| The Goodies |
|---|
The Goodies — (left to right) |
| 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. William Edgar Oddie, OBE (born 7 July 1941 is an English Actor, Writer, Comedian, Natural history Presenter Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (born 17 July 1940) is an English comic Actor known in Britain and Australia as a member of The Goodies David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a British Actor, Writer, Presenter Nationality is a relationship between a Person and their State of Origin, Culture, association Affiliation and/or Loyalty The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Sketch comedy consists of a series of short Comedy scenes or vignettes called "sketches" commonly between one and ten minutes long Surreal humour is a form of humour, laughingly in a style related to the artistic ambitions of the surrealists, based on bizarre Juxtapositions absurd situations Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (born 17 July 1940) is an English comic Actor known in Britain and Australia as a member of The Goodies David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a British Actor, Writer, Presenter William Edgar Oddie, OBE (born 7 July 1941 is an English Actor, Writer, Comedian, Natural history Presenter This article discusses The Goodies comedy television series For information about the formation of The Goodies group and for information I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again (often abbreviated ISIRTA was a BBC Radio comedy programme that originated from the Cambridge University Broaden Your Mind ( 1968 &ndash 1969) was a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden This article discusses The Goodies comedy television series For information about the formation of The Goodies group and for information The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (born 17 July 1940) is an English comic Actor known in Britain and Australia as a member of The Goodies David Graeme Garden (born 18 February 1943) is a British Actor, Writer, Presenter William Edgar Oddie, OBE (born 7 July 1941 is an English Actor, Writer, Comedian, Natural history Presenter Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members Television ( TV) is a widely used Telecommunication medium for sending ( Broadcasting) and receiving moving Images, either monochromatic This article discusses The Goodies comedy television series For information about the formation of The Goodies group and for information Sketch comedy consists of a series of short Comedy scenes or vignettes called "sketches" commonly between one and ten minutes long
Contents |
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. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the The term English literature refers to Literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by Writers not necessarily from 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. John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 &ndash 4 October 1989 was an English Comedian, Actor, Writer, Physician and one of the Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943 is an English Comedian, Actor, Author, Singer and Composer of comedic songs Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) is the collective name of the six creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British Television 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. Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge England, run by the students [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. Pembroke College is a college of the University of Cambridge, home to over six hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest of the colleges
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 (often abbreviated ISIRTA was a BBC Radio comedy programme that originated from the Cambridge University John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Sir David Hatch ( 7 May, 1939 &ndash 13 June, 2007) was involved in production and management at BBC Radio, where he held many executive Jo Kendall is a British Actress. In August 1963 she appeared in the West End in London, New Zealand and Broadway, in I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again resulted from the successful 1963 Cambridge University Footlights Club revue A Clump of Plinths. Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge England, run by the students 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). Cambridge Circus is a comedy revue that played in London in 1963. West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland" London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Broadway theater, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Ed Sullivan Show was an American television Variety show that ran from June 20, 1948 to June 6,
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). At Last the 1948 Show was a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes in association John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 &ndash 4 October 1989 was an English Comedian, Actor, Writer, Physician and one of the Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman ( 8 July 1934 &ndash 2 December 1982) was an English writer comedian and Actor, Marty is a British television sketch comedy series with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman ( 8 July 1934 &ndash 2 December 1982) was an English writer comedian and Actor, John Francis Junkin ( January 29, 1930, Ealing, London - March 7, 2006, Aylesbury) was an English Roland MacLeod (born 1935 is an English actor of film and television 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). Twice a Fortnight, which was made in 1967, was a British sketch comedy television comedy series with Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943 is an English Comedian, actor writer and Television presenter best known for being one of the members For other uses see Terry Jones (disambiguation. Terence Graham Parry Jones (born 1 February 1942) is a Welsh Career Personal life Born in Bath, England, Lynn was educated at Kingswood School, Bath (1954–1961 after which he studied Law at Broaden Your Mind ( 1968 &ndash 1969) was a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden
The Goodies television series
The Goodies was created and co-written by Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. This article discusses The Goodies comedy television series For information about the formation of The Goodies group and for information
The music for the show was written by Bill Oddie, and The Goodies' theme music was co-written by Bill Oddie and Michael Gibbs. Michael Clement Irving Gibbs (born September 25, 1937 in Salisbury, Zimbabwe) is a jazz composer conductor arranger and producer as well as The show also benefited greatly from the input of director Bob Spiers. Bob Spiers is a two-time BAFTA Award -winning British Television director best known for his work on various Sitcoms and other comedy programmes
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 Goodies and the Beanstalk is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. The Goodies Rule - OK? is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. The costume designer for this episode was famous BBC costume designer Dee Robson. Dee Robson (Dee Kelly is a former costume designer for the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation
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. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Chroma Key is the name under which ex- Dream Theater Keyboardist Kevin Moore records Stop motion (or frame-by-frame) animation is an Animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own 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". Film editing is an art of storytelling practiced by connecting two or more shots together to form a sequence, and the subsequent connecting of sequences to form an Kitten Kong is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies.
