# 70's Britcom ''The Good Life" - any basis in reality **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 19, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098 "2003-11-19T14:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/1 "2003-11-19T14:26:44Z")
I’ve been a fan of _The Good Life_ (aka Good Neighbors) since I first saw it a fuzzy public TV station back in the late 70’s. Great writing, funny stories, and perfect casting. The main idea of the show centered around Tom Good (Richard Briers). He’s just hit 40 and realized he’s done nothing with his life. He ponders this for a while and comes up with the idea of becoming as self-sufficient as possible (not relying on national services wherever possible). His cute wife (Felicity Kendal) agrees and together they drop out of the rat race. They plow up their front and back yards, plant crops, raise livestock, etc. The neighbors, upper-class wannabes the Ledbetters (Paul Eddington & Penelope Keith) are shocked, but support the Goods as best as they can. Thankfully, as with a lot of good Britcoms, the writers decided to pull the plug once they said what they wanted to say and ended the show after 28 episodes & 2 specials (including a Royal Command Performance). The first and fourth seasons and a few “classic episodes” are available on R2 DVDs. It’s a pity they aren’t available in R1. Now the question, was self-sufficiency ever a fad in England? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/2 "2003-11-19T14:46:53Z")
during WW2 people were expected to grow as much of their own food as they could to supplement the rations. By all accounts people were very proud of their kitchen gardens and such ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/3 "2003-11-19T15:00:35Z")
[Dig For Victory!](http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/web_pages/hshf_dig_for_victory_pg.htm) The above is an interesting site about the wartime gardening ---
**Author:** ![differant\_thinker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@differant\_thinker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/differant_thinker)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/4 "2003-11-19T15:16:52Z")
I don’t believe so. But speaking as a Brit from rural middle England I think it is a dream for many people to get back to the land. People live in an almost hermetically sealed suburban balloon where the existance of a non-timetabled no pressure is a distant dream. Not for me though as I live in a wonderfull green rolling landscape little changed from Dads Army times, and am not at all smug! Flit Kendle is still fit! (Oh those boyhood fantasies) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/5 "2003-11-19T15:20:16Z")
Felicity Kendall was interviewed on TV the other day, and said that after making the program, the cast used to get letters from people saying stuff like “well I sold everything and tried to live off the land, like in your program, and it all went wrong. Shame on you!” ---
**Author:** ![Opengrave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/919ad9/32.png) [@Opengrave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opengrave)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/6 "2003-11-19T15:24:44Z")
Oh yeah, I definitely had Felicity Kendall fantasies… she was so, I dunno, perky? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/70s-britcom-the-good-life-any-basis-in-reality/214098/7 "2003-11-19T15:27:46Z")
I saw that Felicity Kendal interview. Didn’t she say the _Good Life_ writer had been inspired by similar real life experiences of people he knew, but they hadn’t dug up their garden in suburbia, they had sold up and moved to the Welsh countryside? Can’t recall exactly. However, a real life version of the story is covered by the [programmes made by/about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1136041/) (real name apparently ;)).