0:00:02 > 0:00:05MUSIC: The Good Life
0:00:08 > 0:00:10Come on, Margo, get your hat on.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13- This is the Daily Mirror. - LAUGHTER
0:00:13 > 0:00:18I used to get very, very nervous beforehand. I used to have to speak to the audience,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22very briefly, telling a joke and then they became our friends.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27It's all about suburbia.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31It's about escape without giving up your basic life.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33OK, sweethearts, nobody moves.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38It's like running away from home and camping in the bottom of the garden.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42If I'd had a pound for every time you have seen me falling over in that mud...
0:00:42 > 0:00:46I had to do it five times, I couldn't walk the following day.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Penny Keith made it all right to laugh at the middle-classes and laugh with her.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52Just who do you think you are, Mrs Leadbetter?
0:00:52 > 0:00:55I am the silent majority.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01It was middle-class behaving badly if you like, but only a little bit.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03- Tom! - LAUGHTER
0:01:06 > 0:01:09I know what it is, it's a seance.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11Anybody there?
0:01:11 > 0:01:13KNOCK AT DOOR Blimey, that was quick.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16We sort of struck a pulse.
0:01:16 > 0:01:21Most people found it not just amusing, but also quite touching
0:01:21 > 0:01:22and quite real.
0:01:31 > 0:01:33Right, here goes.
0:01:33 > 0:01:38I quit work and we become as damn near self-sufficient as possible.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46'He's off the grid and in the lead, 150 miles an hour...'
0:01:46 > 0:01:48We keep some animals, chickens, a pig,
0:01:48 > 0:01:50we produce our own energy, recycle rubbish.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04We've got bags of garden, we grow our own food.
0:02:07 > 0:02:08One potato.
0:02:16 > 0:02:22This whole thing is getting entirely out of hand. It's like living next door to gypsies.
0:02:22 > 0:02:23Hello, Margo!
0:02:23 > 0:02:26John Howard Davies got this script, sent it to me.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29I thought, "Well, it's a very pleasant script."
0:02:29 > 0:02:34I thought it's being me, it's very middle-class, suburban.
0:02:34 > 0:02:39Yes, an unpretentious little peapod burgundy, but I think you will like its impudent charm.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Is it travelled?
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Travelled? All of ten feet!
0:02:44 > 0:02:47There we are, Chateau Good '75.
0:02:47 > 0:02:49'There was a one-page synopsis'
0:02:49 > 0:02:52this was sent to him, which he read
0:02:52 > 0:02:55before the first script was delivered.
0:02:55 > 0:03:00He quite liked the idea, but thought perhaps maybe it might be a little too middle of the road.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03To the future.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07I thought, "Will a lot of people, perhaps not terribly well off,
0:03:07 > 0:03:13"will they recognise this kind of idiot, throwing his job away and everything?"
0:03:17 > 0:03:21If that's the future, I'm going to kill myself!
0:03:23 > 0:03:25It's hurting the back of my eyes!
0:03:28 > 0:03:32The great thing is, when we actually did the episode one and he left his job,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35he took a spade and he dug the ground.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37Of course, he became then classless.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43Ladies and gentlemen, the artist playing the character of Tom Good, Mr Richard Briers.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45APPLAUSE
0:03:45 > 0:03:48'It was always going to be something for Richard Briers.'
0:03:48 > 0:03:52I was at school with a young lad called Alan Ayckbourn,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55he had written a play called the Norman Conquests, a trilogy
0:03:55 > 0:03:58starring Penelope Keith, Felicity Kendal.
0:03:58 > 0:04:03If you had seen it, you would have said they were perfect for the Good Life.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07Now, the wonderful little woman... LAUGHTER
0:04:07 > 0:04:10..my television wife, the delicious, Felicity Kendal.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Miss Penelope Keith.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26John came and saw it and that was it, two for the price of one.
0:04:26 > 0:04:33Everyone at that time, well, I think still, actually, would like to be in a situation comedy for the BBC.
0:04:33 > 0:04:39Of course one leapt at it. I didn't even notice that I only had one line in the very first episode.
0:04:39 > 0:04:40What is it? What's going on?
0:04:40 > 0:04:43It's the Goods, they're dancing in their goldfish pond.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46- LAUGHTER - Ask them why.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49But there was no question of my not doing it, even flipping through,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51thinking, "Yes, I want to do this, I want to do this."
0:04:51 > 0:04:54The suave, talented, Paul Eddington.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57APPLAUSE
0:04:57 > 0:05:00# Please release me
0:05:00 > 0:05:04# Let me go
0:05:04 > 0:05:07DOOR SLAMS
0:05:07 > 0:05:08# For I... #
0:05:08 > 0:05:10- That you, Margo?- Yes, it's me.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Bye-bye, Burt.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15# For I don't love you any more
0:05:18 > 0:05:22# To waste our lives... #
0:05:24 > 0:05:28Paul Eddington, I'd seen in another Ayckbourn play in the West End.
0:05:28 > 0:05:33He had always played villains very well, so I thought he would play comedy particularly well.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36- Here?- No, more.
0:05:37 > 0:05:38More.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42- Well, here, then? - No, no, back a little.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45No! That's too much! Oh, really!
0:05:45 > 0:05:47'I had never met him before.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50'I think it worked terribly well. He was a very good actor.'
0:05:50 > 0:05:52It was there in the writing.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Because we got on so well together
0:05:55 > 0:06:00it did seem as though we were a married couple because of,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02call it chemistry, call it what you will.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06I do wish you'd take that peevish expression off your face, Jerry.
0:06:06 > 0:06:08You can't see the expression on my face.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11I know what it is by the position of your feet!
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Sometimes you get scripts that need a tremendous amount of work in rehearsals.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23Here, there was no work to be done. It was written by real craftsmen,
0:06:23 > 0:06:27the like of which I've seldom seen before or since.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32Margo, don't just stand there, something warm, milk and brandy!
0:06:33 > 0:06:36LOW GROWLING
0:06:38 > 0:06:40- Tom.- What?
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Remy Martin or Hindes VSOP?
0:06:42 > 0:06:45LAUGHTER
0:06:52 > 0:06:54Brian Jones, the PA, spent a great deal of time
0:06:54 > 0:06:58searching for the right couple of houses. We had immense difficulty
0:06:58 > 0:07:01and couldn't find anybody who was willing for their garden
0:07:01 > 0:07:04to be dug up over a period of maybe three or four years.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19Once I had the script, that demanded that we had
0:07:19 > 0:07:25two houses, adjacent, a smart house and one that wasn't quite so smart.
0:07:25 > 0:07:32So I started to look on the west side of London, because it was easier to get out to the west side.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38And then I reached Rickmansworth and from there I came to Northwood,
0:07:38 > 0:07:40turned down a street...
0:07:42 > 0:07:46..and then suddenly, I stopped and looked to the right
0:07:46 > 0:07:48and here were the two houses.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I thought, "Thank goodness for that!"
0:07:55 > 0:07:57This was the Good's house.
