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Customer Reviews
Sadly, for some reason known only to the BBC, the episodes of this wonderful show have been released in a seemingly random order. Still, this show is so good, that it is better to have them this way than not at all! This tape contains three, half-hour episodes.
Pig's Lib - Series 1, episode 4 (April 25, 1975) - When the Good's decide to add pigs to their menagerie, Margot calls in the chairman of the local residents' association. This means war!
Just My Bill - Series 2, episode 8 (December 5, 1975) - The Good's harvest is in, just in time to sell it and pay the rates. Unfortunately, selling their produce proves a good deal harder than Tom foresaw.
Mutiny - Series 2, episode 12 (January 9, 1976) - Jerry's boss wants him to entertain a foreign businessman on the same night that Margot plays Maria in the Sound of Music. When Jerry refuses Sir's orders, he is immediately sacked, and now it's the Leadbetters that in need of help.
In "Pig's Lib" Tom and Barbara, much to Margo's horror, increase their livestock with the addition of two pigs (named Pinky and Perky by Barbara). After a meeting with the Goods and the head of the residents council, Margo reluctantly agrees to tolerate the pigs, provided the Goods agree to get rid of them should they ever set a trotter in the Ledbetters' garden. When the pigs do manage to escape next door, Tom ships Pinky and Perky off per the agreement with Margo. But when Margo realizes what this really means she shows another side to her seemingly Shylockian nature.
"Just My Bill" follows the Goods' efforts to turn their surplus vegetables into cash to pay their annual rates (utility bills). When a deal with a local restauranteur falls through, they try selling direct with Barbara manning a sidewalk produce stand and Tom carting vegetables through the neighborhood. As these attempts also fall through and the payment deadline draws nearer, Tom and Barbara begin to realize that a little money is perhaps something worth having after all (especially Barbara at the very end of the show).
In "Mutiny", the Ledbetters face their own crisis when Jerry is sacked for refusing to host company clients on the opening night of Margo's performance in her music society's production of "Sound of Music". As Jerry's business contacts drift away, no new job offers materialize, and the Music Society's terrible production is cancelled, Jerry and Margo face a bleak future. True to the end and unable to see their friends in such a state, the Goods at last step in to try setting Jerry's ex-boss "Sir" right and have him give Jerry his old job back.
As always, Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington, and Penelope Keith turn in wonderfully enjoyable performances in this set.
This series was a product of the golden age of British TV when the BBC was more like a giant artists' collective than the faceless management bureau it has since become. The casting is incredible. The four main actors are hand-in-glove with their roles. Paul Eddington as the long-suffering but slyly rebellious Jerry is the perfect foil for Margot's innocent pomposity. Felicity Kendall's Barbara is both tomboyish and kittenish and serves as a welcome check on Richard Brier's naughty little boy act as the exuberant and mischievous Tom.
For those unfamiliar with the situation of this situation comedy, it concerns the efforts of Tom and Barbara Good to escape the 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday, suburbs-to-city commuting rat race, by starting a commune in their own garden, and the effect this has on their relationship with their very strait-laced neighbors, Jerry and Margot.
The 3 episodes collected on this tape reflect poor BBC marketing expediency more than anything else. This tape includes episode 4 from the 1st series and episodes 1 and 5 from the 2nd series with the following original transmission dates. This means that the marvellous continuity between episodes is lost, dampening the effect of some of the humor.
(1) Pig's Lib - 25th of April, 1975
This is one of the best episodes as Margot tries to stop Tom and Barabara rearing pigs in their garden. When she succeeds and the pigs are sent to the slaughterhouse, however, she has a sudden change of heart.
(2) Just My Bill - 5th of December, 1975
Another excellent episode. This one manages to get away from the main set of the Goods' and Leadbetters' houses and gardens, as Tom tries to sell his agricultural surplus first to a restaurateur and then on the street. Also we see Margot fighting the creeping Socialism of council bureacracy when she pays her rates (property tax) at the council offices.
(3) Mutiny - 9th of January, 1976
This is one of the episodes that suffers from lack of continuity, as one of the main themes, Margot's involvement with the local music society's production of the "Sound of Music," was developed over several episodes. The mutiny in the title refers to Jerry's attempt to stand up to his boss when he asks him to host a foreign visitor on the opening night of the show. The mutiny misfires when Jerry is immediately fired. Being the time-serving toady that he has to be to suceed in the corporate rat race, he predictably comes crawling back to his boss.
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