The Good Life

From 1975 to 1978 I used to love curling up in front of the goggle box to watch The Good Life. Living in the countryside on a smallholding with our own pigs and chickens probably helped me to relate particularly well to this programme of a middle class man who decides to cut loose from the rat run and become totally self sufficient... in middle class suburbia

Perhaps the fact that five years before my father, a draughtsman like Tom Good, left his work to run our little 'farm' made me understand and appreciate the nuances behind the comedy. The storyline begins with Tom reaching his 40th birthday and deciding that the stresses of middle management in a fir the makes the plastic free gifts for cereals was not how he wanted to spend the rest of his life

The British institution that is Richard Briers played Tom, as ever he brought depth and warmth to his character, even when Tom was being annoyingly frustrating you could still feel for him. He was a man who lacked any real ambition for his work, and was determined to change his life. While he could be stubborn and single-minded he could also be generous and kind. A favourite episode of mine was when he realised that his wife might not always want to spend here entire time in jeans, homemade clothes and up to her knees in pig muck. Tom organised a beautiful dinner out for their anniversary and paid for it by doing some contract work for his former boss. His wife was livid with him for betraying his principles until he revealed that the extra work he had done was to pay for a beautiful piece of jewellery for her.

Tom's wife Barbara was played, as any man over the age of about 35 will tell you, with a glazing of his eyes, by the delightful Felicity Kendal, winner of rear of the year a number of times. She was my generation's Kylie in terms of male fantasies. Barbara was a cute and feisty character who usually kowtowed to Tom's dominance, but if pushed too far would spark back at him. She wholeheartedly embraced their change of lifestyle and on the odd occasion when Tom's optimism left him could be relied on to cheer him up. Felicity looked adorable even in patched jeans and oversized spectacles as she worked to turn the standard suburban garden into a smallholding with pigs Pinky and Perky, a goat called Geraldine and a clutch of chickens. Her support for her husband in the face of neighbourly consternation could have cost her the friendship of Margo ad Jerry Leadbetter in the next-door house, but her charm soon smoothed over any problems caused by Tom's single mindedness

Margo and jerry Leadbetter were my favourite characters by a short head. Margo is wonderfully played by Penelope Keith as a slightly uptight middle class whose job was being a corporate wife. Penelope carries this role off with great style and grace, she keeps a perfect balance as she shows us a snobby annoying woman with no sense of humour or understanding of why the ridiculous is funny, her less endearing characteristics are tempered by a very believable vulnerability. The episode where the four neighbours go out to dinner after a furious row between the Goods has resulted in Tom buying a new 'posh frock' for Barbara but having no money to ensue he has the bottom half of his dinner suit shows Margo at her best. Barbara is highly embarrassed on arriving at the restaurant to discover Tom has teamed his dinner jacket and dickie bow tie with shabby old tweed trousers, and Margo comes up trumps by proudly taking his arm and walking into the dinging area with him... of course in true Margo style she then quietly asks him to sit behind a pillar! Margo went on later to star in the extremely successful To The Manor Born series, where she played an upper class lady fallen on hard times

Jerry Leadbetter was a very underrated character in my opinion. Played by the sadly departed Paul Eddington of Yes Minster fame, Jerry sometimes came across as a downtrodden husband with overweening ambition at work who sucked up to his boss and let his wife walk over him. But watching repeats recently Paul's subtle playing of the character is interesting, he shows that he genuinely loves is wife and wants her to be happy, but not to the extent that he is submerged by her strong character. The occasions when he stands up to her a re some the best parts of this series

While Margo did not truly understand that Barbara was happy to forgo modern luxuries for what she and Tom believed in, she did try to help in her, often tactless way, causing Barbara to flare up with frustration. Jerry could see what the Goods were attempting to do, but like his wife found some aspects bemusing and the shenanigans next door were a source of endless amusement to him as he teased the pair, he also found Barbara attractive, but he was not the type to ever attempt to take his attraction any further. The four neighbours are the main characters in the series and they work extremely well together with beautiful counterpoints that rarely jar

Of the few other characters that appeared, Jerry's current and Tom's ex boss Andy, or 'Sir' is probably the most memorable. He never noticed Tom until he left work and afterwards frequently tried to tempt him back in times of need. Tom and Barbara had no fear of him, but Jerry and Margo would ask 'how high?' if 'Sir' said 'jump'! Andy was gruff and an archetypal 1970's manager who could not understand that Tom turned down work on principle and that offering more money each time would make no difference to his final answer. That said, he did often have a twinkle in his eye as he attempted to pressure Tom to return to a 'normal' lifestyle

Andy and his wife Felicity turn up in a few episodes, but other than that other characters are very few and far between, usually just shopkeepers or passers-by. One interesting episode was when the Goods played host to a pair of students who both began to worship Tom and have crushes on both Tom and Barbara. To begin with Tom had his head turned and began to puff up with self importance, until in his inimitable way he realised how silly he was being and gently brought the situation back down to earth with the help of Barbara's commonsense

Whilst this series is very typical of the seventies, with its interest in the new fashion just coming on the scene to be green and organic, the natures of the characters involved are no different from today. I think that watching this as a child and again on repeats over the years combined with having spent a few years with our own mini farm has had a lasting impact on me... I put my name on the waiting for an allotment recently as all those lovely green, self sufficient hippy thoughts have just got too much for me to ignore and tubs of herbs and tomatoes is not enough... now if we could just move to somewhere with a bigger garden I'd be able to have some chickens too!

Much as I would love to be able to reproduce the Good's level of self-sufficiency, sadly the way the world is now it is virtually impossible. Tom used to buy his pig magazine from the newsagent using eggs as currency; the council rates were paid in loose copper coins and can you imagine a middle class avenue putting up with a couple of pigs and a run of hens without calling down the wrath of the local council and health and safety officers?

This is a really enjoyable, relaxing comedy series full of gentle humour that extols the virtues of a greener life albeit from a slightly rose tinted perspective. Available from Amazon for around a tenner a series