On his fortieth birthday, Tom Good ( Richard Briers ), top draughtsman for J.J.M. ( skilled but unambitious - he has never risen above the fourth floor while his friend and colleague Jerry Leadbeatter is on the seventh ), celebrates at home with wife Barbara ( Felicity Kendal ). Something is troubling him. Bored with the rat race, he wants to 'break the circle', and work at the job of life itself. This means growing vegetables, keeping pigs and chickens, making one's own clothes, building a generator etc. Another woman would tell him to go to hell but Barbara, ever the devoted wife, is fully supportive.
When Jerry ( Paul Eddington ) offers Tom a lift to work the next day, he refuses, and begins planting potatoes on the front lawn. Barbara yells out of a window that the goat will be arriving later that day.
So began the hugely popular John Esmonde and Bob Larbey-scripted sitcom 'The Good Life', their first for the B.B.C. after years of working for L.W.T. The premise - people quitting the rat race to become self-sufficient - was not original. Sid James and Victor Spinetti did the same thing six years earlier in 'Two In Clover'. But where 'Clover' was set on a farm, Tom and Barbara stayed in Surbiton, bringing them into conflict with the local snobs, most notably the Goods' fearsome neighbour Margo ( Penelope Keith ). In fairness there was also affection between the couples; when the Goods' crops were deluged in a storm, the Leadbeatters graciously helped harvest them. If Esmonde and Larbey had had them at each others throats the whole time ( which logically is what should have have happened ) you would then have got 'Love Thy Neighbour Mark Two'. Thankfully, the writers avoided sitcom clichés.
As the series progressed, Margo grew in stature, often stealing the show, particularly with her ongoing war with 'Mrs.Dooms-Patterson' ( whom we never saw ). In 'The Windbreak War', she got drunk and admitted she was humourless. Less amusing though was her patronising attitude to the working classes, most notably Timothy Bateson's 'Mr.Bailey' in the same episode. Like Alf Garnett, a section of the audience were laughing with her rather than at her.
The performances were uniformly excellent; for me Eddington's smarmy but likable 'Jerry' was the stand-out. In one episode, Margo told him of her awful experiences at a pottery class, and he had to stuff a hankie in his mouth to stop himself laughing. In 'The Thing In The Cellar', his jealousy at Tom's never needing to pay another electricity bill was unmistakable ( he got his revenge at the end though ). Felicity Kendal became an unlikely sex symbol because of this show; it must have been those dungarees! Reginald Marsh was also good as Tom's old boss 'Sir'.
The Queen was a 'Good Life' fan ( and attended the recording of one episode ), and in normal circumstances that fact alone would automatically turn me against it but for once I side with her. One person who was not was Ade Edmondson who famously ranted about it in 'The Young Ones'. Do you think The Queen should have invited him to Buck House to take tea and watch a few episodes?
When Jerry ( Paul Eddington ) offers Tom a lift to work the next day, he refuses, and begins planting potatoes on the front lawn. Barbara yells out of a window that the goat will be arriving later that day.
So began the hugely popular John Esmonde and Bob Larbey-scripted sitcom 'The Good Life', their first for the B.B.C. after years of working for L.W.T. The premise - people quitting the rat race to become self-sufficient - was not original. Sid James and Victor Spinetti did the same thing six years earlier in 'Two In Clover'. But where 'Clover' was set on a farm, Tom and Barbara stayed in Surbiton, bringing them into conflict with the local snobs, most notably the Goods' fearsome neighbour Margo ( Penelope Keith ). In fairness there was also affection between the couples; when the Goods' crops were deluged in a storm, the Leadbeatters graciously helped harvest them. If Esmonde and Larbey had had them at each others throats the whole time ( which logically is what should have have happened ) you would then have got 'Love Thy Neighbour Mark Two'. Thankfully, the writers avoided sitcom clichés.
As the series progressed, Margo grew in stature, often stealing the show, particularly with her ongoing war with 'Mrs.Dooms-Patterson' ( whom we never saw ). In 'The Windbreak War', she got drunk and admitted she was humourless. Less amusing though was her patronising attitude to the working classes, most notably Timothy Bateson's 'Mr.Bailey' in the same episode. Like Alf Garnett, a section of the audience were laughing with her rather than at her.
The performances were uniformly excellent; for me Eddington's smarmy but likable 'Jerry' was the stand-out. In one episode, Margo told him of her awful experiences at a pottery class, and he had to stuff a hankie in his mouth to stop himself laughing. In 'The Thing In The Cellar', his jealousy at Tom's never needing to pay another electricity bill was unmistakable ( he got his revenge at the end though ). Felicity Kendal became an unlikely sex symbol because of this show; it must have been those dungarees! Reginald Marsh was also good as Tom's old boss 'Sir'.
The Queen was a 'Good Life' fan ( and attended the recording of one episode ), and in normal circumstances that fact alone would automatically turn me against it but for once I side with her. One person who was not was Ade Edmondson who famously ranted about it in 'The Young Ones'. Do you think The Queen should have invited him to Buck House to take tea and watch a few episodes?