0:07:57 > 0:08:01Now you must realise that in 1975,
0:08:01 > 0:08:06it didn't look as nice as it looks now. Then it needed new windows.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11It needed a lick of paint, but it fitted the Good's house, perfectly.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15This represented a 40-year-old man who really lost interest
0:08:15 > 0:08:18and wanted to do something else.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22I went in, spoke to the owners and said,
0:08:22 > 0:08:24"What we would like to do is to
0:08:24 > 0:08:28"plant some cabbages and kale in your garden
0:08:28 > 0:08:31"and leeks and things like this..."
0:08:31 > 0:08:33"Oh, yes, anything else?"
0:08:33 > 0:08:36"Yes, we'd like to put some chickens in there as well."
0:08:36 > 0:08:39"And?" "Pigs."
0:08:39 > 0:08:42"And?" "A goat." "And?"
0:08:42 > 0:08:46"We need to dig up your back garden and your front garden."
0:08:46 > 0:08:49I thought, "This is it, they're going to say no."
0:08:49 > 0:08:54They looked at each other and they said, "Er, yes, all right."
0:09:03 > 0:09:07I suppose in a little bit of a similar way to Tom, I have an interest in self-sufficiency.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10So I do grow some of my own vegetables.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14We normally grow potatoes, runner beans, cabbages,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16various different kitchen produce.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19So, I suppose there is a little bit of Tom in me.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26This is the garden. Obviously, they didn't have any lawn at the time.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29It would have been soil and vegetable patches,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31animal pens and various other bits.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40So this is the famous fence where Tom and Margo used to have a lot of conversations and arguments.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I want an explanation.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I want to know why you are telling the world and his wife
0:09:45 > 0:09:48that Margo Leadbetter's clothes are only fit for scarecrows.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52Either you take down my dress, or I shall call the police.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56I'm aware that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59So, this is the back of the house.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02You can see a few bits have changed since the TV show.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04I used to live two doors down.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07I used to walk past to school at the front and by the time
0:10:07 > 0:10:12you would walk back in the afternoon, the house would be completely transformed.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15The lawn would have gone and been replaced with soil
0:10:15 > 0:10:19and rows and rows of freshly planted vegetables, all ready to eat.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21Kill! Kill!
0:10:34 > 0:10:36When I moved in in 1986,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39it was as it had been in The Good Life.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Which, when I realised it was that house. I thought that was fun!
0:10:47 > 0:10:51We still get people who come round, perhaps once a month.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53People from all over the country.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55"This is The Good Life house, isn't it?"
0:10:55 > 0:10:58"I've brought my wife to see this house.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01"Do you mind if I take a photograph?"
0:11:01 > 0:11:04It's amazing, really, so much later, isn't it?
0:11:04 > 0:11:09Do you mean to say that you have been wheeling that filthy apparatus
0:11:09 > 0:11:12up and down the avenue, begging for kitchen scraps?
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Certainly, and it's not begging it's recycling.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19Tom, when will you realise, that you are living in Surbiton and not Zaire?
0:11:24 > 0:11:28Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31five, four, three...
0:11:33 > 0:11:37I thought about ideas and the type of title sequences required.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40What came to mind was an idea from an animation
0:11:40 > 0:11:45I had seen many years ago by UPA Cartoons, a brilliant company.
0:11:45 > 0:11:48It was a unicorn and a garden by Therber.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52The title sequence was a little bird that would fly around the screen,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55going upside down as it reached the top, which was very novel.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58I thought it was genius. It stuck in my mind.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02I thought, "This is the thing that would do for The Good Life."
0:12:04 > 0:12:06When the first episode went out, I had cringed a bit
0:12:06 > 0:12:09because it was perhaps more naive than I expected.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13But it had that humour which I think worked for the programme.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16The graphic designers were all very ego centric,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19trying to compete with each other and knock each other down.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24You couldn't walk down a corridor going for lunch or going to the bar
0:12:24 > 0:12:27for some time without getting nudged and laughed at.
0:12:27 > 0:12:33But as time has proved, it couldn't have been better animation for the programme.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37The best titles usually are simple. Get to the point, get in there and get the show on the road.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41Now, listen, stupid.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45That's right, look at me when I'm talking to you. Now look.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49Over here, Look. Now, if you want the old saucer and milk, cod's head,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53the tickle under the chin, you want all that, you've got to graft, right?
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Out there, birds? You chase birds, got it? Right.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02Right, and kill!
0:13:02 > 0:13:04It's all about suburbia.
0:13:04 > 0:13:08It's about escape without giving up your basic life.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12It's like running away from home and camping in the bottom of the garden.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Well, if that's the best you can do, we'll be here until Christmas.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Well, thank you very much, Tom. Goodbye.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25Up until The Good Life, dropping out did mean going off and living in a tee-pee in Mid Wales.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28You were running away. That was really important.
0:13:28 > 0:13:34So what was wonderful was this idea of dropping out and staying at home. Now that was genuinely new.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37I mean, Margo is doing her best. She's the odd one out here.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41It's not her fault if she's all weak and feeble.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Weak and feeble, am I?
0:13:53 > 0:13:59To be self sufficient, or to have a beautiful garden, we know, would or could make us happy.
0:14:00 > 0:14:04It's in your grasp, you know, coming in, holding a cabbage
0:14:04 > 0:14:08or clutching some leeks, saying, dinner!
0:14:10 > 0:14:12LAUGHTER
0:14:17 > 0:14:21It's a sign of the times that most local authorities in urban areas
0:14:21 > 0:14:26are facing an unprecedented demand for that British of social provisions, the allotment.
0:14:26 > 0:14:31People have worked out that growing their own food, not only helps the house keeping,
0:14:31 > 0:14:34but also renews that personal contact with nature,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38which, for so many of us, has become depressingly remote.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Well, I'm sorry, I despise allotments, they're so Brixtony.
0:14:42 > 0:14:46'We were all inclined to economise'
0:14:46 > 0:14:50in some sense at that time. If you had never grown out tomatoes,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52you went out and bought a tomato plant or two.
0:14:52 > 0:14:56If you had nowhere in which to grow a tomato plant, you bought a flower pot.
0:14:56 > 0:15:03There was something of a 1940s spirit abroad at that time.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Barbara? What are you doing?
0:15:08 > 0:15:11- I'm trying to sell veggies. - But you're sitting where you can be seen!
0:15:11 > 0:15:14There's no point in hiding in the shed, is there?
0:15:14 > 0:15:15HE LAUGHS
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Laugh, go on, laugh. I hope you're still laughing
0:15:18 > 0:15:21when the value of property in this district plummets to an all-time low.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29John Seymour's book, Self-Sufficiency, was really important at exactly that time.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32It taught you in great detail how to make tools,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36how to milk every possible animal that could be milked.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39It sold certainly in the hundreds of thousands if not millions.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42There was that feeling that for a book like that to be so
0:15:42 > 0:15:47successful in the mid-70s, clearly a lot of people shared that dream.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50What Tom and Barbara were doing
0:15:50 > 0:15:54was idiotically translating that to the back garden,
0:15:54 > 0:15:58and so they were John Seymour reduced right down to suburban level.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01OK, sweethearts, nobody moves.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09From a practical level, it was clearly hopeless.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11He was really, truly awful
0:16:11 > 0:16:15and would never be self-sufficient. They'd starve.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27How could you miss a chicken from six inches?
