The Good Life
- TV sitcom
- BBC One
- 1975 - 1978
- 30 episodes (4 series)
After Tom Good becomes disillusioned with his life, he packs in his job and he and his wife attempt to live a completely self-sufficient life in suburbia. Stars Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.
Streaming rank this week: 2,223
Press clippings Page 3
The children uprooted to live the 1970s Good Life
A recent Magazine feature explored what happened to the people who pursued a self-sufficient lifestyle in the 1970s. Here, four readers share their stories of their idealistic upbringings.
Claire Bates and Harry Low, BBC News, 17th April 2016What happened to self-sufficient people of the 1970s?
John Seymour, author of the "bible" of self-sufficiency, had put his principles into practice and set up a farm on rented land in Suffolk, driving a horse and cart instead of a car. His books and articles, which are thought to have helped inspire the BBC sitcom The Good Life, urged others to follow his lead.
Claire Bates, BBC News, 12th April 2016John Lloyd critical of 'impertinent' sitcom remakes
Blackadder mastermind John Lloyd has insisted that his iconic sitcom will not follow the likes of Porridge, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em and Are You Being Served? in being remade by the BBC.
Shaun Kitchener, The Daily Express, 21st March 2016Penelope Keith's comic triumph on The Good Life
Who can forget Penelope Keith as Margo Leadbetter, wearing a tangerine kaftan, vigorously plumping the cushions of her three-piece suite on The Good Life?
Charlotte McDougall, The Guardian, 8th July 2015Why the 'Jerry from the Good Life' look is back
Move over Tom Ford and David Beckham - the latest fashion icon is Jerry from The Good Life, godfather of 'athleisurewear'. Harry Wallop visited Surbiton Golf Club to try out the 'sport luxe' look.
Harry Wallop, The Telegraph, 25th April 2015Fashion lessons from The Good Life
The Good Life turns 40 this month, but its style is as fresh as ever. Here is what Tom, Barbara, Margo and Jerry can teach us about dressing for spring 2015.
Imogen Fox, The Guardian, 20th April 2015PM's promise of The Good Life invites taunts
Shouldn't the prime minister have thought of a more appropriate sitcom to repeatedly reference during his manifesto launch - given that Richard Briers also starred in Ever Decreasing Circles.
Stuart Heritage, The Guardian, 14th April 2015The Good Life at 40: Britain's finest sitcom?
No doubt history will remember 4 April, 1975 as the day Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico. But for some of us, it was the day The Good Life began in Surbiton.
Russell Davies, The Telegraph, 4th April 2015Felicity Kendal recalls Good Life actor Richard Briers
I try not to do regrets - I think they're such a waste of time - but I now have one. Not having kept in closer touch recently with Richard Briers, or Dickie as I used to call him, is a real sadness to me now that he has gone.
Felicity Kendal, The Telegraph, 17th March 2013When Richard Briers died recently aged 79, there was a huge outpouring of affection for one of our great comic actors. Audiences felt as if they'd lost a favourite uncle.
It was John Esmonde and Bob Larbey's 1975 sitcom, which ran on BBC1 for three years, that cemented Briers's place in our hearts. He played Tom Good, an ex-City man who turned his back on his old life to set up a smallholding with wife Barbara in the London suburb of Surbiton.
As a tribute, G.O.L.D. is broadcasting back-to-back episodes, starting with episode seven of series one, followed by all of series two and ending with the final episode of series four. Age hasn't wearied a minute of it.
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 3rd March 2013