The
lowdown: 'The Goodies' was a long-running BBC comedy series
starring Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Garden and Bill
Oddie. It ran on BBC1 from
late 1970 until early 1980, before briefly being resurrected on ITV. A
total of 78 half-hour episodes
were made for the BBC, plus
several specials. Sadly, some of these episodes have been lost or exist
only in black and white.
The original premise of
the series was that the Goodies ran an employment agency hiring themselves
out to clients for various
purposes - their slogan
was 'we do anything, anytime', although over the years this aspect of the
concept was quietly shelved
in favour of plots that
became increasingly surreal. 'The Goodies' frequently sent up other BBC
television personalities, films
of the day, historical events,
and basically anything they could get away with.
The
episode: 'Wacky Wales' was the fourth episode of the fifth season,
and featured Jon Pertwee in a typically over-the-top
role as a reverend who worships
more than religion. The Goodies travel to Wales to take part in the Llan-dlubber
International
Eisteddfod (of Doom), where
they meet the reverend, who heads the Church of the Seventh-Day Repressionists.
Residents of
Llan-dlubber live a very
riteous life and do not drink alcohol or tea, eat food, reproduce or use
lavatories. However, they worship
rugby, and the surreal qualities
of the show come to the fore with matches such as the Methodists playing
the Archbishops
and the Welsh Druids versus
the Catholics. This is one of the better episodes of 'The Goodies', and
Jon Pertwee is brilliant
(and barely recognisable
in his Reverend guise). Sadly, only a handful of episodes of 'The Goodies'
are currently available on
DVD (largely ones that were
previously released on video), and 'Wacky Wales' is not among them. Hopefully
this will change
in the future. Note to the
BBC: The Goodies would be extremely popular on DVD, especially as season
box sets.
Trivia:
The
Goodies was never that popular in the UK and was rarely screened until
satellite TV was established, although
it
gained a cult following in Australia, largely because the national broadcaster
showed regular repeats in an evening timeslot
during
much of the 1970s and early 1980s (immediately before 'Doctor Who'
aired at 6:30pm, in fact).
Quote:
'Eisteddfod is an old Welsh word, you see, from the old Welsh.
Eistedd meaning bored, and fod, meaning stiff.'
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