0:16:32 > 0:16:33It ducked!
0:16:35 > 0:16:39The purpose of a situation comedy, one of the basic principles
0:16:39 > 0:16:42is you glue people together so they can't escape.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47The fact that they lived on top of each other made it what it was.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51You've got to have that glue. If there isn't any glue, there is no tension at all.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55People always talk about situation comedy as if the situation is what
0:16:55 > 0:17:00creates the laughs. In The Good Life, the characters drove the comedy rather than the situation.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04My old fork, there he is. There's something of me in that.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08This repair idea, it was not just a man mending an implement,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12this was a friend restoring to health with affection. Look at that!
0:17:15 > 0:17:17What a bloody load of old rubbish!
0:17:19 > 0:17:21Good morning!
0:17:21 > 0:17:23Margo! Nice bit of thigh!
0:17:28 > 0:17:29Achoo!
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Shouldn't you have weights on either end?
0:17:35 > 0:17:38'I think Tom was a very spoilt child.'
0:17:38 > 0:17:43I used to enjoy that part of acting him,
0:17:43 > 0:17:47because I could do occasionally funny voices and silly walks,
0:17:47 > 0:17:48which I'm very fond of.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52HE CLEARS HIS THROAT Good morning!
0:17:58 > 0:18:00HE IMITATES GUNSHOTS
0:18:05 > 0:18:09'The writing was of any guy,'
0:18:09 > 0:18:13so I had to use virtually my own personality and mannerisms
0:18:13 > 0:18:15to sort of...
0:18:15 > 0:18:16become HIM.
0:18:16 > 0:18:18As near as one can!
0:18:18 > 0:18:21A lot of clowning around.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29HE WHISTLES
0:18:31 > 0:18:34The famous tune that I used to whistle,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37pretending that I was elsewhere, as it were...
0:18:40 > 0:18:43Terrible whistle. People would say, "What is that tune?
0:18:43 > 0:18:46"What is that tune?" It was Over the Rainbow.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50I think that was probably my only idea that I put forward!
0:18:50 > 0:18:54HE WHISTLES
0:18:57 > 0:19:02Richard Briers is justifiably called the greatest sitcom actor
0:19:02 > 0:19:05of our generation. His timing is absolutely impeccable.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07Come along woman, I'm starving! Food! Food!
0:19:09 > 0:19:11LAUGHTER
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Bread?
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Bread?
0:19:25 > 0:19:27- What are you having? - LAUGHTER
0:19:27 > 0:19:30He is able to do things within the confines
0:19:30 > 0:19:34of this remarkable technique of conveying emotion.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And he does it in a very subtle way.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40So he knows how to make you feel sorry for him,
0:19:40 > 0:19:41or how to be glad for him.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Come on, Tom, it's only a setback.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47It's not a setback, love, it's the finish! We have had it!
0:19:55 > 0:19:57So, I go back to work. Oh, well.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01At least we can say we tried.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09Hells bells...you're dirty.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15I think like most women, she was tough. There's a tough side to her.
0:20:16 > 0:20:20She had no decent clothes or she never went for a holiday, anything.
0:20:20 > 0:20:25- Oh, that's nice.- That's what I thought when I bought it, but I'm afraid it was a terrible mistake.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29"Le Clerk," a jolly expensive mistake.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Well, that's not important. The point is, Barbara, I got it home.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37I put it on and I said to myself, "Margo, that simply looks cheap and nasty,"
0:20:37 > 0:20:41- so I wondered if you would like it? - LAUGHTER
0:20:41 > 0:20:44Richard and Felicity would just come rushing in,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47when we were in the studio and say, "What am I wearing?"
0:20:47 > 0:20:52I would say, "I think this or that." I provided the odd second-hand bit here and there.
0:21:04 > 0:21:05Hello, grubby!
0:21:07 > 0:21:08Hello, dear.
0:21:08 > 0:21:09I did provide shirts.
0:21:09 > 0:21:14The red shirt and the blue shirt that she wore constantly
0:21:14 > 0:21:17were ones that I had gleaned off my husband,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21who was very skinny at the time and suited her very well.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Actually, they looked better on her than him!
0:21:23 > 0:21:27- Hello, Margo, you look nice. - You've got one-track minds!
0:21:27 > 0:21:32The big green sweater, that was knitted previous years.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34I thought that would just be right.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38And he enjoyed wearing it and it started to fall to pieces,
0:21:38 > 0:21:43which helped at the stage they were, that it was collapsing.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45It probably collapsed at the end of the show!
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Would you hit a woman...
0:21:47 > 0:21:50- in glasses?- Certainly not.
0:21:55 > 0:21:56What have you done?
0:21:56 > 0:21:59These are Felicity's specks,
0:21:59 > 0:22:02it was very important that we didn't lose them.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06So, I don't know why, but that's why I still have them.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12Obviously they're clear glass, cos they were done specially for her.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The bit of character-building Elastoplast.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19It's a bit dirty!
0:22:21 > 0:22:23I had this little chat with Jerry,
0:22:23 > 0:22:26I advised him to clamp down on Margo's spending.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Take those glasses off.
0:22:28 > 0:22:30How was I supposed to know, it's just bad timing.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- You will interfere...! - Look who's talking!
0:22:33 > 0:22:36All right, all right, don't panic. I might not have to beat you up.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40What am I talking about, good Lord!
0:22:40 > 0:22:44I suppose Barbara Good was the most difficult role to play.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46There was very little to grasp on except love.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49- You look gorgeous.- Do I?
0:22:49 > 0:22:55- It's funny dressing up as a woman again, I haven't had my posh frock on for ages.- What is it like?
0:22:57 > 0:23:01Sensuous, I would say, yes, definitely sensuous.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Good, keep feeling that way until we get upstairs to the bridal suite.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09They've obviously got a terrific marriage, and a lot of laughs.
0:23:10 > 0:23:15They find each other attractive and she has got that very female charm.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Oh, Tom.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22I don't deserve you!
0:23:23 > 0:23:24Yes, you do.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Even so, occasionally, I used to say to the writers, and they were very good,
0:23:33 > 0:23:38I said, "I do think we ought to have a flaming row every now and then, because
0:23:38 > 0:23:43"it gets so coutchy-coutchy and cosy wosy, that people get fed up of it."
0:23:43 > 0:23:48So they did I think two or three episodes, we had a real up and a downer.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49Eileen, this is Tom.
