Goody Goody Yum Yum
There is an accepted piece of wisdom that says that the Footlights of the
mid-1960s was a groundbreaking show because it produced Monty Python’s
Flying Circus. This is undoubtedly true. Python redefined sketch comedy
with the same skill in the early 70s as Beyond the Fringe had done ten
years earlier. It took another ten years until a sketch comedy show could
come along which was good enough to escape the Python shadow – that being
Not The Nine O’Clock News. A series which perhaps doesn’t get the respect
it deserves because it is dismissed as “topical” despite being funny over
20 years later. It isn’t alone in being a show to rival Python but which,
on a perceived technicality, doesn’t get spoken of in the same breath as
the Almighty.
The Goodies was comprised of contemporaries of some of the Pythons.
Cambridge Circus – the official Footlights show – transferred to the West
End and to what would now be thought of as Radio 4. Along the way Graham
Chapman dropped out and was replaced by Graeme Garden. John Cleese and
what became the Goodies were the corner stones of I’m Sorry I’ll Read That
Again for much of the early 70s. Cleese/Chapman and Oddie/Garden were the
first writers on the fledgling Doctor in the House series. They were – en
masse – the bright young things of British comedy.
The Goodies – which the BBC still refuses to repeat and which was released
on DVD only after the sterling efforts of the Goodies themselves – was a
live action cartoon. The Pythons redefined sketch comedy. Or, to put it in
a less flattering way, they developed a style which meant they didn’t have
to think their ideas through. Their ground breaking concepts of sketches
without punch lines meant they could write half a sketch and that was it.
The Goodies on the other hand did have to develop their ideas. Shunning
the pure sketch format for a vague narrative meant the opportunity for
throw-away material wasn’t there. But in doing so they opened up the
chance to do slapstick, music, pastiche, puns, satire and much more
without any of it being “disposable”. The Goodies made its own rules and
stuck to them. Each episode was self contained. Anything could happen and
– like Kenny from South Park – the next week the counter would be reset.
This meant they had a freedom that sit com writers didn’t have.
A lot of their work was subversive. Whether it was attacking “safe”
targets like Mary Whitehouse or more controversial ones (such as
apartheid) the Goodies were middle class rebels in the best sense of the
phrase. Even Bill Oddie – then a scruffy, bearded lefty with pictures of
Mao, Che and Castro on his walls – has now matured into the nation’s
favourite bird watcher. If the Goodies had respect, people would
retro-analyse their work and discover all sorts of anti-pollution,
anti-genetic engineering, anti-racial and anti-capitalist messages. Some
of them intended, some of them invented. The point being that the Goodies
was silly and funny but with an underlying message which is far more
relevant today than it was back then. But if people had grasped it then it
might not be such an issue now.
I got the Goodies DVD the other day and it is a thing of wonder. Because
the boys were heavily involved in it, it is a good showcase of the series.
Rather than a random assortment, we get hand picked episodes. Admittedly
this probably means we’re not getting a fair representation of the show’s
ten years. But we are getting quality. Not just quality of episodes either
– the quality of the restoration work puts all but the BBC’s own Doctor
Who releases to shame. A brief restoration featurette shows how much the
prints have been improved. The filmed sequences were in particularly bad
shape and amply demonstrates how the BBC may have been legally forced to
archive all its output but the legislation didn’t include anything about
how it was to be stored. It is a sobering reminder that nothing lasts
forever – physical prints degrade and digital formats become obsolete.
Lets not forget that the Goodies ran for ten years and how many comedies
can say that? It would’ve carried on had the BBC not cancelled a popular,
unique and long running series to make way for a succession of short term
failures. Sound familiar? They went to ITV but it was never the same. The
BBC showed the Goodies very little respect as far as money, promotion and
scheduling was concerned and ITV showed them none at all. The Goodies was
always treated as a kids programme much to their disgust. The Goodies
wasn’t for children – it was for the family. It was a show which could be
watched by each family member on a different level. Children loved the
colourful antics, older children liked the slapstick and the mums and dads
could enjoy the symbolism of it all.
These days you have to be a
certain age to have heard of them. I work with people who do not know who
or what the Goodies are. They stare blankly. Most of the time actually but
in this instance in response to my mentioning the Goodies. It's impossible
to explain the show to them. Giant kittens, Ecky Thump, lighthouses flying
into space and disco dancing. It's no wonder we are a nation in crisis
when we have a generation that is quite happy to wear flared trousers but
who don't ask for television like the Goodies in return.
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