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THE GOOD LIFE - "A TUG OF THE FORELOCK" Friday 24/09/76, BBC1 reviewed by Ben Morris |
September
2000
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The Good Life is not as funny as Men Behaving Badly. If you believe Radio Times' sitcom special (just published as I write this) you'd believe this. In its list of the Top 50 funniest British sitcom moments the latter comes in at number 26. The Good Life doesn't feature at all. Each to his own of course, but I could write pages on why I believe John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's self-sufficiency comedy is infinitely superior, and why it is grossly unfair that Men Behaving Badly, Bottom and The Goodies all appear in this chart when The Good Life doesn't. My favourite episode, and the one I'm choosing to praise here is "A Tug of the Forelock", the third episode of the third series (of four) which was originally broadcast in 1976 at the height of the series' popularity (it was watched by 16.4 million). The programme, although always intended to be led by a foursome (Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry), actually started with the emphasis heavily on the Goods. The first series is, in a nutshell, all about their decision to give up the rat-race and live off the land (in Surbiton). It follows their first steps to a first (catastrophic) harvest. Their neighbours, the Leadbetters, are there to respond to this outlandish behaviour and are very much secondary characters. Margo isn't even seen in the first episode. By the time we get to my chosen instalment, the balance has tipped and Margo is most definitely the star of the show (audience analysis had shown her to be the most popular character so Penelope Keith's role was, as a result, increased). Here, Margo has been "betrayed" by her gardener and housekeeper, Mr and Mrs Pearson, who have decided to take a holiday for a month, leaving the self-appointed guardian of The Avenue without domestic help. So Tom and Barbara decide to swap their time and energy for money (in order to finance the running of their home-made vehicle) by replacing the Pearsons whilst they are absent. Of course, whilst in her employ, the Goods find Margo's demands intolerable and equally find it impossible to rein in their mischievous humour during one of her afternoon functions. Inevitably Margot sacks them for "behaving like the Marx brothers". This episode expertly encapsulates the essential differences between the bourgeois capitalist Leadbetters and the "plebeian" Goods; a division which is one of the key factors to the show's success. And it contains, for me, one of the funniest scenes of the whole series when Barbara, driven to despair by Margo, visits Tom in his shed and viciously destroys a large cardboard box before calmly saying hello. Felicity Kendal's timing is so perfect I can't help but laugh out loud each time I see it. One of the great attributes of The Good Life is that it appeals to all ages. Children love the monstrous Margo and the childlike Goods (Barbara talks of doing "swapsies", Tom consults his Boy's Book of Knowledge), and adults find it appealing because it taps into their desire to escape the oppression of office life. Today, the BBC does well in the field of sitcoms suitable for later viewing (e.g.The Royle Family, The Vicar of Dibley) but it has a sparse portfolio of the pre-watershed variety which can engage all generations (only Last of the Summer Wine springs to mind, and that ran out of steam about 12 years ago). The Good Life (along with Dad's Army) is still rolled out to fill this gap, and remains a constant favourite with the general public. It recently received healthy viewing figures when its entire run (including the Christmas Special and Royal Command Performance) were repeated at weekday lunchtimes. And it's on again, seven months later, on Sunday evenings (BBC2) as I write, along with - for the first time - a full series by series video release. I'd take that as an indication of the quality of its humour, as opposed to the Radio Times panel's sitcom chart. |
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