show was still running.

Stella, an American trio, has a show on Comedy Central that is very similar to The Goodies in terms of basic plot line — with the trio even riding a tandem. The television series premiered in the United States on June 28, 2005.

Australian rock band Spiderbait released an album and EP that had a rocked up fast cover version of the Goodies song "Run".

Australian theatre company Shaolin Punk produced a short play titled "A Record or an OBE", written by Melbourne comedian and actor Ben McKenzie, and featuring Tim and Graeme as characters. Set in 1975, the two remaining Goodies struggle to carry on after Bill leaves the group to pursue a music career. The play premiered in the 2007 Melbourne Fringe Festival, where it was highly commended in the Comedy category, and will also be performed for the Adelaide Fringe and Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2008.[9]

[edit] Fatal effect

On 24 March 1975 Alex Mitchell, a 50-year-old bricklayer from King's Lynn literally died laughing while watching an episode of The Goodies. According to his wife, who was a witness, Mitchell was unable to stop laughing whilst watching a sketch in the episode "Kung Fu Kapers" in which Tim Brooke-Taylor, dressed as a kilted Scotsman, used a set of bagpipes to defend himself from a black pudding-wielding Bill Oddie (master of the ancient Lancastrian martial art "Ecky-Thump") in a demonstration of the Scottish martial art of "Hoots-Toot-ochaye." After twenty-five minutes of continuous laughter Mitchell finally slumped on the settee and died from heart failure. His widow later sent the Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchell's final moments so pleasant.[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980' — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.
  2. ^ a b Footlights! — 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' — Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd, 1983.
  3. ^ The Goodies Still Alive on Stage - the Official Souvenir Program - Australian Tour 2002
  4. ^ "The Penguin TV Companion" (2nd Edition) — Jeff Evans, Penguin Books Ltd., London, 2003
  5. ^ "Laughs to the Power of Three" — Sydney Morning Herald
  6. ^ "The Second Australian Tour" — The Goodies official website
  7. ^ Goodies Live Show at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival — The Goodies official website
  8. ^ Paramount Comedy Festival in Brighton — The Goodies official website
  9. ^ McKenzie, Ben. Shaolin Punk >> A Record or an OBE. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
  10. ^ Death by Laughing
  11. ^ The Complete Goodies — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000.
  12. ^ Man Dies Laughing at The Goodies, "Daily Mail", London (29 March 1975)
  13. ^ A Goodies Way to Go — Laughing, "Eastern Daily Press", Norwich (29 March 1975)
  14. ^ Slapstick! The Illustrated Story of Knockabout Comedy — Tony Staveacre, Angus & Robinson 1987

[edit] Further reading

  • The Complete Goodies — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
  • The Goodies Rule OK — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
  • TV Heaven — Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, HarperCollinsPublishers, London, 2005

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

The Goodies — The Goodies TV series
Tim Brooke-Taylor — Graeme Garden — Bill Oddie