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. Timothy Julian Brooke-Taylor (born 17 July 1940) is an English comic Actor known in Britain and Australia as a member of The Goodies
The Goodies was nominated for a BAFTA award in 1976, as the Best Light Entertainment Programme, but lost out to Fawlty Towers. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA is a British charity that hosts annual awards shows for film television television craft video games and forms of animation Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom made by the BBC and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975
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. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, was a BBC television adaptation of Douglas Adams 's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast in January Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent However, after one half-hour Christmas special ("Snow White 2") in 1981, and a six-part series in early 1982, the series was cancelled. Snow White 2 is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. In recent interviews the cast suggest the reasons were mainly economic — a typical Goodies sketch was more expensive than it appeared.
TV series: releases and repeats
In Britain
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. A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a Radio or Television broadcast. 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. The visual system is the part of the Nervous system which allows organisms to see. Therefore, the series has never enjoyed the same artistic respect as contemporaries such as Peter Cook and the Monty Python team. Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 &ndash 9 January 1995 was an English Satirist, Writer and Comedian. Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) is the collective name of the six creators of Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British Television 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. NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel and NBC Super Channel) was a Satellite television channel based in the United Kingdom that broadcast The Comedy Channel was a United Kingdom subscription television channel during 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. DVD video discs may be encoded with a region code restricting the area of the world in which they can be played DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is 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. Disney Time was a Television series that ran in the UK on the BBC, and also ITV at one point 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. Comedy Connections is a BBC One documentary series produced by BBC Scotland that has aired since 2003
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. The Winter Olympic Games are a winter Multi-sport event held every four years
In February 2007, the 1982 LWT series was repeated on pay-TV channel Paramount 2.
In Australia
In Australia, the series has had continued popularity and many Australians are surprised to learn of its absence from British screens. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. 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. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly abbreviated to the 'ABC' is Australia's national public broadcaster. 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. UKTV is a subscription Television channel in Australia and New Zealand, screening British entertainment programming sourced mainly from the 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. Come Dancing is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. 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. Events 1034 - Máel Coluim mac Cináeda, King of Scots dies Donnchad, the Events 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire The Goodies move to the 4pm timeslot on Mondays-Fridays, excluding Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Years Eve.
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. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the It was shown also on PBS stations, sometimes in tandem with Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) is a Non-profit Public broadcasting Television service with 354 member TV stations in the Monty Python’s Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus or during the final series just Monty Python) is a BBC Sketch comedy The series was also shown in Canada on the CBC national broadcast network during those same years, in the traditional "after school" timeslot. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page
In Germany
In Germany, The Goodies was shown in the late seventies as part of the variety show Engelbert and the Young Generation. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. The show was dubbed into German, and, because the jokes were more visual than dialogue based, it translated very well. A dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog) is a reciprocal Conversation between two or more entities.
Episode List
Goodies books
As well as being very successful on the TV screen, in their heyday The Goodies also produced successful books, e. For information about the comedy television series see The Goodies (TV series For information about the group and the origins of the show see g. :
- The Goodies File
- The Goodies Book of Criminal Records
- The Making of The Goodies Disaster Movie
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". The Goodies &ndash Almost Live is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies.
"Funky Gibbon" reached number 4 in the charts in Britain, and The Goodies made an appearance on Top of the Pops with the song. Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, was a long-running British music chart Television programme, made and broadcast They also performed it during the Amnesty International show A Poke in the Eye (with a Sharp Stick). Amnesty International (commonly known as Amnesty or AI) is a Western based international Non-governmental organization which defines its mission as "to This article is about the 1976 show that became the first of the legendary "Secret Policeman's Ball" benefit shows for Amnesty International.
- For further information about recorded Goodies songs (and episodes), see The Goodies on record. The Goodies on Record is about The Goodies ' releases LP &ndash CD &ndash DVD &ndash VHS The Goodies releases
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. At Last the 1948 Show was a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes in association John Marwood Cleese (ˈkliːz born 27 October, 1939) is a British Actor, Comedian, Writer, Film producer Graham Arthur Chapman (8 January 1941 &ndash 4 October 1989 was an English Comedian, Actor, Writer, Physician and one of the Martin Alan "Marty" Feldman ( 8 July 1934 &ndash 2 December 1982) was an English writer comedian and Actor, 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 " Four Yorkshiremen" sketch is a parody of nostalgic conversations about humble beginnings or difficult childhoods 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). Sir David Paradine Frost, OBE (born 7 April 1939) is an English Satirist and Television presenter, famed as both a The sketch appears on the DVD of At Last the 1948 Show. At Last the 1948 Show was a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes in association 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. Marty is a British television sketch comedy series with Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin John Francis Junkin ( January 29, 1930, Ealing, London - March 7, 2006, Aylesbury) was an English
Brooke-Taylor was also a cast member of John Cleese's special How to Irritate People. How to Irritate People is a 1968 Television Mockumentary written by John Cleese.
