50. The Goodies Rule – O.K.?
21 December 1975
Oh dear. When The Goodies… At Last was released in 2003 (retitled in Australia as 8 Delicious Episodes), I distinctly remember, amidst the general euphoria, feeling crestfallen to learn that one of those eight episodes was The Goodies and the Beanstalk, which I’ve never much cared for, and which I felt could have been replaced by two regular episodes. Such a waste! Imagine my dismay when 2010’s At Last… Back For More, Again! repeated the error and wasted precious disk space on The Goodies Rule – O.K.?
I’m not a fan. I realise that many people are, and I apologise for treading on anybody’s nostalgic enjoyment… but if I’m going to spend an entire decade waxing lyrical about The Goodies and how much I love it, then it’s only fair to stick a reluctant boot in on those rare occasions when I don’t…!
My general remarks on this distended, rather lifeless ‘special’ are the same as for The Goodies and the Beanstalk. The lads are given too much money and too much screen time (too much rope!) and proceed, quite spectacularly, to overindulge themselves. References to celebrities are replaced by actual celebrities (or facsimiles thereof). Verbal wit gives way to prolonged, often banal visual sequences. The Super Chaps’ trademark inventiveness goes missing in action, the void filled by recycled laughs and dull echoes of past glories (dredged up not only from ISIRTA, where a TV audience may have missed them, but also from previous Goodies offerings).
Making matters worse, we have Bill’s increasingly off-the-rails relationship with music. While the plot sounds zany enough on paper, it does rather shoehorn in the Goodies real-life novelty chart success, which, ironically, seems to have precipitated a drop-off in the brilliant incidental music that formerly had brought so many Goodies episodes to life. Now that Bill was living out his ‘grotty little hairy frustrated pop star’ dreams, he apparently became less interested in composing proper music for the show. Such original compositions as there are sound rather flat, and the rest are from the music library.
The Goodies Rule – O.K.? runs for 49 minutes, and there really is very little originality to be had. Let me run through it:
0:00-0:36 Opening Credits
These consist of images taken solely from the episode itself, and succeed in making those sequences appear funny (even when they transpire not to be)! The key here is brevity, plus quality of musical overlay. Bizarrely, though, in an episode that very much outstays its welcome, the opening song is truncated.
0:37-3:04 In 1961, the Goodies, playing as the Bootles in a Liverpool club, are received poorly, then have their music stolen by Paul McCartney and Company.
This works! However, it is then followed by—
03:05-04:12 The Goodies, always musically ahead of their time, have works stolen by other artists, all the way up to 1975 when they perform ‘Nappy Love’.
Anything post-Beatles was always going to be a step-down. The self-referencing, though also self-mocking, doesn’t really make this sequence any funnier.
4:13-7:00 The Goodies, on Skid Row, lament how true talent goes unappreciated; then Graeme hatches a plot to steal back from successful musicians.
There’s actually some dialogue here (or at least an extended monologue from Bill), but not a laugh to be had. The down-and-out look borrows heavily from The Goodies and the Beanstalk, as does Graeme’s pilfering of celebrity trademarks borrow from Frankenfido. One can’t help but thinking that this three-minute sequence would, in ordinary circumstances, have been accomplished with minimal visuals and thirty seconds of back-and-forth banter. An understated Bill instrumental plays in the background, barely noticeable.
7:01-10:54 The Goodies perform a concert attended only by the policemen who are there to keep the crowd under control.
That’s the joke! It’s a good one, but also includes a full performance of ‘Wild Thing’—which is great in isolation, but contributes nothing to the episode and thus comes across as rather indulgent[1] promotion for the recently released The New Goodies LP, on which it appears.
10:55-15:26 Now that they occupy every position in the Top 10 music charts, the Goodies receive OBEs at a flooded ceremony in the grounds of Buckingham Palace. As Britain plunges further into debt, and the Goodies are the only ones turning a profit, they are nationalised by the government and tasked with cheering the country up.
Much borrowing here from Winter Olympics. Tim’s OBE obsession finally bears fruit, but the preponderance of visual humour (without trademark music) doesn’t prove very gratifying.
15:27-20:42 The Goodies perform ‘Bounce’, which in May 1976 would be released as a single. They then stand for election, representing the Bouncing Party, and are defeated by a party of shop dummies.
Again, a good song, but a novelty piece, not the sort of music that usually would accompany an actual Goodies episode. The found-footage bouncing scenes are astutely done but retread familiar ground. The various takes on dancing political parties, and the election itself, are quite lame. (Mainly because there’s little involvement from the Super Chaps themselves – who just bob about in the background!)
20:43-23:25 The new government declares Britain a chuckle-free zone (which it currently is!), and unleashes its ‘mirth inspectors’ (modelled on witchfinders).
Norman Mitchell (Gerald from The Music Lovers and For Those in Peril on the Sea) puts in an appearance as a town crier. Again, though, there is no interaction.
23:26-29:08 The Goodies, dressed as Robin Hoods, ride through Sherwood Forest on their trandem. They put on a comedy show for a couple who try not to laugh.
Here, too, it isn’t so much that the material is unfunny. It’s that it goes on for much longer than usual, and doesn’t have the same originality and ear-worm brilliance in its musical accompaniment (even though bookended by ‘We’re the Goodies’, a chant-along but still music-lite Bill composition).
29:09-31:46 With laughter outlawed, the only source of humour comes by way of ‘hootlegging’. The Goodies, taking refuge in a ‘joke-easy’, hatch plans as to how they will challenge the government (by forming a new party comprised of former entertainers).
The lads revive their Goodies in the Nick bank-robbing / Goodie-father personas. This sequence, however, provides exposition without any laughs.
31:47-32:43 The Goodies drive about, collecting celebrities.
Largely inoffensive, though the original music ‘Where Are They Now?’, though not out of keeping with Bill’s offerings from Series 1 & 2, nevertheless feels somewhat subdued.
32:44-35:55 The new government takes power, but the celebrities have forgotten how to do their silly voices, despite much coaxing and coaching from Graeme.
Again, we have what should have been a 30-second sequence, playing out across three minutes.
35:56-37:22 With the celebrities proving unreliable, the Goodies introduce a puppet government – of actual puppets!
A quality one-liner… which unfortunately then dominates the remainder of the episode.
37:23-47:30 The Goodies sneak into the Prime Minister’s country house. Tim attempts to chastise the puppets, but succeeds only in provoking them. The Goodies are attacked and driven off, fighting a variety of hand puppets and marionettes until the house is eventually destroyed.
One’s appreciation of this probably depends on how much one is attached to the various children’s show characters. I quite like Bill’s brawl with the Wombles. The Giant Dougal and Zebedee do very little for me. And again, it goes on far too long.
47:31-49:04 Corbet Woodall’s news report plus closing credits.
Corbet Woodall has often provided sublime little touches as the newsreader. Here, the most he is able to do is sneak in the famous words, “I’m sorry, I’ll read that again.” The Goodies’ puppeting of political leaders Thatcher, Wilson and Thorpe is a nice touch, as is their own subsequent puppeting by director Jim Franklin—though it seems a tad unfortunate that this one on-screen acknowledgement of Franklin’s contribution to the Goodies’ success comes at such a low point!
Phew. Even the writing of that recap feels drudgerous and dull. I blame the BBC for not releasing series-by-series records of ‘The Cricklewood Tapes’ and so giving Bill and Michael Gibbs their musical due. How different it all could have been…
Jacob Edwards, 21 December 2025
Tweets:
[1] Then again… [Wild Thing]
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