0:23:54 > 0:23:57- How nice to meet you, Tom. - Good to see you.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02There is that rather attractive girl came to supper and I was all over her. You know, awful.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04I did over-act to it.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Coming right up. HE LAUGHS EXCITEDLY
0:24:09 > 0:24:11- Well, cheers.- Cheers.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14And, may I say, Eileen, you look absolutely stunning.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15HE LAUGHS EXCITEDLY
0:24:17 > 0:24:22Barbara was very, very hurt and very upset. So that was good!
0:24:22 > 0:24:23Arrgh!
0:24:23 > 0:24:27- What are you doing? - I'm screaming.- Why?
0:24:27 > 0:24:34Because as far as you are concerned, there are three sexes in the world - man, woman and Barbara!
0:24:34 > 0:24:37And just once, now and again, now and again, now and again,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41- I'd like to feel that I'm a normal attractive woman!- That's ridiculous.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48He crossed the line and she gave him a right going over and that's very good, that's more natural.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Well, that's just being silly, isn't it?
0:25:11 > 0:25:13LAUGHTER
0:25:13 > 0:25:16'Tom Good, I've always said I never really liked him,'
0:25:16 > 0:25:22because I thought he was terribly selfish, terribly self-centred, it was me, me, me all the time.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26Sure, we don't get much leisure time these days, but who needs it?
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Take Margo and Jerry, they're probably lolling about in their Swedish armchairs, sipping martinis,
0:25:33 > 0:25:38vegetating in front of their colour telly, I mean, who'd swap for that?
0:25:38 > 0:25:40I bloody would!
0:25:43 > 0:25:47When I started watching it in my early teens, Tom was my hero,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51I loved Felicity Kendal and they were the couple I wanted to be when I grew up.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55As I got a bit older, I started to get a bit annoyed by Tom.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Is something wrong?
0:25:57 > 0:26:01Yes! I'm SICK of the sight of that thing!
0:26:01 > 0:26:06I'm tired, I'm filthy, I feel 120, I must look 180.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10- Well, why didn't you say?- Well, I just thought you might have noticed.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14Tom has just done this thing, just announced you're going self sufficient and your wife is going
0:26:14 > 0:26:17"OK, oh, so we're never going to have any children, then?"
0:26:17 > 0:26:20The children are going to be proud of you as well.
0:26:20 > 0:26:21Yeah.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24Children? You are not...?
0:26:25 > 0:26:28No, no. The cat's going to have kittens.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30LAUGHTER Oh!
0:26:30 > 0:26:32It was discussed by the press
0:26:32 > 0:26:34why Barbara and Tom didn't have children,
0:26:34 > 0:26:36or Margo and Jerry didn't have children.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40In fact it would have destroyed any balance that we might have had.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Well, thank you very much, Jerry!
0:26:43 > 0:26:46It took me half an hour to get across London Bridge this evening.
0:26:46 > 0:26:51- I could be the centre spread of the Pig Breeder's Gazette. - Piglet of the month!
0:26:51 > 0:26:53We rehearsed pretty well.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57I think in comedy you do need more rehearsal with comedy timing.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00With an audience of course, you need to be quite polished
0:27:00 > 0:27:05and know exactly what you're saying and doing, so you can be quite clever with it.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Come along, woman. I'm starving! Food! Food!
0:27:08 > 0:27:14Humour is great, especially when you're in a rather stressful position each Sunday having to do an episode
0:27:14 > 0:27:19with 300 people in front and perhaps, you know, ten million people
0:27:19 > 0:27:23staring at you from the lounge. It makes you very nervous.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27'It certainly was a nerve-wracking thing, you know.'
0:27:28 > 0:27:33Richard used to get very, very nervous, as indeed we all did.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37APPLAUSE I used to have to speak to the audience,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41very briefly, telling a joke because otherwise they got very fed up
0:27:41 > 0:27:45and hurt if an actor just walks past them and goes to the set.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48It's very rude, but I was always terrified of this joke.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54I managed to do it, managed to get a laugh and so I had met them and they became our friends.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59Never been this full before. LAUGHTER
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Richard would go on and say, "Hello, I'm terribly nervous," whatever.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Felicity and I would go on and say good evening, so they had seen us in
0:28:07 > 0:28:12our first costumes and they just had to sit back and relax, really.
0:28:13 > 0:28:16Welcome to the Television Centre and to TC6,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19allow me to introduce myself, my name's Brian Jones,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I'm the floor manager, the production assistant.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25'Part of my job was to warm up the audience.'
0:28:25 > 0:28:30Now on previous occasions, warm up people would go on
0:28:30 > 0:28:33and crack a whole line of jokes and gags,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37very good, but inappropriate in that situation.
0:28:37 > 0:28:39LAUGHTER
0:28:39 > 0:28:45It can happen is that you get this huge laugh and you're sitting on the sofa, sort of mildly grinning.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50So that worried me a lot. When we finished each episode,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54there were massive sort of football cheers.
0:28:54 > 0:28:56The whole wa-hey!
0:28:56 > 0:28:58CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:29:02 > 0:29:05And I said to the floor manager, "Can you ask them just to clap?
0:29:05 > 0:29:09"Because it's a lovely little show, but it's only a little show."
0:29:09 > 0:29:14It was a funny thing, because what the audience liked to see most in television studios
0:29:14 > 0:29:18- was things going wrong, which of course, they did, quite often. - No, I didn't mean that.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23We've decided on the way we live, I thought you realised that it didn't also contain these...
0:29:23 > 0:29:25Blah, blah, blah...
0:29:25 > 0:29:28LAUGHTER
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Let's get this sorted out once and for all, Margo.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Now go over there and sit. Will you sit!
0:29:44 > 0:29:46LAUGHTER DROWNS COMMENTS
0:29:55 > 0:29:56I'm sorry, love. Sorry.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03- I say, I think Barbara's dinner was absolutely delicious.- Stop, please.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05You don't understand, do you?
0:30:05 > 0:30:08There will be Margo poshed up, there will be Eileen poshed up,
0:30:08 > 0:30:12and there I'll be looking like something the cat's dragged in!
0:30:12 > 0:30:13Now, now, look.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Now, look... you can't replace those, you know.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23'We got on terribly well. That again was very lucky because'
0:30:23 > 0:30:28this was really like a family and it sort of became like that, very odd.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33'I don't think in the period of time that we made the programme there was ever a cross word.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36'It was just warmth.'
0:30:36 > 0:30:41It sounds very schmaltzy, but in fact it was, just like that, we all loved each other.
0:30:41 > 0:30:43LAUGHTER AND SOME APPLAUSE
0:30:43 > 0:30:49We were a very, very happy band with John Howard Davis and the two writers.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53So, I don't think we ever thought as actors do sometimes,
0:30:53 > 0:30:59"I haven't got enough lines, or why isn't my part bigger or better?"
0:30:59 > 0:31:00Be quiet the pair of you!
0:31:00 > 0:31:04One more word out and I swear I shall throw you both out of the French windows. Now, Margo.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06- Good evening, Jerry. - Good evening, Margo.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10- Good evening, Barbara. Good evening, Tom.- Good evening, Margo.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13Good evening, Margo. Good evening, Jerry.
