The Good Life
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- For other uses, see The Good Life (disambiguation)
| The Good Life | |
|---|---|
| Image:Goodlife.jpg Opening credits of The Good Life </small> | |
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Creator(s) | John Esmonde and Bob Larbey |
| Starring | Richard Briers Felicity Kendal Penelope Keith Paul Eddington |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom |
| Original channel | BBC |
| Original run | 4 April 1975–10 June 1978 |
| No. of episodes | 30 (List of episodes) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Good Life was a successful British sitcom broadcast by the BBC from 1975 to 1978. It was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The Good Life was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey as a vehicle for Richard Briers, the only cast member famous beforehand. Bob Larbey had just reached 40, and this got him and Esmonde thinking how this was a milestone for some people,<ref>"A Celebration of The Good Life", Orion Books, 2000.</ref> and The Good Life was soon born. The writers decided to make the neighbours old friends rather than enemies, thus creating more comedy as their friendship was tried to the limit.
When it came to casting, Peter Bowles was originally asked to play the role of Jerry, but was unavailable so had to decline.<ref>"A Celebration of The Good Life", Orion Books, 2000.</ref> He would later star opposite Penelope in To the Manor Born. Hannah Gordon was also thought of to play Barbara, but she'd recently played a similar role so they decided against the idea. Esmonde and Larbey chose Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith after seeing them perform on stage together in The Norman Conquests. The programme was filmed in the North London surburb of Northwood, despite being set in Surbiton. The house used for Tom and Barbara's had to be returned to its prior condition after filming, and livestock removed overnight.
[edit] Cast
- Richard Briers — Tom Good
- Felicity Kendal — Barbara Good
- Penelope Keith — Margo Leadbetter (née Sturgess)
- Paul Eddington — Jeremy "Jerry" Leadbetter
- Reginald Marsh — Andrew/Sir
- Moyra Fraser — Felicity (series 1)
[edit] Plot
On his 40th birthday, Tom Good gives up his job as a draughtsman in a company that makes plastic toys for breakfast cereal packets as he is no longer able to take his job seriously. He and his wife Barbara made a decision to live a sustainable, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their beloved home in The Avenue, Surbiton. In pursuit of this good life, they dug up their front and back gardens and converted them into allotments, growing soft fruit and vegetables. They introduced chickens, pigs (Pinky and Perky) a goat called Geraldine and a cockerel named Lenin. They generated their own electricity, using methane from animal waste, and they even attempted to make their own clothes. They also worked at selling or bartering surplus crops for essentials which they could not make themselves. They try to cut their monetary requirements to the minimum with varying success.
Their actions horrify their kindly but conventional next-door neighbours, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. Originally, Margo and Jerry were intended to be minor characters, but their relationship with one another and with the Goods soon became an essential element of every episode. There were hints, both broad and small, of a healthy sexual relationship within both marriages. Under the influence of Tom's homemade wine called "peapod burgundy", their mutual, intermingled, attraction for each other became apparent. Both couples were childless for reasons unexplained.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Tom Good
Tom had a lack of ambition that meant despite his skill as a draughtsman, he would not rise any further, and going self-sufficient was entirely his idea. He had determination to succeed, although he would often be pessimistic about a situation when Barbara was always optimistic. He was always very cheerful, his constant jokes often annoying Margo, frequently whistled the opening bars of Over the Rainbow and had a childish side to him. He was, however, obstinate and sometimes pigheaded.
[edit] Barbara Good
Barbara was a normal, middle-class housewife before they went self-sufficient, and while she sometimes wilted under Tom's determined and dominant nature, her sharp tongue put her on an equal footing with him. She was in many ways the 'heart' of the enterprise, whilst Tom's engineering 'brain' designs and builds what they need. Of the two, she endured far more yearnings for the lifestyle and luxuries they previously enjoyed, but her own determination to succeed, along with Tom's single-minded persuasion, extinguished these thoughts.
[edit] Jerry Leadbetter
Jerry worked for JJM, having joined on the same day as Tom, but through cunning and good self-promotion, rather than particular talent, he rose into the ranks of senior management. As the series progressed, he moved to within striking distance of the managing director's job. The managing director was Andrew (or "Sir") and his wife Felicity were recurring characters. He was initially convinced that the go-it-alone attempt would fail, and on several occasions, he pleaded with Tom to come back to work, but he eventually came to appreciate the strength of character it has taken for Tom to "leave the system". He was somewhat henpecked at home but had the strength to put his case across when sufficiently compelled to do so.
[edit] Margo Leadbetter
Margo, with her stunted sense of humour, was totally unable to understand her neighbours' new lifestyle, but their long friendship was important to her, and she learned to tolerate it. Margo Sturgess, as she then was, was bullied at school for having no sense of humour. Something of a social climber, staunchly Conservative and unafraid to challenge anyone who gets on her nerves, Margo may have been a snob but also had a heart of gold. She involved herself with organisations such as the Pony Club and the Music Society, always wishing to play the lead role. Some viewers see this attitude as a precursor to Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances, although Margo was at least occasionally made aware of her faults by the others, including her husband — something Hyacinth never experienced, and was not afraid to be apologetic when she was informed she had done wrong.
[edit] Episodes
The Good Life aired for four series and two specials from 4 April 1975 to 10 June 1978. The final episode, When I'm Sixty-Five, was a Royal Command Performance in front of The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and senior BBC management. The cast and crew were presented to The Queen and Prince Philip after the recording. The episode was originally broadcast in a 45 minute slot with footage either side of the 30 minute episode showing the Royal Party entering and exiting.
[edit] Novelisations
Two novelisation of The Good Life were written, both by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. The first, simply entitled The Good Life was published in 1976 by Penguin Books, and this novelised the first series. The second book, titled More of The Good Life, was published in 1977 also by Penguin, and featured three episodes from series two and four episodes from series three.
[edit] Other countries
In the United States The Good Life was retitled Good Neighbors, to avoid confusion with a short-lived American sitcom of the same name, and was shown by most PBS stations across the country starting in the early 1980's. By the late 1980's it was rarely seen but returned to PBS stations after the release of select episodes on VHS by CBS Fox in 1998.<ref>"A Celebration of The Good Life", Orion Books, 2000.</ref>
[edit] After The Good Life
After the success of The Good Life, the three cast members who had not been famous beforehand were quickly given their own "vehicles", that were commissioned by the then Head of Light Entertainment and producer of The Good Life, John Howard Davies.<ref>"A Celebration of The Good Life", Orion Books, 2000.</ref> Felicity Kendal, who had became something of a sex symbol with her tomboy character, often wearing iconic wellington boots on the show, starred in Solo and The Mistress, Penelope Keith starred in To the Manor Born and Paul Eddington starred in Yes Minister. Richard Briers later starred in the popular Ever Decreasing Circles.
In 2003, the BBC broadcast a mockumentary entitled Life Beyond the Box: Margo, describing Margo's life since the series had finished. Unlike the earlier Life Beyond the Box on Norman Stanley Fletcher, most of the actors from the programme did not take part, except Moyra Fraser, and appear only in archive footage.
There are many organic gardening and self-sufficiency movements within the UK who continue to this day to claim that The Good Life was inspirational and influenced their own lifestyle changes.
[edit] DVD releases
The complete series of The Good Life is available on DVD (Region 2, UK) through Acorn Media. The series is also available on DVD in the US (Region 1) under the title Good Neighbors.
The first three series have been released in Australia (Region 4). The fourth and final series is expected to be released in early 2007.
[edit] References
- Richard Webber, "A Celebration of The Good Life", Orion Books, 2000
[edit] Footnotes
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