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. John Francis Junkin ( January 29, 1930, Ealing, London - March 7, 2006, Aylesbury) was an English Barry Charles Cryer OBE (born 23 March 1935 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England) is a British Writer and Hello Cheeky! was a series broadcast on BBC Radio 2 between 1973 and 1979. The series also transferred to Yorkshire Television for two series in 1975 and 1976. Yorkshire Television is the ITV contractor for the Yorkshire franchise
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). TLC was a darkly surreal Farce -like sitcom set in a fictional NHS Hospital called South Middlesex where coffee is traded like drugs You Must Be the Husband is a British comedy television series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor in the title role of Tom Hammond and Diane Keen as Diane Keen (born 29 July 1946) is an English actress. Keen is possibly best known for her starring role as Julia Parsons in the British Sheila Steafel (born 26 May 1935, Johannesburg) is an actress who has lived all her adult life in Britain. Me and My Girl was a British television sitcom created by Keith Leonard and John Kane and made by London Weekend Television for Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944, Chiswick, Middlesex) is an English Comedy Actor who is best known for Joan Sanderson ( 24 November 1912 &ndash 24 May 1992) was an English television and stage actress He also played in a televised pro-celebrity golf match opposite Bruce Forsyth. Bruce Forsyth, CBE (born Bruce Joseph Forsyth Johnson on 22 February 1928) is a British BAFTA award-winning
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). Twice a Fortnight, which was made in 1967, was a British sketch comedy television comedy series with Terry Jones, Michael Palin, For other uses see Terry Jones (disambiguation. Terence Graham Parry Jones (born 1 February 1942) is a Welsh Michael Edward Palin, CBE (born 5 May 1943 is an English Comedian, actor writer and Television presenter best known for being one of the members Career Personal life Born in Bath, England, Lynn was educated at Kingswood School, Bath (1954–1961 after which he studied Law at
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. Broaden Your Mind ( 1968 &ndash 1969) was a British television comedy series starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden
The three writers and performers also collaborated on the 1983 animated children's programme Bananaman, where they played various (voice) roles. Bananaman is a British Comic book Fictional character. He originally appeared in Nutty as the backpage strip in Issue 1
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. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, sometimes abbreviated to "ISIHAC" or simply "Clue", is a BBC
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. Doctor in the House is a British television comedy series based on a set of books and a movie of the same name by Richard Gordon about the misadventures
In 1982 Garden and Oddie wrote, but did not perform in, a six-part science fiction sitcom called Astronauts for Central and ITV. Astronauts is a British sitcom that aired on ITV in 1981 It was written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, two of Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central and now legally ITV Central Ltd, is the British Independent Television contractor Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters set up under the Independent The show was set in an international space station in the near future. A space station is an artificial structure designed for Humans to live in Outer space.
Garden was a regular team captain on the political satire game show If I Ruled the World. If I Ruled the World is a Television show aired in the United Kingdom in 1998. 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. Channel 4 is a public-service Television and Radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom centred around a television channel of the same name which began Beat The Nation was a quiz show on the UK commercial channel Channel 4 that ran for just one series in early 2004 Oddie hosts a very successful series of nature programmes for the BBC.
Goodies reunion shows
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. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 The show toured the country, visiting Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra and selling out most of the 13 performances. Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 Brisbane ( is the state capital of Queensland. Brisbane is the third most populous city in Australia and the most populous city of Queensland Canberra ( is the capital city of Australia With a population of over 340000 it is Australia's largest inland City. [5]
A further Australian tour by the Goodies, sans Bill, took place during November and December 2005. [6]
2006 UK reunion shows
Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden took their Goodies Live show to the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe festival. The Edinburgh Fringe (officially the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, commonly just The Fringe) is the world’s largest Arts 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]
Cultural influence
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. Brighton ( is a town on the south coast of England and with its neighbour Hove, forms the city of Brighton and Hove. The Goon Show was a British Radio comedy programme originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960 Till Death Us Do Part is a British sitcom that aired on BBC1 from 1965 to 1975 Monty Python’s Flying Circus (also known as Flying Circus or during the final series just Monty Python) is a BBC Sketch comedy Not Only But Also was a popular 1960s BBC British Television series starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Not the Nine O'Clock News is a Comedy Television programme shown on the BBC from 1979 to 1982 The Young Ones was a popular British sitcom, first seen in 1982, on BBC2. There were satirical episodes of The Goodies including: "South Africa" (apartheid) — "Punky Business" (punk) — and "Gender Education" (satirising Mary Whitehouse's influence on television). This article discusses The Goodies comedy television series For information about the formation of The Goodies group and for information South Africa is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. Punky Business is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. Gender Education is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. Mary Whitehouse CBE ( 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British campaigner for values of Morality
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. For the group's self-titled album see The Monkees (album. For the TV series see The Monkees (TV series. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 Instead, the comedy of The Goodies originated with the Cambridge University Footlights Club's revues. Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge England, run by the students [1][2]
The Official Goodies fan club's (Goodies Rule-OK!) newsletter, is called the Clarion & Globe. A newsletter is a regularly distributed Publication generally about one main topic that is of Interest to its Subscribers Newspapers and It was named after the newspaper in The Goodies' episode "Fleet Street Goodies" (a. Fleet Street Goodies is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. k. a. "Cunning Stunts").
