Alternative Roots

"Alternative Roots"
The Goodies episode
Episode no. Series 7
Episode 58 (of 76)
Produced by
Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor
Graeme Garden
Bill Oddie
Original air date 1 November 1977
(Tuesday — 9 p.m.)
Guest stars

Bryan Pringle as the "Tourmaster"
Charlie Stewart as "..."
Stuart Fell as "..."
Max Faulkner as "..."
John Melainey as "..."
Brian Rogers as "..."
Kenneth Warwick as a "..."
The Fred Tomlinson Singers

Series 7 episodes
1 November – 22 December 1977
  1. Alternative Roots
  2. Dodonuts
  3. Scoutrageous
  4. Punky Business
  5. Royal Command
  6. Earthanasia
List of The Goodies episodes

Alternative Roots is an episode of the British comedy television series The Goodies — a BAFTA-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.[1][2][3]

This episode is also known as "The Goodies Find Their Roots" and "Hoots, Toots and Froots".

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

Contents

Prologue

During the episode, the Goodies also appear as their ancestors:

Plot

The Goodies tell of the time when their ancestors were young men, and how their ancestors met for the first time.

Graeme's family were Highlanders who lived in bleak conditions in Scotland, where initiation of the young men of the village included being dunked in porridge and catching a wild sporran. Bill's Northern England family sold fruit. Tim, whose ancestors were also English, concludes that they were noble, because the family had its own Coat-of-Arms; Bill reinterprets the Coat of Arms and shows Tim that his ancestors were in fact sheep stealers. None of the Goodies ancestors knew each other at this time.

Then, a bus went around the United Kingdom, taking up all of the young men of the villages — first of all Graeme's ancestor 'Keltic Kilty' was rounded up, with all of the other young men from his village — then Bill's ancestor 'Kinda Kinky' was rounded up, with all of the other young men from his village — and, finally, Tim's ancestor 'Kounty Kutie' was rounded up, with all the other young men in the same sheep 'trade'.

All of the young men who had been captured were then put up for auction as entertainers, and eventually everyone had been bought — apart from 'Kounty Kutie', 'Keltic Kilty' and 'Kinda Kinky', who were forced to work together as entertainers, including on "The Black and White Minstrel Show".

Spoofs and cultural references

References

  1. ^ Light Entertainment Production nomination — official BAFTA website
  2. ^ Best Light Entertainment Programme nomination — official BAFTA website
  3. ^ Information is given, by the BBC, about the BAFTA-nomination on the back of the "The GOODIES ... At Last ... Back for More, Again!" DVD cover.

External links