0:31:13 > 0:31:15- Good evening, Barbara. - Good evening, Jerry.
0:31:17 > 0:31:21There was something very attractive about the four characters.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26There was an interrelationship between them, but they were very different.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29So this had to be reflected in the sets.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33The French windows were used as an entrance more than the front door.
0:31:33 > 0:31:39I don't know about you, but I've never let anybody through my French window, have you?
0:31:39 > 0:31:44So, I think that sort of said that they had quite a deep friendship.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48THEY SING INDISTINCTLY
0:31:51 > 0:31:58A designer should be more detective before putting pen to paper and thinking about colours, anything.
0:31:58 > 0:32:04You have to get a clue from the actors, certainly talk to the director, and certainly start
0:32:04 > 0:32:06to analyse the script and what it means.
0:32:06 > 0:32:10Yes, I'm sorry, I shouldn't really have come round like this.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Oh, heavens above, we're old friends, what does it matter?
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Lift up a moment, would you?
0:32:17 > 0:32:19They were both middle-class,
0:32:19 > 0:32:23but distinctly different in characters.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28The Goods' house was, you know, slightly dowdy, muted
0:32:28 > 0:32:34and not exactly downtrodden, but had well-worn elements to the interior.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40- All right, Jerry? - The Leadbetter's living room
0:32:40 > 0:32:44was supposed to be a contrast, rather more sparkling,
0:32:44 > 0:32:48based on, you know, fringes of Harrods.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54I went for something that was sort of reproduction/regency.
0:32:56 > 0:32:59It might have been expensive, but it wasn't sort of tasteful.
0:32:59 > 0:33:04Even that social climber, Veronica Naismith cut me dead in the hairdresser's today.
0:33:04 > 0:33:06- I hope you cut her back? - I certainly did.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Her auburn rinse is no longer a secret in Surbiton.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13'We started doing the series, one of the writers said,'
0:33:13 > 0:33:16"Do you mind if we write Penelope Keith up?"
0:33:16 > 0:33:20I said, "Well, it looks to me as if she's absolute dynamite.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22"You've got to write her up."
0:33:22 > 0:33:24..Fire!
0:33:24 > 0:33:27I have just come to say, thank you very much!
0:33:27 > 0:33:32# She may be the face I can't forget
0:33:32 > 0:33:36# A trace of pleasure or regret
0:33:36 > 0:33:41# Maybe my treasure or the price I have to pay... #
0:33:41 > 0:33:44I've just cut my finger, clipping your blasted hedge.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Don't swear, Jerry. And don't bleed in the sink, I've just cleaned it.
0:33:47 > 0:33:52Margo is the iconic character from The Good Life and the one that you
0:33:52 > 0:33:57would say, "Oh, she's a bit of a Margo," and everyone would know exactly what you are talking about.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59You take nothing seriously!
0:33:59 > 0:34:02You two are a microcosm of what is wrong with modern society.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06Nobody takes anything seriously and then wonders why we can't produce a decent motorcar!
0:34:06 > 0:34:09- I'd go easy with that Tabasco. - I shall do what I like with it!
0:34:09 > 0:34:13It was very, very refreshing to see a woman with real character
0:34:13 > 0:34:16and strength, who could still be very feminine at times.
0:34:16 > 0:34:21Why don't we go home and, erm, we could...?
0:34:21 > 0:34:28And behave badly, but do it with such elan, such ferocity, that was terrible funny.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Well, that's the last time I play the tart for you, Jerry.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43I'm sorry to be so long,
0:34:43 > 0:34:47but one does have to keep such a careful eye on cotelette d'agneau au Duc de la Galette.
0:34:47 > 0:34:51She sort of happened, really, Margo, in many ways.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54The situation was so strong, as with all good comedy,
0:34:54 > 0:34:59that she sort of came along herself and grew and grew, like Topsy.
0:34:59 > 0:35:01Is that a burn?
0:35:01 > 0:35:03Well, as I seem to have the floor,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07there are just one or two remarks I should like to make.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Firstly, I did not seek office.
0:35:11 > 0:35:13It is simply...
0:35:13 > 0:35:18I seem to have been chosen as the standard bearer for those of us who seek to put a more
0:35:18 > 0:35:21- professional gloss on our productions.- Here, here.
0:35:21 > 0:35:24Good morning. Careful!
0:35:28 > 0:35:33You must remember that it was practically the era of Margaret Thatcher and of tough women.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Penny Keith fulfilled that comedic role if you like. She wasn't playing Margaret Thatcher,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42but a woman who couldn't be pushed around.
0:35:42 > 0:35:44Us working for Margo is funny.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49We know she's bossy, it's because we know it's just funny, just funny!
0:35:49 > 0:35:55- SHE TUTS - For your information, Tom, it is 2:37pm.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01Mr Pearson always started work at 2:15pm on Fridays, I expect you to do the same. Now come along.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09Who the hell does she think she is?
0:36:09 > 0:36:12- LAUGHTER - 'I think it's just synchronicity
0:36:12 > 0:36:17'on the part of the writers and Penelope Keith that she comes along at the same time'
0:36:17 > 0:36:20that Margaret Thatcher became the leader of the Conservative Party in 1975.
0:36:20 > 0:36:24I don't think that they sat down and said, "Let's put Thatcher on screen,"
0:36:24 > 0:36:30but there was a real chiming of the sense of the person that Margo was with Thatcher.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33Road cleaning I shall pay.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Street lighting I shall pay.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41Ground rent, I shall pay, but when it comes to the drain in front of my house, I shall not,
0:36:41 > 0:36:45- because it is blocked up and overflowing.- Oh, I'll make a note of that.
0:36:45 > 0:36:48You will do more than that, Mr Squiers, you will have a plumber
0:36:48 > 0:36:53on my doorstep at 9am tomorrow morning with a plunger in his hand or you will not get a penny.
0:36:53 > 0:36:55Now, just who do you think you are, Mrs Leadbetter?
0:36:55 > 0:36:58I am the silent majority.
0:36:58 > 0:36:59LAUGHTER
0:36:59 > 0:37:03I think I probably had more reaction about that, because everyone felt
0:37:03 > 0:37:05"Oh, gosh, she's speaking for ME."
0:37:05 > 0:37:07The extraordinary success of that.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Obviously it spoke for a great many people,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13who are and still are the silent majority putting up with it.
0:37:13 > 0:37:15Come on, Margo, get your hat on.
0:37:15 > 0:37:17- This is the Daily Mirror. - LAUGHTER
0:37:19 > 0:37:23I am terribly sorry, Margo, please, have the Telegraph!
0:37:23 > 0:37:27- LAUGHTER - I think she had a heart of gold,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32she really did, but sadly, couldn't see the funny side,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35which was the wonderful butt of all the jokes.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38Now, then, my motto...
0:37:38 > 0:37:42"The ooh, arr bird is so-called because it lays square eggs."
