On his 40th birthday, Tom Good gave up his job, dug up his garden and set out to live off the land. In Surbiton. The Good Life ran on BBC One from 1975 to 1978 and remains one of Britain's best-loved comedies.
Self-sufficiency in suburbia
Tom works as a draughtsman designing the plastic toys that go in cereal packets. Facing 40, he decides there must be more to life. With his wife Barbara's support, he quits the rat race to become self-sufficient: growing their own food, keeping animals and making everything they need, all in the back garden of a suburban house.
The series was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. It ran for four series and two Christmas specials, 30 episodes in all.
Who was in it
- Richard Briers as Tom Good
- Felicity Kendal as Barbara Good
- Penelope Keith as Margo Leadbetter
- Paul Eddington as Jerry Leadbetter
The Leadbetters next door
The Goods could never have managed without their neighbours. Margo is a pillar of the local society, appalled by the pigs next door and very particular about how things are done. Jerry, Tom's old colleague, has stayed in the rat race and is doing rather well. He is far fonder of the Goods than he lets on, and is always ready for a drink.
The friendship between the two couples is the real heart of the show. However often Margo was horrified, she and Jerry were there when it mattered.
The animals
The Goods' smallholding had a cast of its own: pigs named Pinky and Perky, the goat Geraldine, chickens and a cockerel called Lenin. There was also the temperamental rotavator, and plenty of mud.
A royal audience
The Good Life was so popular that the final episode in 1978, When I'm 65, was recorded in front of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, a first for a sitcom.
Paul Eddington went on to star in Yes Minister, Penelope Keith in To the Manor Born and Richard Briers in Ever Decreasing Circles. The show has never really gone away on repeats.
Think you know your Goods from your Leadbetters? Try our The Good Life quiz.