Monday December 05, 2005

The Good life

Quite a clever title as one of the two leading couples in this sit com have the surname Good. The Good life was an excellent 1970's comedy that is still shown today. The place is modern day surburbia and two neighbours. Both men work for the same company. Tom Good decides with his wife he has had enough and he wants to leave work and be self sufficient in his house and quit his job. So they turn their garden into a small scale small holding with hens , pigs and goats and of course vegetables. Next door the Leadbetter's in particular Margo are agast at this idea and find it hard to support their friends. Over the series the couples clash ( in a most English way) and the results are often hilarious. Richard Briers plays Tom Good, the wonderfully attractive Felicity Kendal his wife Barbara Good. The neighbours are Margo Leadbetter - Penelope Keith and her husband Jerry played by Paul Eddington who has since died. All actors went on to other successes on the back of this series. I think in the first program they got started and the Good's were invited to dinner next door, somewhere I think an argument started and the Goods left to have dinner at home. but they had nothing to eat! Tom decides he canot loose face to he decides to shoot one of his hens. The episode then cuts to their dinner table with a silver cover over a serving plate. Margo and Jerry are wondering whats going on watching over the fence. the silver lid is lifted. It is a fried egg! By pointing the gun at the bird Tom persuaded it to start laying eggs.

Tom's pursuit of technical solutions is Heath Robinson at its best. The rotovator that he drives around town pulling things behind it, the sludge gulper that turns the animal muck into methane are a delight to see. When Tom does his back in and he needs to get his harvest in, the locals all turn a blind eye to his problems. The Leadbetter's come to the rescue with Jerry in the garden hobbling around with a leg plaster cast on after ski-ing accident. It is a very subtle and simple comedy that still bring a smile to me. The later shows are not as good.