0:37:51 > 0:37:53I don't understand that.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56She didn't have any sense of humour.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00I had a grandmother like that. Couldn't quite see the humour.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03It made her very vulnerable. You know, poor thing!
0:38:03 > 0:38:08It gave her a nice sort of thing of a character rather than just an old bossy boots.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Do you know what they used to call me at school?
0:38:13 > 0:38:15Margo Leadbetter?
0:38:15 > 0:38:18No, I wasn't married then.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20They used to call me Starchy.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Is that your maiden name?
0:38:25 > 0:38:27It was a term of ridicule.
0:38:27 > 0:38:30Starchy Sturgess, they used to call me.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33Oh...boys can be very cruel.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36It was a girls' school.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38That made it worse, somehow.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41Oh, Margo!
0:38:41 > 0:38:42It's true!
0:38:42 > 0:38:43Margo...
0:38:43 > 0:38:47I think that the vulnerability was very important. Because she could
0:38:47 > 0:38:53have been horribly pompous and terribly priggish and you might have thought, "Oh, get off the screen."
0:38:53 > 0:38:59So it was important that she was likeable. I didn't think, when I played her, "I've got to make
0:38:59 > 0:39:03"her likeable, they must like me," but I found all that in the text.
0:39:03 > 0:39:08Well, it's no secret in Surbiton, that I am one of the leading lights in the music society.
0:39:08 > 0:39:13By the way, we're giving the Sound of Music at the Town Hall from the 23rd to the 24th.
0:39:14 > 0:39:22Interestingly enough, Julie Andrews played my role in the film. Now, I think you may quote me as saying...
0:39:24 > 0:39:27- You're not writing any of this down? - LAUGHTER
0:39:27 > 0:39:29'I think it probably was'
0:39:29 > 0:39:34quite an in-joke for people like us in the acting profession.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Doing amateur dramatics.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40INAUDIBLE
0:39:40 > 0:39:43- Is this the star's dressing room? - Tom, Barbara, do come in!
0:39:43 > 0:39:46- Couldn't afford a telegram, so we made you that.- Oh, how kind.
0:39:48 > 0:39:49Shouldn't they be Edelweiss?
0:39:49 > 0:39:53You see, Barbara's noticed! I told Miss Mountshaft she should have
0:39:53 > 0:39:56ordered the real thing from Moyse Stevens, but no, plastic will do!
0:39:56 > 0:39:58The whole thing is tat, tat, tat!
0:39:58 > 0:40:01Overture and learners, please, overture and learners!
0:40:01 > 0:40:04- Overture and beginners, you ghastly little child! - LAUGHTER
0:40:04 > 0:40:08Yes, I must, one wonders why one does it.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12'She thought she would be the most marvellous Maria...'
0:40:12 > 0:40:14# And whiskers on kittens. #
0:40:14 > 0:40:17'She had such blind faith in herself,'
0:40:17 > 0:40:21and what was so clever was the fact that you never saw her sing.
0:40:21 > 0:40:26You never saw exactly what happened, but the description of it was brilliant.
0:40:26 > 0:40:34It left so much to the imagination as to actually what did go wrong on that stage, it must have been awful!
0:40:37 > 0:40:39That was the Sound of Music, wasn't it?
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Possibly.
0:40:42 > 0:40:43Why did Margo sing Maria?
0:40:43 > 0:40:46That is the name of the character she is playing.
0:40:46 > 0:40:51- I know it is, but I thought that the song came from West Side Story? - It did.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Oh, is the Mayor incontinent?
0:40:55 > 0:40:56No, why?
0:40:56 > 0:40:59Well...he kept popping out.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03Probably just a music lover.
0:41:03 > 0:41:05Poor Margo!
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Smiles on, here they come. Quick.
0:41:12 > 0:41:13ALL: Margo! APPLAUSE
0:41:15 > 0:41:17'She's very easy to dress because she had a good figure...'
0:41:18 > 0:41:21..and a lovely long neck.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23Barbara, Tom. I've got the most wonderful news.
0:41:23 > 0:41:27People were saying, "oh, I was waiting for her coming in."
0:41:27 > 0:41:31I was sort of thinking, "Help, maybe I better not overdo it,"
0:41:31 > 0:41:35but then it was sort of irresistible, really.
0:41:35 > 0:41:37MUSIC PLAYS
0:41:44 > 0:41:47I see you've brought the horse home, Barbara.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50'It helped me understand the sort of woman she was.'
0:41:50 > 0:41:53The fact that she cared so much about how she looked
0:41:53 > 0:41:55and how everything had to be neat and proper.
0:41:55 > 0:41:58'So I used to say
0:41:58 > 0:42:02'I changed not only every scene, but sometimes every shot it seemed.'
0:42:02 > 0:42:07We averaged four outfits a show, if the budget would stand it, which it did.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10I hope nobody will gag, a petite marmite.
0:42:10 > 0:42:12'Penny and I used to decide...'
0:42:12 > 0:42:18what we had. We used to get very carried away with her cleaning outfits.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24We had enormous fun with that. Always with the Marigolds, I didn't live that down for a long time.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27I used to get presents of Marigold gloves, which are very useful.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29And all of those wonderful turbans.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31Gotcha!
0:42:31 > 0:42:32Got you, Jerry.
0:42:32 > 0:42:37I think actually, on the here and now, it was quite outrageous,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41but then, after all, it was a comedy programme.
0:42:44 > 0:42:46She was the perfect executive's wife.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49She was the lady who stayed at home,
0:42:49 > 0:42:51always looked nice, always had his dinner ready.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54That's what she thought her role was.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57In many ways they lived sort of separate lives.
0:42:57 > 0:42:59Hello, darling.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02'Jerry was caught between his boss and his wife.'
0:43:02 > 0:43:08He couldn't do anything right, and yet he did everything he possibly could to keep everybody happy.
0:43:08 > 0:43:13- Now, your dinner.- That's all right, I've got some Indian takeaway.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17Then, will you kindly eat it in the kitchen with the extractor fan full on.
0:43:17 > 0:43:21The last time, this upholstery wreaked of vindaloo for a week.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24- Good night, Jerry.- Night.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26Have a nice sing song.
0:43:28 > 0:43:33Well, Paul Eddington was a breeze, he was so natural, proper light comedy,
0:43:33 > 0:43:36very light and very delicate
0:43:36 > 0:43:40against my kind of clown thing.
0:43:45 > 0:43:48LAUGHTER
0:43:51 > 0:43:53HE IMITATES MARGO Jerry!
0:43:53 > 0:43:58Paul Eddington was capable of playing weakness very well and strength very well.
0:43:58 > 0:44:04The difficulty that he had that he was very seldom the motivating force that drove anything.
0:44:04 > 0:44:06He had to react, and react he did.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10But that's where you get the laughs and he knew that.
0:44:10 > 0:44:12Absolute chaos, Jerry has chickenpox!
0:44:15 > 0:44:17Yes, he's covered in them.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20I'm afraid I'm telling you what I've told the rest of the gang.
0:44:20 > 0:44:26The Leadbetters must be considered as totally out of circulation this Christmas. Yes. Yes. Just a minute.
