As my tribute to British comedy legend Tim Brooke-Taylor (R.I.P), here are my top 10 episodes of The Goodies. Also, yes fellow Goodies fans, I didn't include Kung Fu Kapers, I know. I shall now commit seppuku with a black pudding
Where can I find the episode that brought together The Goodies' own versions of David Bellamy and David Attenborough as Watership Down rabbits? I've never yet seen it in video compilations, nor here on UA-cam. My other favorites include their cricket Rollerball spoof; The Goodies' take on Apartheid ("Apart-height"); Gunfight at the OK Tearooms; and the one in which they rescued locked-up showbiz personalities including Cilla Black.
The Goodies were repeated so often, down here in Australia, that they became a tea time institution. Like these three weird uncles who would visit five times a week. They, along with Doctor Who, Danger Mouse, Kenny Everett, The Trap Door, Astroboy, Catweazle, Into the Labyrinth, Star Blazers and many other shows were like the collective Holy Grail of tv viewing in the 70s and 80s.
I believe the goodies were better remembered in Australia because their series was seemingly repeated endlessly during the early eighties. When they toured the country they were surprised at the enthusiastic reception compared to England
The Goodies were a staple for New Zealanders too. My brothers and I never wanted to miss a show. The worst thing about a lot of shows back then? The end.
One of my favourites isThe Goodies and The Beanstalk. Very funny send up of ‘It’s a Knockout’ with Eddie Waring telling the audience that the teams have to go through a paddling pool. ‘Which is full of piranha fish!’ - all done with that Eddie Waring wink and smile. and the geese with the bouncing eggs done like the Dambusters film. Brilliant!
It still amazes me that The Goodies didn't get repeats in the UK. It was censored quite a bit here in Australia to fit in a kids slot before Doctor Who repeats, but on repeats on the ABC for much of the 80s and even picked up in the 90s by a commercial station. Seriously, The Goodies and Doctor Who Monday to Thursday at 6pm is all I remember about childhood television. Its hard to go past those episodes, although Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms is one of my favourites. And the Apartheight one in South Africa, which doesn't age well and not just because of the blacking up at the end, etc. Farewell, TBT, As I'm sure he would have said "Don't cry for him, Marge and Tina"
The Apartheight episode is how I got here. Apparently some streamer said something about short people not having human rights, Tim Pool talked about it and I immediately searched for that episode.
Hello Stuart, I very rarely comment on videos. However, I have been a fan of yours for a long while now and felt compelled to comment on this one. I was introduced to The Goodies by my Father when he showed me Goodies Rule O.K. on vhs, recorded in the 1990's from BSB. My love for the boys grew when we both bought the LWT series and watched them together when my Mother went bed, I must have been about five at the time. As my age progressed I expanded my comedy scope and started listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and immediately found a new appreciation for Tim's talent at doing old women's voices and singing. The Goodies may not have the current public stature that Monty Python has these days, which is a great injustice as they will always be the superior show, in my opinion. I was shattered when I heard of Tim's passing and immediately started to watch and listen to as much Tim as possible. I found the BBC Radio 4 tribute very moving and that it perfectly depicted the great influence that Tim had on the modern comedy world. Great video and a touching tribute from a fan. I apoligise for rambling on.
I was never happier as a kid in 1970's NZ with Friday night fish'n'chips, having my best friend for a sleepover, and a new episode of the Goodies. It's dated so much better than Python, which is much patchier than most people remember and tended to hammer an idea into the ground in the same time as which Goodies would've jammed in 5 more jokes and turned everything on it's head.
Completely agree. I love Python, but it’s not aged that well (I guess that’s what happens to cutting edge stuff decades later). But the storyline’s and characters of The Goodies really holds up well up to 50 years later!
@@glennpeterson1357 I'm 21 and thanks to my mother's very British upbringing in the 70s and 80s, I was introduced to all the great shows from that time from being a kid. I've recently revisited The Goodies and it honestly surprised me just how well a lot of the commentary, humour, and overall episode premises have held up.
As a fan of Garden and Brooke-Taylor's work on ISIHAC since before I can remember, I've been meaning to watch some of the Goodies for a very long time. I recently found the new series on audible, which was utterly hilarious. I was devastated when I heard the news a few weeks ago. RIP Tim, you will be thoroughly missed. An oldie, but a goodie.
The best part of my childhood was informed by The Goodies, as in Australia the public broadcaster somehow mistook it as a kids show and aired it in post-school prime-time!
I grew up on the Goodies in Australia. I am glad they aired it during a childrens timeslot. It think it had a beneficial impact on a generation of kids.
Grew up on The Goodies and was heartbroken to find that hardly anyone else of my generation is even aware they exist. Thankful to my parents for making us watch the DVDs with them so often!
Same I used to watch The Goodies on DVD religiously back in the 2000s when I was little. I first saw them on a clip of Kung Fu Kapers (my favourite Goodies episode ever) on the CBBC show Chute and have loved them ever since then!
With full context of the 'nicest person of the year" award, the blackboard gag at 7:26 is the hardest I've ever laughed at British comedy. Good lord, Spiro Agnew.
I grew up in the 70s and so the Goodies, along with Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who, *were* my childhood. It's hard to describe just how much of a national institution these programmes were at the time. They really did tell the whole decade what shape to be. And I absolutely agree with every item in your list, for pretty much the same reasons. The only thing I could add is to mention their more in-joke satirical digs, such as comments about David Frost and so on (and an entire episode about Rolf Harris); or Tim with the Silver Rose they won for Kitten Kong and painting it gold.
I remember watching repeats of the Goodies in the UK about ten years ago, they showed one episode a night for week at the end of the year and it was my first time watching them. To my memory, they played Kitten Kong, Earthanasia, Double Trouble, Lighthouse Keeping Loonies, The Stone Age and The Beanstalk, and ten year old me was completely elated at this wonderful programme and still am today. :)
An intelligent take. This and Pertwee's Doctor were my favourite programmes when I was a wee one in the early 70s. I think South Africa deserves a mention here (which I was too young to appreciate when it was first aired).
