RELIABLE AND EXPENDABLE! 'THE GOODIES' RETURN...

Cycle power makes a comeback with THE GOODIES. Image: BBC.

UK TV fans of the ever enduringly quirky, surreal, often laugh-out-loud comedy and slapstick inventiveness of the classic seventies BBC series THE GOODIES, which well and truly launched the back in the day careers of writers/actors Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor (the latter's biro proving invaluable to the creative process!), will be pleased to know that their very first season from way back in 1970-seven episodes- is now available from this month to view on the BBC channel of the VIRGIN MEDIA ON DEMAND service. Still proving an artistic stigmata to some parts of the BBC management forty-three years on, though the corporation's commercial wing is perfectly happy making continued profit from it where they can, some of these original episodes have not yet been released on DVD in Blighty as far as I'm aware, so this prime factor makes them worth catching. Picture and sound quality are also of an okay standard. As to the actual content of the shows? Well, some look pretty dated in places, featuring the kind of sexism and occasional racism that you just couldn't get away with in these times of political correctness, but there's also no denying that the series format and main characters remain as inspired as ever, alongside some stand out moments that surprised me with some genuine golden belly laughs.

The Goodies opening theme - YouTube

"The Goodies are coming for you, and you, and you..."