0:44:26 > 0:44:30- SHE SHOUTS - All right, Jerry, I'm coming!
0:44:30 > 0:44:32That was Jerry, calling from his sick bed.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36'Jerry, he was a fantastic creation.'
0:44:36 > 0:44:39He underplayed it beautifully, but had such presence on the screen,
0:44:39 > 0:44:41and grew to be a national treasure.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45- Early caller?- An emissary from the music society.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49Miss Mountshaft's brother-in-law with a steel plate in his head.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56What did he want? Some metal polish?
0:44:56 > 0:44:58I asked him, very politely, Mr Ives,
0:44:58 > 0:45:02what size lump of clay do you think I should use?
0:45:04 > 0:45:06Do you know what he did, Jerry?
0:45:06 > 0:45:12He stared quite unashamedly at my...breasts and said,
0:45:12 > 0:45:15"In your case, Margy, about a 36B."
0:45:18 > 0:45:19Disgusting!
0:45:19 > 0:45:21Of course, everyone found it hilarious.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24Here they are, you better tell them.
0:45:24 > 0:45:28- You tell them. You're the master of the house.- Am I? Oh!
0:45:29 > 0:45:32- We were in bed.- At 8.30pm, why?!
0:45:32 > 0:45:35- JERRY LAUGHS - Jerry!
0:45:37 > 0:45:42Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal and I, all live south of the river and we rehearsed in Chiswick.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46Paul lived north of the river and every morning he talked about traffic.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50God, I think that Friday night traffic on London Bridge is the worst of all.
0:45:50 > 0:45:55- Best part of an hour tonight. - 'We had the writers with us quite a lot, so they took that'
0:45:55 > 0:45:58and made that part of Jerry's character, which was fascinating.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02God, that rush hour gets worse every day.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05It took me half an hour to get across London Bridge this evening.
0:46:05 > 0:46:10Of course, he remained in the rat race and he made the money and he had
0:46:10 > 0:46:14nice clothes and a nice comfortable house, but he hated the job.
0:46:14 > 0:46:19So he paid the price for bourgeois comfort, and also he had a very expensive wife to keep.
0:46:19 > 0:46:25I mean, you paid £55 for a new dress and it ends up on Tom's scarecrow.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28I didn't pay £55 for it. I charged it to your account!
0:46:30 > 0:46:34- How much?!- Don't say how much like that, it's not an exorbitant figure.
0:46:34 > 0:46:39- £55! Barbara would buy three dresses for that money.- Yes!
0:46:39 > 0:46:41What do you mean, yes?
0:46:41 > 0:46:44I mean that the home spun suits Barbara.
0:46:44 > 0:46:48- I've always thought she looks rather cute.- Door, please, Jerry.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51It was an interesting dynamic between the four of them.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54As the series grew, Tom used to flirt with Margo.
0:46:54 > 0:47:00That was an undercurrent and sexual tension between the characters that gave it an extra power, I think.
0:47:04 > 0:47:05Well, Tom?
0:47:07 > 0:47:08Well, Margo?
0:47:10 > 0:47:11Yes.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Good.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16I shall miss you, terribly.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18- Jerry!- Yes, I know...
0:47:18 > 0:47:22- Oh, Tom...- Don't be silly, don't.
0:47:22 > 0:47:25It was this interplay of relationships that...
0:47:25 > 0:47:29really give it a little edge that otherwise would not have been there.
0:47:29 > 0:47:31- Margo?- Yes.
0:47:31 > 0:47:32Thanks, sexy.
0:47:32 > 0:47:34Don't be silly.
0:47:35 > 0:47:38Always had a yen for you, you know that.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43- Don't you start that.- I can't help it, it's a fact of life.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46'They got drunk and then...'
0:47:46 > 0:47:49Paul became very...
0:47:49 > 0:47:54rather fancied Little Wonder, we used to call her, privately.
0:47:54 > 0:47:56I'm a married woman.
0:47:58 > 0:47:59Well, so am I.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05I still fancy you!
0:48:05 > 0:48:08With alcohol, these things do happen.
0:48:08 > 0:48:11So we had that, then I got tight
0:48:11 > 0:48:14and he says, "You're a very beautiful woman."
0:48:14 > 0:48:17You are not starchy, Margo, you're a very attractive woman.
0:48:17 > 0:48:20- No, I'm not.- Yes, you are.
0:48:20 > 0:48:22And I'll tell you something else.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25You've got a very sexy neck.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27'There was never any suggestion'
0:48:27 > 0:48:30that they were going to exchange car keys.
0:48:30 > 0:48:35But the fact that there was the attraction there, and they all got drunk and all behaved in
0:48:35 > 0:48:42a totally different way, but nothing really happened. It was really clever, we all loved doing that.
0:48:42 > 0:48:43DRUNKEN LAUGHTER
0:48:50 > 0:48:52Margo! Margo, I'm terribly sorry.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56- Tom and I have just been talking. - Well, that's all we've been doing.
0:48:57 > 0:49:02Here you are, alone in the house and I've been seen coming in your back door in my night things.
0:49:02 > 0:49:06Oh, yes, and Jerry driving off with Barbara in his pyjamas, it's wife swapping, isn't it?
0:49:06 > 0:49:10It hasn't reached Surbiton yet, but it's already got as far as Epsom.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28I think it was vital for the comedy, really, as much as anything else,
0:49:28 > 0:49:33that it was set in the cosiest, most Conservative, with a small and a big C, in society.
0:49:33 > 0:49:38Where the golf club mattered, and Margo's pony club was very important.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43Which made the sort of clash of cultures all the more rich for comic material.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50What charmed me most was...
0:49:50 > 0:49:53the heightened accuracy of the picture of suburbia.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02I've taken the liberty of preparing a little champagne buffet for later.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07- Oh, I'm so sorry, madam acting chair woman, do carry on. - Thank you very much.
0:50:07 > 0:50:12'It's the perfect example of somewhere where you can belong to a local society of music'
0:50:12 > 0:50:15or amateur dramatics, because it's the kind of society
0:50:15 > 0:50:20where these things will have members, there will be an audience.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24Rehearsal facilities, my home.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Of course, one remembers, very fondly those bohemian evenings
0:50:29 > 0:50:32in Miss Mountshaft's flatlet in the high street.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36Penny Keith made it all right to laugh at the middle-classes and laugh with her.
0:50:36 > 0:50:42The whole series was basically middle-class, but nobody took offence to that in those days.
0:50:42 > 0:50:48It was middle-class behaving badly, if you like, but only a little bit.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52- You two are very quiet. - Oh, we're sorry.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Yes, now come along. We have such a rich language.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57- Let's use it.- All right, then.
0:50:57 > 0:50:58Er...
0:51:01 > 0:51:02I've finished.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04- I've finished as well.- Oh, yes.
0:51:04 > 0:51:08- Have you finished, Jerry?- Yes, thank you, darling.- And I've finished too. - It is a rich language, isn't it?
