That Old Black Magic (The Goodies)

"That Old Black Magic"
The Goodies episode
Episode no. Series 3
Episode 26 (of 76)
Directed by Bob Spiers
Produced by

Jim Franklin

Starring Tim Brooke-Taylor
Graeme Garden
Bill Oddie
Original air date 25 February 1973
(Sunday — 8.15 p.m.)
Guest stars
Patricia Hayes as
"Hazel the Witch"
Series 3 episodes
List of The Goodies episodes

That Old Black Magic 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 "Black Magic" and as "Which Witch is Which?.

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

Contents

Plot

A witch named Hazel comes to the Goodies office, commenting that one of them has the power and that she wants to hold a séance with them so that she can conjure up spirits of humans instead of spirits of animals (which have been her only success). The Goodies think that she is a lunatic — but they decide to hold the séance she has requested, and to play tricks on her. During the séance with Hazel, Graeme unexpectedly becomes possessed by an evil force.

Graeme starts a coven, and Tim and Bill become worried about their public image, because Graeme is continuing to wear his "Goodies T-shirt". Looking around the coven area, Tim and Bill notice a sign with the words "Virgins wanted". Later, wanting to stop Graeme, they arrive, pretending to be the sacrificial virgins that Graeme has advertised for, and wearing long white dresses and long blonde wigs (Graeme complains about their appearance but decides to let them in anyway). Graeme, who has now changed his clothes, does some magic tricks and then, just as he is about to carry out the sacrifice of the two "virgins", Hazel arrives and casts a spell over him, and the evil spirit leaves Graeme's body — only to be replaced by that of a spirit of a very lively and active Gibbon, which Tim and Bill find difficult to capture.

When Graeme is eventually captured, Hazel is able to get the gibbon spirit to leave his body and he returns to normal. Then, tearing the pages from her book of spells, Hazel states that she will never use magic again, but her words are short-lived — Tim and Bill having also become unexpectedly possessed by spirits.

Song written and sung by Bill Oddie

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