TREMENDOUS video of a tremendous team ! I remember when I was at high school in the early 1970s how everyone seemed to be watching the "Goodies", including the teachers and the parents. The persian cat on the new Post Office Tower was totally iconic.
'Lighthouse Keeping Loonies' has always been my favorite episode. Nearly died the first couple of times I watched the scene with the 'fog horn incident'!
It's one of my favourite episodes too, mostly because of how ridiculous it is. Only on a TV show such as The Goodies does a lighthouse come off of its foundation and launch into space like Thunderbird 3.
It's honestly a shame that the Goodies didn't have enough funding to make the Goodies Movie back in 2019. Also, a fun fact, during filming of Kitten Kong, Tim sliced his hand on the wires holding the bike during the flying stage. He had to go to the nurse in the studio who was French and was confused about the mouse costume. Tim, trying his best, was explaining what he was doing in French, talking about a giant kitten, and to our knowledge, the nurse replied with something like "Oh yeah, piss off". He was a joy to watch and it is sad that I'll never get the chance to thank him for making me laugh.
Thank you for this . While Bill Oddie , Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor continued to have successful careers it is a pity that this show has not been treated with more respect by the BBC (something that Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor regularly joked about on 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue) I watched a couple of these when they were shown on BBC four a couple of years back. Earthanasia is indeed amazing and incredibly dark And RIP Tim Brooke Taylor - by all accounts a really lovely man Plus Bill Oddie's compositions are actually pretty funky!
I bought this CD anthology recently called 'the cricklewood tapes' and it's got loads of their backing tracks on it. It's got the kitten Kong song on it and everything - it's proper 70's prog rock
Yes. The Beeb's treatment of the show reminds me of their attitude towards Spike Milligan's "Q", a contemporary favourite of mine along with The Goodies. Sadly, like Doctor Who, a number of the "Q" episodes ended up being wiped by the BBC.
Love this on tv late 80s and even into early 90s. Australia. Press Gang, Monkey (Magic), The Goodies, Rick Mayall couch stories, and Degrassi Junior High.The shows thst got me through all the horror that was schooling. 😊 what a time to be alive.
Oh this takes me back to being 19 -23 in Melbourne Australia, 1979 to 1983 every night while eating our tea. Absolutely loved this every single night and never cared how many times I saw the episodes. It’s so sad that Tim has gone, I still think of them being the same as when they did this brilliant show!! Happy memories and so many laughs, my personal favourite being the cod who loved Max Bygraves singing Tulips from Amsterdam. Still cracks me up ❤
We loved it as kids in the 70s, in an age where we were always outside no matter the weather, the Goodies kept us in. Then straight back outside again.
I'm so glad "The End" is in here. The gag where Bill hasn't aged even after 106 years is one of my favourites. Also, if you like the Goodies, you should check out the Monkees (if you haven't already). It's similar to the Goodies in that it's got a "loose" format following a group of guys who always end up doing something new each episode - that, and it also has a pretty cartoon-esque sort of humour. "The Picture Frame" is a pretty good episode to start with IMO.
Yes! The Monkeys was one of my favourite shows. Don't hate me, but I didn't like the Beetles (as a child I thought the music was "weird") but I LOVED The Monkeys, because they were a funny version of the Beetles. :)
I watched the Goodies back in the 1970s. It was a pretty good show, very funny. The Monkees was on in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I watched that one too. Mainly on Saturday mornings.
Growing up in Australia in the 80s we were so lucky to have The Goodies on TV repeated frequently after school. I think it really helped kids to appreciate a more broad and sophisticated style of humour. It was great! Now I’ve got 2 kids of my own and we recently watched every Goodies episode together and they loved it. It’s amazing how it still really holds up! For me, you had a good top 10, but mine would have to include Bun Fight at the OK Tearooms, Ecky Thump (aka Kung Fu Kapers), Scoutrageous and That Old Black Magic. Thanks, this was a fun watch! :)
Australian here. I loved this show as a kid, and although (in hindsight) most of their jokes went over my head, I loved it none the less because, like you said, they wrote accessibly. The true mark of any good book/show/piece of art is that it can be enjoyed by all, whether you have a little or lot of knowledge. I remember the S-E-(signals X) episode, and the two part episodes the most. And, yes, I saw them when they toured Australia in the 2000s. Truly a magical moment.
CBC in Canada ran this in an after school weekday slot in the late 70s. Loved it. Especially the giant kitten episode and the one in which they become advertising executives.
I agree with the lack of repeats. It was a very popular show and recently after Tim Brooke-taylor's death you would expect the BBC would put in a full series of episodes to honour Tim. They didn't. There isn't much on on the BBC nowadays and yet they still don't put in any Goodies.
Love 'The Goodies'. To me, when I was a kid, I loved 'The Bunfight at the OK Tearooms"... the premise and execution of shooting one another with cream was hilarious. And Bill Oddie in THAT costume just elevated it to legendary status :D
I don't know why this brilliant show was not more accessible. As a grade-schooler in the 70s, I remember being able to see this show briefly in the States ( New Orleans area). I told all of my friends they needed to watch it because "it's great like Monty Python".... and they agreed. Not all too much longer it seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it came. I do remember some of these bits thank you for sharing. I'm saddened by the member who passed away. I'm always looking for a streaming service to show full episodes
A fun list, and I agreed with your point during the comments about Radio Goodies that a big part of the success of the series as a whole is the excellent, multi-levelled writing that allows viewers to appreciate it even when they aren't aware of half of the things being referenced - that along with the enormous talent, appeal, and cameraderie of its three stars. There really is something for all ages in this show and across generations, as demonstrated by it's ongoing appeal in Australia where it has been repeated. It's not just nostalgic old fans from the 70s who love it today!
I'd like to thank my autistic sister for making me grow up with 3 goodies episodes played on repeat for about 10 years for making me actually taking note and loving the goodies despite no one else I know my age knowing who they are
Thank you so much for this. I loved The Goodies at the time but thought the show had probably dated so much that it would be totally childish and a mystery why it was on PrimeTime TV. Your review has put me straight and explained why it was so popular back in my day.