0:51:08 > 0:51:10LAUGHTER
0:51:10 > 0:51:14It is an incredibly middle-class sitcom, there is no way round it.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18In fact, the working-class characters when they appear are real parodies.
0:51:18 > 0:51:24Arthur Bailey who comes to fit the window break in the garden, is like a 'cor blimey lover duck'.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Mr Bailey, I want to see you in my drawing room at once.
0:51:28 > 0:51:29Won't be a minute.
0:51:29 > 0:51:33That is correct, you will be ten seconds!
0:51:48 > 0:51:49Yes?
0:51:52 > 0:51:56This was a picture of middle-class society up and down the whole nation.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58You stupid man!
0:51:58 > 0:52:00Don't talk to me like that!
0:52:00 > 0:52:04I can because I pay your wages, and get off my carpet!
0:52:04 > 0:52:09It is subversive, but neatly subversive, it's kindly subversive.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13It's, "You're not perfect and we're laughing at you."
0:52:14 > 0:52:16Hello, Miss Mountshaft!
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Margo Leadbetter.
0:52:19 > 0:52:25We had four very strong characters and anybody who was outside had
0:52:25 > 0:52:28to be visualised by what anybody said about them.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31'It's so good, so subtle.'
0:52:31 > 0:52:34I for one are not prepared to sit through another of
0:52:34 > 0:52:39Dolly Mountshaft's diatribes on why Mrs Simpson should have been Queen.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42I loved trying to cast the people who were mentioned.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45I beg your pardon, Miss Mountshaft.
0:52:45 > 0:52:51Miss Mountshaft, she was so classic, tweedy spinster with a very large bosom.
0:52:51 > 0:52:54In addition to which I am probably the only person in the whole choir
0:52:54 > 0:52:57to have made anything of those ghastly tents we're wearing.
0:52:57 > 0:53:02When you are acting being on the phone, I must have, some sense of
0:53:02 > 0:53:08how they talk, so you know if you have to interrupt them or whatever.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11It's smoke and mirrors!
0:53:14 > 0:53:16Blackmail is an ugly word, Miss Mountshaft.
0:53:18 > 0:53:24When we decided that enough was enough, they didn't want to continue and make the series
0:53:24 > 0:53:29degenerate in quality, so they had to have a finish.
0:53:29 > 0:53:33It had had its time, but I wonder how else you could have ended it?
0:53:33 > 0:53:39I'm sure there were a thousand ways, they could have discovered gold in the garden and all live together,
0:53:39 > 0:53:43- you know, looked after pigs. - You are JJM's new managing director.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45Oh, Jerry!
0:53:45 > 0:53:50There was no easy way of ending the series, except with something dramatic.
0:53:50 > 0:53:52Will you excuse me for a moment?
0:53:52 > 0:53:53Wa-hey!
0:53:53 > 0:54:00We put the set behind a curtain, so the audience did not see it until the scene.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05I think it took something like 10-15 minutes
0:54:05 > 0:54:09to create and then the lights went down.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12SINGING
0:54:20 > 0:54:23'They had to have some kind of denial, some kind of shock,'
0:54:23 > 0:54:29so they chose a burglary, which was very effective. It acted as a closure.
0:54:29 > 0:54:35I remember there were people in tears, thinking how ghastly, and it was somehow really rather horrid
0:54:35 > 0:54:40to see all that graffiti sprayed on the set which had been there for three or four years. Extraordinary.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43It was very brave of them to do it.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45Suddenly we were doing drama.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51Why us, Tom? And why all this?
0:54:54 > 0:54:55I don't know, love.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59They're just maniacs.
0:54:59 > 0:55:03It was quite moving. In fact, I think it was the most moving element
0:55:03 > 0:55:05of the whole thing, you know.
0:55:05 > 0:55:11'Because it was something coming to such an abrupt end.'
0:55:11 > 0:55:13There's only one solution, Tom.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15You got to come back to work.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19You can have your old job back again tomorrow. I can promise you that.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22'He was very tempted, I think.'
0:55:22 > 0:55:27He was going to slip back. It was her, being the woman, of course,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31the stronger person of the two, she said, "No, we have to carry on."
0:55:31 > 0:55:34I know why Geraldine isn't giving us any milk.
0:55:39 > 0:55:40Why?
0:55:40 > 0:55:44She needs to be mated again, that's why.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50Yes, of course.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53What made you think of that?
0:55:53 > 0:55:57I don't know. Just thinking about tomorrow, I suppose.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02It was a shock, but it was a test of character too, as I said.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04We'll have to clean up and get on with it.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Anyway, we're drinking to Tom and Barbara, and their bizarre life.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11It may be bizarre, Jerry, but it's a good life.
0:56:11 > 0:56:13Yes, that's it, that's it.
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Here's to the good life.
0:56:17 > 0:56:20# One day I'll wish upon a star
0:56:20 > 0:56:24# And wake up when the clouds are far behind... #
0:56:24 > 0:56:27I remember saying to my mum, "Can we have chickens in the garden?"
0:56:29 > 0:56:31I had this image of myself as Tom going down and going...
0:56:31 > 0:56:34HE WHISTLES
0:56:34 > 0:56:38And hopefully Felicity Kendal would come around the corner and go, "John, John, John!"
0:56:38 > 0:56:40Of course, she never did.
0:56:43 > 0:56:49# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:56:49 > 0:56:54The beauty of Tom and Barbara was they loved each other.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57And actually, they were going to try to do it as best they could,
0:56:57 > 0:56:58which was really bad,
0:56:58 > 0:57:05but if you can do it with somebody you love, then it's all worth it.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08# Somewhere over the rainbow... #
0:57:08 > 0:57:11'It was watchable by any member of any family.'
0:57:11 > 0:57:15The costumes are funny, it IS quite funny, it tells the story
0:57:15 > 0:57:19'plainly and simply, with a great deal of affection.'
0:57:19 > 0:57:22# And the dreams that you dare to dream... #
0:57:22 > 0:57:27'Television comedy, when it's good situation comedy, it seems to last.'
0:57:27 > 0:57:30If you are lucky enough to have made people laugh, people are your friends.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37'I quite like reading garden magazines, because I'm old now.'
0:57:37 > 0:57:40I've a strimmer.
0:57:40 > 0:57:44So I like it all neat. Really boring suburban man, that's me.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49Planting spuds and things, I can't do that.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53# That's where you'll find me... #
0:57:53 > 0:57:55'The memory of it is enduring.'
0:57:55 > 0:58:01I think because it has never been succeeded by a better programme of
0:58:01 > 0:58:06the same kind, that's why it's up there on its own little Olympus.
0:58:06 > 0:58:12# Birds fly over the rainbow
0:58:12 > 0:58:20# Why, then, oh, why can't I?
0:58:32 > 0:58:36# If happy little bluebirds fly,
0:58:36 > 0:58:39# Beyond the rainbow
0:58:39 > 0:58:47# Why, oh, why, can't I? #
0:58:49 > 0:58:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk