Suburban sitcom classic The Good Life first appeared on the BBC half a century ago. Pass the pea-pod burgundy, I suddenly feel very old.
To celebrate the beloved show’s 50th birthday, U&Gold is airing a feature-length retrospective. Presented by Dame Penelope Keith, who memorably brought the mighty Margo Leadbetter to life, it makes for a nostalgic trip down muddy-booted memory lane. She revisits key filming locations, tells behind-the-scenes stories and introduces rarely seen archive interviews with her co-stars.
The Good Life’s nominal protagonists, of course, were horny-handed trailblazers Tom and Barbara Good (Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal), who quit the rat race to pursue their dream of living self-sufficiently. Despite the nation having a collective crush on Kendal, I always found the Goods – well, mainly Tom – rather pompous and insufferably smug.