During the 1970s Cor!! comic, released by Fleetway publications, had a Goodies comics strip. Cor!! was a British Comic book that ran from (issues dates 6 June 1970 to 15 June 1974, when it merged with Buster. Fleetway, also known as Fleetway Publications and Fleetway Editions, was a publishing company mainly producing comic magazines for the UK. When the comic later merged with Buster, the Goodies did not move across, although the TV show was still running. Buster was a long-running British comic ( 28 May 1960 - 4 January 2000) which carried a mixture of humour and adventure
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. Stella is a short-lived Television series that originally ran from June 28 2005 to August 30 2005 on the American television channel Comedy Central The television series premiered in the United States on June 28, 2005. Events 1098 - Fighters of the First Crusade defeat Kerbogha of Mosul. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.
Australian rock band Spiderbait released an album and EP that had a rocked up fast cover version of the Goodies song "Run". Spiderbait is an Australian Rock band who have had two top ten albums and another three albums reach the Australian top 40
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. The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual alternative arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia. The Adelaide Fringe Festival is an Arts festival held annually in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF is held each April in a number of venues across Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [9]
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. Events 1401 - Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus. 1603 - James VI of Scotland Year 1975 ( MCMLXXV) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. King's Lynn is a town and Port in Norfolk, England. Over the years the town has been known variously as Bishop's Lynn and Lynn Regis For fatal hilarity as a figure of speech see Hyperbole. Fatal hilarity refers to Death resulting from the physiological effects 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. Kung Fu Kapers is an episode of the British Comedy television series The Goodies. Bagpipes are a class of Musical instrument, Aerophones using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag " 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]
References
- ^ a b From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980' — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980.
- ^ a b Footlights! — 'A Hundred Years of Cambridge Comedy' — Robert Hewison, Methuen London Ltd, 1983.
- ^ The Goodies Still Alive on Stage - the Official Souvenir Program - Australian Tour 2002
- ^ "The Penguin TV Companion" (2nd Edition) — Jeff Evans, Penguin Books Ltd. , London, 2003
- ^ "Laughs to the Power of Three" — Sydney Morning Herald
- ^ "The Second Australian Tour" — The Goodies official website
- ^ Goodies Live Show at the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival — The Goodies official website
- ^ Paramount Comedy Festival in Brighton — The Goodies official website
- ^ McKenzie, Ben. Shaolin Punk >> A Record or an OBE. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse
- ^ Death by Laughing
- ^ The Complete Goodies — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000.
- ^ Man Dies Laughing at The Goodies, "Daily Mail", London (29 March 1975)
- ^ A Goodies Way to Go — Laughing, "Eastern Daily Press", Norwich (29 March 1975)
- ^ Slapstick! The Illustrated Story of Knockabout Comedy — Tony Staveacre, Angus & Robinson 1987
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
See also
External links
- The Goodies at the Internet Movie Database
- The Goodies — BBC Guide to Comedy
- The Official Goodies Rule — OK! Fan Club Website
- Goodie nuff
- The Goodies — HumourLinks
- Goodies! Goodie Goodie Yum Yum!
- The Goodies — Cricklewood Office
- The Goodies — Trash Fiction website
- The Goodies — Nostalgia Central
- The Goodies — British TV Comedy
- The Goodies — BeebFun
- The Goodies DVD — information and review
- ISIHAC interviews — with Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Barry Cryer —
: (includes a discussion on whether there could be more Goodies episodes) - Radio interview with Tim Brooke-Taylor — includes comments about "The Goodies"
- Australian broadcasts — a list of cuts made to the Australian ABC screenings
- BBC Treasure Hunt
| The Goodies — The Goodies TV series | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tim Brooke-Taylor — Graeme Garden — Bill Oddie | ||||
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic