Lighthouse Keeping Loonies
31 March 1975
‘Lighthouse Keeping Loonies’ constitutes a remarkable feat of TV comedy writing and performance. At just over 25 minutes it is shorter than most offerings in the Goodies’ oeuvre, and given its bottle-episode nature one could be excused for anticipating a shortfall of ideas; a built-in limitation on the number or scope of gags. Not a bit of it! Indeed, ‘LKL’ proves not only one of the funniest Goodies escapades but also perhaps the most consistently engaging. Constrained only by space, not imagination, the Super Chaps concoct a more concentrated, more focussed version of the usual freewheeling mayhem, which, unlike other bottle episodes—‘The Stone Age’, ‘The End’, ‘Earthanasia’, sublime as these are—contains virtually no padding. From the moment the lads are exiled via flying fox to their five-year tenure within the Jolly Rock Lighthouse (Bill already railing against the confinement) until their post-spaceflight run-in with Nelson, every scene is maximised for comic effect. As befits the lighthouse setting, no space is wasted!
Plot-wise, we hark back to Series 1 & 2 where the Goodies would hire themselves out, tackling ‘Anything, Anytime’ to earn their daily crust. In ‘Lighthouse Keeping Loonies’, however, this process has been streamlined. Instead of any setup, or engagement of services by overly tall guest star, we’re given a three-second establishing shot of the lighthouse[1], followed by the lads’ arrival (Bill pegged in stork-delivered baby’s nappy!) and Graeme’s admission:
From here we proceed through a straightforward—if rapidly escalating—plot of calamities as the Goodies mess up their actual duties, worsen the situation through their attempts to improvise,, and ultimately launch the entire lighthouse into outer space! Throughout, events are fuelled by a rich mixture of found comedy resources (ie. deriving laughs from the props to hand) and character exploitation. Everything that happens on the Jolly Rock does so because of who the Goodies are (both together and individually). Rarely across the show’s ten-year run was there a better encapsulation of the Super Chaps’ personality traits, shifting alliances, ‘odd-couple’ friendship triangle and lurking every-man-for-himself/ishness than when adjusting to life on[2], and keeping ships clear of, the Jolly Rock Lighthouse!
And, of course, it’s all gloriously funny: Bill’s caged aversion to the pervading roundness (culminating in Tim’s self-plunge into lemon meringue pie); the exquisite performance of ‘Song of the Jolly Rock Light’ (an all-time great highlight, often riffed upon by fans to signal kinship in the wild); Graeme’s mishap with the foghorn; face-targeting oil geysers; Tim’s tilting bathtub (with rubber ducks in attendance). The Goodies’ delivery is exemplary throughout. True, there’s no original music—but ‘A Walk in the Black Forest’ rears its anodyne head in the background, alluding to past glories and fan loyalties[3].
In short, what we see in ‘LKL’ is a programme at the peak of its run, magnificently self-assured, its not-quite-titular Super Chaps high on confidence and well-and-truly in the comedic zone, whatever the state of the show’s budget…
Truly, a masterpiece!
Jacob Edwards, 31 March 2025
Tweets:
[1] Astutely revisited in a three-second ‘lift-off’ shot and then a further three-second shot of empty waters. (“Police are still appealing for any information concerning the whereabouts of the Jolly Rock Lighthouse, which was stolen this morning during a dense fog.”)
[2] “Ruddy moths!”
[3] Further to which, the steamship ending evokes similar dislocations from ‘Radio Goodies’ and ‘Pollution’.
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