I'm Australian, and grew up with the Goodies. Not so much the early 70's, but late 70's into 80's I watched religiously. The goodies were very popular in Australia at the time, and it's a shame it has somewhat slipped into obscurity. RIP Tim Brooke-Taylor. Goody goody yum yum.
I am just discovering this group show, though I've known about its existence since it first appeared (I'm a US citizen, btw, so...not everything filtered over to us from across the pond). Yet, until I happened upon Tengy Talks tv and Movies channel I'd not seen anything from the show that I recall. I see them as a kind of combination of surreal Python-ish Brit comedy and, stylistically/tonally a kind of British version of The Monkees/the shows look quite similar, and like the US show, is "family friendly" on the surface, but with many buried "hints" that the meanings of things are differently intended. Fun great great stuff here just now I am being treated to. THANK YOU for your countdown...and now I am prepared for something completely different that is, uh, completely different...ie a lot of half-hour goodies to look forward to seeing!
The Goodies had so many great episodes; I was kind of surprised that Kung Fu Kapers or Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms didn't make your list, but at the same time I can't really argue with any of your inclusions.
I didn’t think I would ever hear of these guys again. Just typed it in search on a UA-cam, and here it is. Used to come on late night TV here in the states in the late seventies on Saturday night
Loved watching The Goodies with a high school friend in the U.S. We’d each be in our own bedroom while on the phone with each other watching the show on Sunday nights. We didn’t talk much, just laughed on the phone for the whole show.
Great list. I think the Goodies deserve and justify a Top 20 though - not many shows that could claim that... OK Tea Rooms has the fantastic Poker scene, and someone did die laughing watching Kung Fu Capers... The factory farming one is really good too and still relevant. I love the sleepwalking one and Watership Down too. And Goodies Rule OK is a masterpiece!
In Australia. As a kid the show was replayed on loop non stop on the ABC. Absolutely loved it. Then it just disappeared. I haven’t seen it for decades. Even the clips in your video still make me laugh. I think we were the shows biggest audience. I will be trying to buy the box set The dinosaur episode was my favourite
The show was popular in Australia too and its an integral part of my childhood as my first impression of the UK pretty much when I knew nothing about it at the time except for this and Paddington so I was really sad to hear Tim died cos of bloody COVID, you picked 3 of my faves too, Lighthouse, Earthenasia and The End which I loved for the same reasons you do. Theres just too many good eps to mention but I do think its worth mentioning the one where they produce thier own farm fresh food including square eggs etc because that really was a premonition of genetically engineered food decades before it was even talked about in public.
So interesting I should come across this video today. Earlier this week I was out working and suddenly started singing to myself "A million housewives every day, pick up a piece of string and say God Bless Tim Brooke-Taylor." He was the first person I personally knew who died of covid.😢
Great picks, all. I adore The Goodies and you're right, they are sadly overlooked all too often. I'm so glad that you've decided to shine a light on them. Gender Education and Earthenasia are some of my all-time favourites. I'd also give honourable mentions to Gunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms, The Goodies and the Beanstalk, Kung Fu Kapers and Saturday Night Grease. R.I.P. Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Yeah. Of all the Covid deaths that affected me, Tim was #1. I saw all three of them 18 years ago, and it was one of the best concert experiences I’ve ever had.
Your number two is my number one. I love "The End". The one joke that does it for me when when Graham is drawing on the map all the bypasses and motorways that are going to be built before they get rescued. It turns out to be a tic-tac-toe/noughts and crosses grid. He draws the final line which goes through three noughts. He looks at Bill and Tim, then back at the map and says "Hey, I won". But he says it in a way that it's easy to miss until, you watch it three or four times. I mean the entire joke is hilarious, as soon as you realize what he's drawing, but amazing acting by Graham just to say the line that way
You nailed most of the best and with good arguments! I only missed one thing: The end sequence of "The Movies" is amazingly good, such a great sequence of gags and effects, including their amazing recreation of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Willie stunt. I was particularly happy of seeing "It might as well be string" in the list, the definitely spoof ad episode. Of course there are a few I would replace (I really like "Goodies in the nick" and "Cecily") but with Radio Goodies at the top... I am not complaining! :) Good work!
A very underrated programme. The one I always remember was the episode where they try to popularise cricket by combining it with Rollerball. 😂 Excellent video, well done. 👍
It's so mesmerising to listen to you talk about this stuff.... And now I really feel like checking out this series and then re-watching the entirety of the Flying Circus. Once I get done with all the crap that the University has thrown at us...
I grew up watching a set of three dvds containing about 20 episodes total so the goodies will always be one of the defining parts of my childhood and my sense of humour And yes tim was my favourite
So many of my favourites made your list! Earthanasia is the episode I watch every holiday season, can’t wait to give it another watch. It was also the first episode I thought of after Tim passed away, alongside Scoutrageous.
almost put scoutrageous at no 10! Mostly just for that ending where they take the masks off and Tim goes "I don't believe it, it was you all along!" and Bill just goes "...no" and buys it! So dumb but I love it
The farm fresh food episode now looks more relevant than when it first appeared because we now live in an age of factory farming, food engineering and gmo food controversy.
God I used to bloody love the Goodies! In fact I was a right Goodie 'groupie' back in the day. Attending all the personal appearances they used to do and I even managed to get tickets to one of the BBC studio recordings. Sadly it was the 'Apart Height' one. The episode that ended up being rerecorded due to some of the more, shall we say, 'dodgy' jokes in it. God I was so upset when poor old Brooker bit the big one recently. :(
Thanks! "The Movies" was always my favourite, mostly for "Macbeth Meets Truffaut the Wonder Dog". I was laughing so hard that I thought I was going to get a heart attack. "Hark what light through yonder window breaks! Is it the Moon? No, it's Truffaut the Wonder Dog!".
You're a brave man to try to pick the ten best episodes. However, I largely agree with your choices. I managed to get my hands on a copy of the box set earlier this year, and I don't know if it's possible to wear out DVDs, but I'm giving it a go. Thank you for posting this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it. R.I.P. Tim.
I am impressed especially in the KITTEN KONG episode the lengths the guys went through to imitate the exact framing and effects shot set-ups of the Hollywood film maker whose career was famously built almost entirely around making movies about BIG things/things being made big (via radiation etc), "Mr. Big" himself, Bert I. Gordon. He made films like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, THE CYCLOPS, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, BEGINNING OF THE END (giant grasshoppers) etc. The Goodies really seemed to go for very specific DETAILS of the subjects they spoofed. Very smart...and funny!.
I would have loved to see discussion of the wacky segment of making three different movies simultaneously. The scene where Bill and the Keystone Cops burst in on Delilah’s boudoir always cracks me up!
The Movies was always my favourite episode growing up, just seeing the insanity that is the war between silent films, biblical epics and westerns at the end brings a smile to my face
Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70s, my friends and I would watch this religiously and reference catch-phrases all day ("Me hat blew off"). I remember our teacher being a bit puzzled and amused by our humor.
The Goodies got me through Primary School. ABC Australia showed them a lot. But here in Canada they are almost unheard of. They need to be on Britbox or something like that.
Enjoyed this, but you left out the Livvy episode! The opening sequence with Tim dressed as John Travolta doing the Saturday Night Fever intro is pure comedy gold.
Got the complete box set, yeah it took forever to come out, and I still love this show to this day. Easily one of the top brit comedies on my list. Hard to pick absolute favorites because I love them all. From the ones you mentioned, loch ness monster, south africa ("the jockey's are restless tonight"), Lips, or Almighty Cod using Max Bygraves to rile it up, too many to name them all, but I love this show. Luckily in Australia we got plenty of repeats of this show, don't know why the BBC didn't show it more in the UK considering how good the show is and how popular it originally was.
Honorable mentions: Their visit to Wales (taking the train in Llanfair PG); and Bill Oddie playing a South African piano (all the white keys at one end of the keyboard; all the black keys at the other end).
I am from Australia, as a teenager in the early 1970's I remember the episode where Grahame is a doctor, in the intro you see a snapshot of an xray machine in a garden where a skeleton walks out to the right side. Please do you know the episode that came from, as I remember the song: "you've got to be a doctor to be a medical man" it was a song I have not got out of my mind and I would like to see the episode again if it is available. cheers Philip
It's hard to remember just how big they were in British culture at the time. At one stage they had the most watched TV show over Christmas. Two songs in the top 10 and a best selling Christmas album (a cartoon style book for kids).
As my tribute to British comedy legend Tim Brooke-Taylor (R.I.P), here are my top 10 episodes of The Goodies.
Also, yes fellow Goodies fans, I didn't include Kung Fu Kapers, I know. I shall now commit seppuku with a black pudding
Where in the top 10 would you had put it?
What was the one based in Rome? The sheep jumping violently up and down on someone still makes me wet my pants.
I would like to mention how forgotten the episode Pollution from season 2 is, hardly talked about but strong episode
Where can I find the episode that brought together The Goodies' own versions of David Bellamy and David Attenborough as Watership Down rabbits? I've never yet seen it in video compilations, nor here on UA-cam. My other favorites include their cricket Rollerball spoof; The Goodies' take on Apartheid ("Apart-height"); Gunfight at the OK Tearooms; and the one in which they rescued locked-up showbiz personalities including Cilla Black.
You are forgiven for not including Kung Fu Capers.
The Goodies were repeated so often, down here in Australia, that they became a tea time institution. Like these three weird uncles who would visit five times a week. They, along with Doctor Who, Danger Mouse, Kenny Everett, The Trap Door, Astroboy, Catweazle, Into the Labyrinth, Star Blazers and many other shows were like the collective Holy Grail of tv viewing in the 70s and 80s.
*bananaman*
Call to action!
Kennedy Everett Video Show! What was that doing on after school?! LOL!
@@glennpeterson1357 Australia in the 70s/80s. What else can I tell you? It was all done in the best possible taste.
Yes ! the ABC between 5pm and 7pm was my childhood in Australia .
so agree i am guessing your are 38-46 when saying that i remember the welsh rugby scenes the most!
And now, ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’.
When I started doing the radio at university I used that song in my first show
...side two...
...also “Ecky Thump”, which famously someone died from laughing so much whilst watching and “Bun fight at the OK Tea rooms” should be worthy mentions.
There's nowt wrong wi' owt what mitherin' clutterbucks don't barley grummit!
Not ecky thump is Alex Mitchell from England part fight
This spoke to me having lived near yorks😊
Oh yes, the wonderful traditional Cornish village of Pennenink.
@@alistairdodds6206
aye, thaht be true Grand Mastah...
I believe the goodies were better remembered in Australia because their series was seemingly repeated endlessly during the early eighties.
When they toured the country they were surprised at the enthusiastic reception compared to England
Yep, We were the lucky county. They were the best years.
@@littlemiss_76 That's great to know. It should be mandatory for all children to watch.
The Goodies were a staple for New Zealanders too. My brothers and I never wanted to miss a show. The worst thing about a lot of shows back then? The end.
Can confirm, my mum loves it so she passed her love of it to me when she got the DVDs
Yup[, The Goodies and Monkey. My childhood in two shows.
One of my favourites isThe Goodies and The Beanstalk. Very funny send up of ‘It’s a Knockout’ with Eddie Waring telling the audience that the teams have to go through a paddling pool. ‘Which is full of piranha fish!’ - all done with that Eddie Waring wink and smile. and the geese with the bouncing eggs done like the Dambusters film. Brilliant!
It still amazes me that The Goodies didn't get repeats in the UK. It was censored quite a bit here in Australia to fit in a kids slot before Doctor Who repeats, but on repeats on the ABC for much of the 80s and even picked up in the 90s by a commercial station. Seriously, The Goodies and Doctor Who Monday to Thursday at 6pm is all I remember about childhood television.
Its hard to go past those episodes, although Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms is one of my favourites. And the Apartheight one in South Africa, which doesn't age well and not just because of the blacking up at the end, etc.
Farewell, TBT, As I'm sure he would have said "Don't cry for him, Marge and Tina"
I do too but dr who wasnt repeats that was new episodes of the McCoy era in the late 80s.
The Apartheight episode is how I got here. Apparently some streamer said something about short people not having human rights, Tim Pool talked about it and I immediately searched for that episode.
Same for me, Little Rolf Harris's was my fav
You forgot Monkey Magic and Bananaman
Hello Stuart,
I very rarely comment on videos. However, I have been a fan of yours for a long while now and felt compelled to comment on this one. I was introduced to The Goodies by my Father when he showed me Goodies Rule O.K. on vhs, recorded in the 1990's from BSB. My love for the boys grew when we both bought the LWT series and watched them together when my Mother went bed, I must have been about five at the time. As my age progressed I expanded my comedy scope and started listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and immediately found a new appreciation for Tim's talent at doing old women's voices and singing. The Goodies may not have the current public stature that Monty Python has these days, which is a great injustice as they will always be the superior show, in my opinion. I was shattered when I heard of Tim's passing and immediately started to watch and listen to as much Tim as possible. I found the BBC Radio 4 tribute very moving and that it perfectly depicted the great influence that Tim had on the modern comedy world. Great video and a touching tribute from a fan. I apoligise for rambling on.
I was never happier as a kid in 1970's NZ with Friday night fish'n'chips, having my best friend for a sleepover, and a new episode of the Goodies. It's dated so much better than Python, which is much patchier than most people remember and tended to hammer an idea into the ground in the same time as which Goodies would've jammed in 5 more jokes and turned everything on it's head.
Completely agree. I love Python, but it’s not aged that well (I guess that’s what happens to cutting edge stuff decades later). But the storyline’s and characters of The Goodies really holds up well up to 50 years later!
@@glennpeterson1357 I'm 21 and thanks to my mother's very British upbringing in the 70s and 80s, I was introduced to all the great shows from that time from being a kid. I've recently revisited The Goodies and it honestly surprised me just how well a lot of the commentary, humour, and overall episode premises have held up.
"What does your husband do?" "He keeps his distance..." Classic line from a classic show
As a fan of Garden and Brooke-Taylor's work on ISIHAC since before I can remember, I've been meaning to watch some of the Goodies for a very long time. I recently found the new series on audible, which was utterly hilarious. I was devastated when I heard the news a few weeks ago. RIP Tim, you will be thoroughly missed. An oldie, but a goodie.
You need to get the complete box set - it’s great! 😊
This show was an absolute gem back in the day. We all had our favourites and didn’t mind repeats.
I think that's why it was great. No vcrs so that was a good replacement
The best part of my childhood was informed by The Goodies, as in Australia the public broadcaster somehow mistook it as a kids show and aired it in post-school prime-time!
6:00 to 7:00 weeknights - Dr. Who then the Goodies on ABC.
I grew up on the Goodies in Australia. I am glad they aired it during a childrens timeslot. It think it had a beneficial impact on a generation of kids.
Grew up on The Goodies and was heartbroken to find that hardly anyone else of my generation is even aware they exist. Thankful to my parents for making us watch the DVDs with them so often!
gen z be slackin
Same I used to watch The Goodies on DVD religiously back in the 2000s when I was little. I first saw them on a clip of Kung Fu Kapers (my favourite Goodies episode ever) on the CBBC show Chute and have loved them ever since then!
i'm 24 and i grew up watching them aswell from my parents, such a great show, rip tim
With full context of the 'nicest person of the year" award, the blackboard gag at 7:26 is the hardest I've ever laughed at British comedy. Good lord, Spiro Agnew.
My childhood!
You and me both Jay
are the tv guy call the goodies is death?
A great tribute to three of the funniest characters from my childhood. R.I.P Tim, you made me laugh a lot. Thanks.
I grew up in the 70s and so the Goodies, along with Pertwee/Tom Baker Doctor Who, *were* my childhood. It's hard to describe just how much of a national institution these programmes were at the time. They really did tell the whole decade what shape to be.
And I absolutely agree with every item in your list, for pretty much the same reasons. The only thing I could add is to mention their more in-joke satirical digs, such as comments about David Frost and so on (and an entire episode about Rolf Harris); or Tim with the Silver Rose they won for Kitten Kong and painting it gold.
I remember watching repeats of the Goodies in the UK about ten years ago, they showed one episode a night for week at the end of the year and it was my first time watching them. To my memory, they played Kitten Kong, Earthanasia, Double Trouble, Lighthouse Keeping Loonies, The Stone Age and The Beanstalk, and ten year old me was completely elated at this wonderful programme and still am today. :)
An intelligent take. This and Pertwee's Doctor were my favourite programmes when I was a wee one in the early 70s. I think South Africa deserves a mention here (which I was too young to appreciate when it was first aired).
South Africa might be a bit dated now in a post-Apartheid era. Then again, racism remains as serious an issue as ever, as the George Floyd case shows.
You cant find it online anymore, yes attitudes change, but we should all be grown up enough to understand that
TREMENDOUS video of a tremendous team ! I remember when I was at high school in the early 1970s how everyone seemed to be watching the "Goodies", including the teachers and the parents. The persian cat on the new Post Office Tower was totally iconic.
'Lighthouse Keeping Loonies' has always been my favorite episode. Nearly died the first couple of times I watched the scene with the 'fog horn incident'!
It's one of my favourite episodes too, mostly because of how ridiculous it is. Only on a TV show such as The Goodies does a lighthouse come off of its foundation and launch into space like Thunderbird 3.
It's honestly a shame that the Goodies didn't have enough funding to make the Goodies Movie back in 2019. Also, a fun fact, during filming of Kitten Kong, Tim sliced his hand on the wires holding the bike during the flying stage. He had to go to the nurse in the studio who was French and was confused about the mouse costume. Tim, trying his best, was explaining what he was doing in French, talking about a giant kitten, and to our knowledge, the nurse replied with something like "Oh yeah, piss off". He was a joy to watch and it is sad that I'll never get the chance to thank him for making me laugh.
What a blast from the past
Thank you for this . While Bill Oddie , Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor continued to have successful careers it is a pity that this show has not been treated with more respect by the BBC (something that Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke Taylor regularly joked about on 'I'm sorry I haven't a clue)
I watched a couple of these when they were shown on BBC four a couple of years back. Earthanasia is indeed amazing and incredibly dark
And RIP Tim Brooke Taylor - by all accounts a really lovely man
Plus Bill Oddie's compositions are actually pretty funky!
I bought this CD anthology recently called 'the cricklewood tapes' and it's got loads of their backing tracks on it. It's got the kitten Kong song on it and everything - it's proper 70's prog rock
Yes. The Beeb's treatment of the show reminds me of their attitude towards Spike Milligan's "Q", a contemporary favourite of mine along with The Goodies. Sadly, like Doctor Who, a number of the "Q" episodes ended up being wiped by the BBC.
This is like that time Stu introduced me to the world of Chris Morris. How have i never heard about this show before?
Love this on tv late 80s and even into early 90s. Australia. Press Gang, Monkey (Magic), The Goodies, Rick Mayall couch stories, and Degrassi Junior High.The shows thst got me through all the horror that was schooling. 😊 what a time to be alive.
I saw this show in the us on Public Television as a kid in the 1970s.I loved it .I cannot find a region 1 ( Us and Canada )DVD set any where
As a long-standing Goodies fan and a real fan of your videos, this is great! Thank you!
Oh this takes me back to being 19 -23 in Melbourne Australia, 1979 to 1983 every night while eating our tea. Absolutely loved this every single night and never cared how many times I saw the episodes. It’s so sad that Tim has gone, I still think of them being the same as when they did this brilliant show!! Happy memories and so many laughs, my personal favourite being the cod who loved Max Bygraves singing Tulips from Amsterdam. Still cracks me up ❤
We loved it as kids in the 70s, in an age where we were always outside no matter the weather, the Goodies kept us in. Then straight back outside again.
I'm so glad "The End" is in here. The gag where Bill hasn't aged even after 106 years is one of my favourites.
Also, if you like the Goodies, you should check out the Monkees (if you haven't already). It's similar to the Goodies in that it's got a "loose" format following a group of guys who always end up doing something new each episode - that, and it also has a pretty cartoon-esque sort of humour. "The Picture Frame" is a pretty good episode to start with IMO.
Yes! The Monkeys was one of my favourite shows. Don't hate me, but I didn't like the Beetles (as a child I thought the music was "weird") but I LOVED The Monkeys, because they were a funny version of the Beetles. :)
In fact, it was after the Monkees that the Goodies started using more of their music in their shows; after all, the Monkees had done it
I watched the Goodies back in the 1970s. It was a pretty good show, very funny. The Monkees was on in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I watched that one too. Mainly on Saturday mornings.
Growing up in Australia in the 80s we were so lucky to have The Goodies on TV repeated frequently after school. I think it really helped kids to appreciate a more broad and sophisticated style of humour. It was great!
Now I’ve got 2 kids of my own and we recently watched every Goodies episode together and they loved it. It’s amazing how it still really holds up!
For me, you had a good top 10, but mine would have to include Bun Fight at the OK Tearooms, Ecky Thump (aka Kung Fu Kapers), Scoutrageous and That Old Black Magic.
Thanks, this was a fun watch! :)
Australian here. I loved this show as a kid, and although (in hindsight) most of their jokes went over my head, I loved it none the less because, like you said, they wrote accessibly. The true mark of any good book/show/piece of art is that it can be enjoyed by all, whether you have a little or lot of knowledge. I remember the S-E-(signals X) episode, and the two part episodes the most. And, yes, I saw them when they toured Australia in the 2000s. Truly a magical moment.
CBC in Canada ran this in an after school weekday slot in the late 70s. Loved it. Especially the giant kitten episode and the one in which they become advertising executives.
I remember that
I agree with the lack of repeats. It was a very popular show and recently after Tim Brooke-taylor's death you would expect the BBC would put in a full series of episodes to honour Tim. They didn't. There isn't much on on the BBC nowadays and yet they still don't put in any Goodies.
The BBC are sick joke. Until they sent the copyright Gestapo, the recordings of the Aussie repeats posted on this very site was as good as it got.
Love 'The Goodies'. To me, when I was a kid, I loved 'The Bunfight at the OK Tearooms"... the premise and execution of shooting one another with cream was hilarious. And Bill Oddie in THAT costume just elevated it to legendary status :D
I don't know why this brilliant show was not more accessible. As a grade-schooler in the 70s, I remember being able to see this show briefly in the States ( New Orleans area).
I told all of my friends they needed to watch it because "it's great like Monty Python".... and they agreed.
Not all too much longer it seemed to have disappeared as quickly as it came.
I do remember some of these bits thank you for sharing.
I'm saddened by the member who passed away.
I'm always looking for a streaming service to show full episodes
A fun list, and I agreed with your point during the comments about Radio Goodies that a big part of the success of the series as a whole is the excellent, multi-levelled writing that allows viewers to appreciate it even when they aren't aware of half of the things being referenced - that along with the enormous talent, appeal, and cameraderie of its three stars. There really is something for all ages in this show and across generations, as demonstrated by it's ongoing appeal in Australia where it has been repeated. It's not just nostalgic old fans from the 70s who love it today!
I'd like to thank my autistic sister for making me grow up with 3 goodies episodes played on repeat for about 10 years for making me actually taking note and loving the goodies despite no one else I know my age knowing who they are
I said it somewhere before: The Goodies were like your best friends that you’d never met. So many good memories. So many laughs. 🙏🏻
Thank you so much for this. I loved The Goodies at the time but thought the show had probably dated so much that it would be totally childish and a mystery why it was on PrimeTime TV. Your review has put me straight and explained why it was so popular back in my day.
I'm Australian, and grew up with the Goodies. Not so much the early 70's, but late 70's into 80's I watched religiously. The goodies were very popular in Australia at the time, and it's a shame it has somewhat slipped into obscurity.
RIP Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Goody goody yum yum.
I am just discovering this group show, though I've known about its existence since it first appeared (I'm a US citizen, btw, so...not everything filtered over to us from across the pond). Yet, until I happened upon Tengy Talks tv and Movies channel I'd not seen anything from the show that I recall. I see them as a kind of combination of surreal Python-ish Brit comedy and, stylistically/tonally a kind of British version of The Monkees/the shows look quite similar, and like the US show, is "family friendly" on the surface, but with many buried "hints" that the meanings of things are differently intended. Fun great great stuff here just now I am being treated to. THANK YOU for your countdown...and now I am prepared for something completely different that is, uh, completely different...ie a lot of half-hour goodies to look forward to seeing!
The Goodies had so many great episodes; I was kind of surprised that Kung Fu Kapers or Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms didn't make your list, but at the same time I can't really argue with any of your inclusions.
Bunfight at the OK Tea Rooms really was a great one.
No bunfight at the okay tearooms?-Sacralidge!
I didn’t think I would ever hear of these guys again. Just typed it in search on a UA-cam, and here it is. Used to come on late night TV here in the states in the late seventies on Saturday night
As a kid, we had the Goodies At Last on DVD and loved it. Even now, they still crack me up.
I need to watch this, I laughed just from watching the bits played here.
Stuart merely reading out the absurd plot-lines made me laugh, even before the visuals kicked in :)
Loved watching The Goodies with a high school friend in the U.S. We’d each be in our own bedroom while on the phone with each other watching the show on Sunday nights. We didn’t talk much, just laughed on the phone for the whole show.
1:27 #10 "Lighthouse-keeping Loonies"
2:16 #9 "It Might as well be string"
3:16 #8 "The Movies"
4:19 #7 "Gender Education"
5:41 #6 "Punky Business"
6:56 #5 "The Baddies" (aka Double Trouble)
7:51 #4 "Kitten Kong"
8:48 #3 "Earthanasia"
10:02 #2 "The End"
11:24 #1 "Radio Goodies"
I absolutely love the goodies! Been waiting years to watch full episodes and I finally found them
Great list. I think the Goodies deserve and justify a Top 20 though - not many shows that could claim that... OK Tea Rooms has the fantastic Poker scene, and someone did die laughing watching Kung Fu Capers... The factory farming one is really good too and still relevant. I love the sleepwalking one and Watership Down too. And Goodies Rule OK is a masterpiece!
So many memorable ones... Frankenfido, Stone Age, South Africa, War Babies, Cod, Scotland, The Race.
That was fun to watch! Thank you so much! Rest In Peace Tim.
In Australia. As a kid the show was replayed on loop non stop on the ABC. Absolutely loved it.
Then it just disappeared. I haven’t seen it for decades. Even the clips in your video still make me laugh.
I think we were the shows biggest audience.
I will be trying to buy the box set
The dinosaur episode was my favourite
The show was popular in Australia too and its an integral part of my childhood as my first impression of the UK pretty much when I knew nothing about it at the time except for this and Paddington so I was really sad to hear Tim died cos of bloody COVID, you picked 3 of my faves too, Lighthouse, Earthenasia and The End which I loved for the same reasons you do. Theres just too many good eps to mention but I do think its worth mentioning the one where they produce thier own farm fresh food including square eggs etc because that really was a premonition of genetically engineered food decades before it was even talked about in public.
Our childhood heroes.
Still hilarious today. My kids love them.
RIP Tim
So interesting I should come across this video today. Earlier this week I was out working and suddenly started singing to myself "A million housewives every day, pick up a piece of string and say God Bless Tim Brooke-Taylor."
He was the first person I personally knew who died of covid.😢
The Goodies were brilliant. Me and my sister absolutely loved them. They were great. Funny. Creative.
Thank-you for sharing also the history of them.☺
I'm going to have to show this to our common friend Matthew, and explain why The Goodies are so loved here in Australia. Keep up the good work.
As in the one and only Matthew Layton who is #bae?
Great picks, all. I adore The Goodies and you're right, they are sadly overlooked all too often. I'm so glad that you've decided to shine a light on them. Gender Education and Earthenasia are some of my all-time favourites. I'd also give honourable mentions to Gunfight at the O.K. Tea Rooms, The Goodies and the Beanstalk, Kung Fu Kapers and Saturday Night Grease. R.I.P. Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Yeah. Of all the Covid deaths that affected me, Tim was #1.
I saw all three of them 18 years ago, and it was one of the best concert experiences I’ve ever had.
Your number two is my number one. I love "The End". The one joke that does it for me when when Graham is drawing on the map all the bypasses and motorways that are going to be built before they get rescued. It turns out to be a tic-tac-toe/noughts and crosses grid. He draws the final line which goes through three noughts. He looks at Bill and Tim, then back at the map and says "Hey, I won". But he says it in a way that it's easy to miss until, you watch it three or four times. I mean the entire joke is hilarious, as soon as you realize what he's drawing, but amazing acting by Graham just to say the line that way
You nailed most of the best and with good arguments! I only missed one thing: The end sequence of "The Movies" is amazingly good, such a great sequence of gags and effects, including their amazing recreation of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Willie stunt.
I was particularly happy of seeing "It might as well be string" in the list, the definitely spoof ad episode.
Of course there are a few I would replace (I really like "Goodies in the nick" and "Cecily") but with Radio Goodies at the top... I am not complaining! :) Good work!
My mum told me about the context for Radio Goodies why we were watching it and that added a lot to it. It remains one of my favourite episodes too.
