The man we have to thank for naming our chickens died last week. John Esmonde, one half of the comedy duo behind The Good Life, passed away at the age of 71. Together with Bob Larbey he came up with Tom and Barbara Good, and their neighbours Margot and Gerry Leadbetter in the series The Good Life.
The premise was as simple as the life the Goods chose to lead, but it was decades ahead of its 1970s Surbiton setting. Wikipedia summarises its plot better than any TV guide:
On his 40th birthday, Tom Good gives up his job as a draughtsman in a company that makes plastic toys for breakfast cereal packets as he is no longer able to take his job seriously. Their house is fully paid for, so he and his wife Barbara make a decision to live a sustainable, simple and self-sufficient lifestyle while staying in their beloved home in The Avenue, Surbiton.
In pursuit of this good life, they dig up their front and back gardens and convert them into allotments, growing soft fruit and vegetables. They introduce chickens, pigs (Pinky and Perky) a goat (Geraldine) and a cockerel (Lenin). They generate their own electricity, using methane from animal waste, and they even attempt to make their own clothes. They also work at selling or bartering surplus crops for essentials which they cannot make themselves. They try to cut their monetary requirements to the minimum with varying success.
The way I remember the series, it ran through the whole of my childhood, so it’s surprising to see that only 30 half-hour episodes were ever filmed, drawing in as many as 17.7m viewers.
They are frequently repeated on the Gold channels, but if you want to buy them all on DVD, you’d better have pretty deep pockets. To get them all it’ll cost you in the region of £150, whether you buy them new or wait for a second hand set to come up on eBay.
That’s a lot of money, but if you have any doubts whether it’s worth it, check out the dozens of clips rather naughtily posted on YouTube.
The Guardian carries Esmonde’s obituary.
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