Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Mudlarks

I don't know what it was about The Good Life that made it popular even amongst those of us who were rather difficult, pretending-to-be-anti-establishment teenagers at the time it was shown - although I suspect that, in the case of my male contemporaries, there may have been a strong element of fondness (is that the right word?) for Felicity Kendal.

In addition though, judging by this tiny excerpt from the show, there was a considerable element of beautifully executed slapstick in the mix:



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2 comments:

  1. Steerforth4 June 2014 at 23:51

    I loved it (and still do) and no, it wasn't anything to do with with Felicity Kendal - her childlike physique didn't do anything for me. I just found the characters very engaging and felt that the writing was a cut above the usual sitcom cliches. The mutual respect and affection the underpinned Tom and Barbara's relationship with Jerry and Margot enabled us to enjoy their inevitable clashes knowing that it would all be all right in the end,

    Most British sitcoms are about class and feature someone who suffers from the delusion that they belong in a higher echelon of society, whether it's Hancock, Captain Mainwaring, Del Boy or Harold Steptoe, and in each episode they invariably fall flat on their face at the end (the only American sitcom I can think of that does this is Frasier). The Good Life took the theme of class and did something more interesting with it.

    I watched it in my early to mid teens and decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be Jerry Leadebetter.

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  2. zmkc8 June 2014 at 04:57

    Dear Jerry. It was such a good prog, although, looking at it now, it seems quite peculiar that neither couple seems remotely interested in having children. I always remember Richard Briers's character being so excited because a big supermarket wants him to supply carrots, but it all falls through because they don't understand about seasons.

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