A very underrated programme. The one I always remember was the episode where they try to popularise cricket by combining it with Rollerball. 😂 Excellent video, well done. 👍
It's so mesmerising to listen to you talk about this stuff....
And now I really feel like checking out this series and then re-watching the entirety of the Flying Circus.
Once I get done with all the crap that the University has thrown at us...
I grew up watching a set of three dvds containing about 20 episodes total so the goodies will always be one of the defining parts of my childhood and my sense of humour
And yes tim was my favourite
So many of my favourites made your list! Earthanasia is the episode I watch every holiday season, can’t wait to give it another watch. It was also the first episode I thought of after Tim passed away, alongside Scoutrageous.
almost put scoutrageous at no 10! Mostly just for that ending where they take the masks off and Tim goes "I don't believe it, it was you all along!" and Bill just goes "...no" and buys it! So dumb but I love it
The farm fresh food episode now looks more relevant than when it first appeared because we now live in an age of factory farming, food engineering and gmo food controversy.
God I used to bloody love the Goodies! In fact I was a right Goodie 'groupie' back in the day. Attending all the personal appearances they used to do and I even managed to get tickets to one of the BBC studio recordings. Sadly it was the 'Apart Height' one. The episode that ended up being rerecorded due to some of the more, shall we say, 'dodgy' jokes in it. God I was so upset when poor old Brooker bit the big one recently. :(
Thanks! "The Movies" was always my favourite, mostly for "Macbeth Meets Truffaut the Wonder Dog". I was laughing so hard that I thought I was going to get a heart attack. "Hark what light through yonder window breaks! Is it the Moon? No, it's Truffaut the Wonder Dog!".
As a kid, the "Big Foot" episode never left me.
This is fantastic - Always preferred this. I was still young in the early '70s and found this funny (and Benny!). Very nice top 10.
thanks for including "The Baddies" that's an underrated early episode and I love it too!
You're a brave man to try to pick the ten best episodes. However, I largely agree with your choices. I managed to get my hands on a copy of the box set earlier this year, and I don't know if it's possible to wear out DVDs, but I'm giving it a go. Thank you for posting this video. I thoroughly enjoyed it. R.I.P. Tim.
Glad to see a fellow fan of this amazing show.
This is definitely one of your best videos
I'm only 17 but the goodies is one of my favourite tv shows.
I am impressed especially in the KITTEN KONG episode the lengths the guys went through to imitate the exact framing and effects shot set-ups of the Hollywood film maker whose career was famously built almost entirely around making movies about BIG things/things being made big (via radiation etc), "Mr. Big" himself, Bert I. Gordon. He made films like THE AMAZING COLOSSAL MAN, THE CYCLOPS, WAR OF THE COLOSSAL BEAST, BEGINNING OF THE END (giant grasshoppers) etc. The Goodies really seemed to go for very specific DETAILS of the subjects they spoofed. Very smart...and funny!.
I would have loved to see discussion of the wacky segment of making three different movies simultaneously. The scene where Bill and the Keystone Cops burst in on Delilah’s boudoir always cracks me up!
My Dad grew up with the Goodies so my childhood memory of it is every few years he'd pull out a VHS or DVD and it'd be all we watched for a week.
That is some good parenting.
I think Ecky Thump and South Africa deserve an honorable mention at least.
The Movies was always my favourite episode growing up, just seeing the insanity that is the war between silent films, biblical epics and westerns at the end brings a smile to my face
One of my favourites too! I loved this bit: “The hills are alive, with the sound of music…”
…then you know what comes next! LOL! 😂
@@glennpeterson1357 poor Maria getting arrowed by Native American Tim
@@mrcritical6751 😆
Growing up in Brooklyn in the 70s, my friends and I would watch this religiously and reference catch-phrases all day ("Me hat blew off"). I remember our teacher being a bit puzzled and amused by our humor.
The Goodies got me through Primary School. ABC Australia showed them a lot. But here in Canada they are almost unheard of. They need to be on Britbox or something like that.
I found that they were bigger in Australia than the UK which is rather shocking and unfair.
Same here, and no matter how many times they showed the re runs I would still watch and love each and every episode.
Enjoyed this, but you left out the Livvy episode! The opening sequence with Tim dressed as John Travolta doing the Saturday Night Fever intro is pure comedy gold.
My favourite UA-camr talking about my favourite show
I watched the Goodies as child growing up in Australia, One of the episodes that sticks in my head was Ecky Thump.
This one definitely is worth a look! Thanks Stuart!
The episode with the dogs singing 'Anything you can do, I can do better' was a classic.
Kitten Kong. The way they did that was genius.
My mum introduced this to me and I loved it!
Got the complete box set, yeah it took forever to come out, and I still love this show to this day. Easily one of the top brit comedies on my list. Hard to pick absolute favorites because I love them all. From the ones you mentioned, loch ness monster, south africa ("the jockey's are restless tonight"), Lips, or Almighty Cod using Max Bygraves to rile it up, too many to name them all, but I love this show. Luckily in Australia we got plenty of repeats of this show, don't know why the BBC didn't show it more in the UK considering how good the show is and how popular it originally was.
Honorable mentions: Their visit to Wales (taking the train in Llanfair PG); and Bill Oddie playing a South African piano (all the white keys at one end of the keyboard; all the black keys at the other end).
Look, these guys were hilariously and mad back then, and would still be today.
I am from Australia, as a teenager in the early 1970's I remember the episode where Grahame is a doctor, in the intro you see a snapshot of an xray machine in a garden where a skeleton walks out to the right side. Please do you know the episode that came from, as I remember the song: "you've got to be a doctor to be a medical man" it was a song I have not got out of my mind and I would like to see the episode again if it is available. cheers Philip
Thank you
I really like this show too. R.I.P. Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Great show....I loved it. The writing was great
So surprised I haven't heard more of this before. Definitely gonna check it out
It's hard to remember just how big they were in British culture at the time. At one stage they had the most watched TV show over Christmas. Two songs in the top 10 and a best selling Christmas album (a cartoon style book for kids).