Baz The Good Life beckons for IT-girl Katherine
Forty-five years after the Good Life became comedy gold on television, the landmark sitcom, which pioneered the notion of ecoawareness, is heading to the stage.
the BBC show ran for four series, between 1975 and 1978, and made household names of richard Briers, felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul eddington. But it seems to have been on a continuous loop for nearly half a century because it’s always popping up on various channels.
Created by writers John esmonde and Bob Larbey, the Good Life followed disillusioned designer tom Good who, with the help of his wife Barbara, abandoned a corporate lifestyle and turned their suburban home and garden (in Surbiton, Surrey, of course) into a smallholding with livestock and veg, though wringing a chicken’s neck wasn’t up their street.
tom and Barbara were played by Briers and Kendal, with Keith and eddington as their snooty neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter.
Jeremy Sams has written a play based on esmonde and Larbey’s work. He will direct a production that has so far cast Katherine Parkinson as Barbara
Good. She has already carved out a career as an acclaimed thespian, having won major awards for her comic portraits on television in the it Crowd, Doc Martin and Humans.
She also starred in Laura Wade’s olivier award-winning play Home, i’m Darling, which was a huge hit for theatr Clwyd
Iconic: Cast of The Good Life in the Seventies, and Katherine Parkinson, inset and the National theatre.
Parkinson was clearly cast by director Sams and producers at the fiery Angel theatre company for her talent — but they must have been tickled by the fact that she grew up in Surbiton.
the Good Life is negotiating to run for three weeks in June at the theatre royal, Bath, after which it will hopefully have a future life in the West end. the production arrives at a time of heightened environmental awareness.
edward Snape, of fiery Angel, said the theatre in Bath isn’t officially confirmed until ‘we have a cast’.