Alive and well in cyberspace
But of course, that doesn't include the World Wide Web. There are web denizens who remember these things and celebrate them. So if you never saw the Goodies on TV - you can still relive the experience via the Internet.
There are a couple of sites which analyse the series in a most scholarly and fascinating way - at http://humorlinks.com/humorlinks/goodies... you can read Keith Topping's excellent analysis of the series. This is obviously a labour of love, and worth taking time to go through thoroughly.
Matthew Sharp's episode-by-episode guide at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4705/... is also a fascinating examination in depth of the development of a popular comedy series.
At http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/goodies/ you'll find some useful links to other sites, though information is fairly perfunctory, and the Goodies Fan Club itself is at http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/...
Moving on
In the world of TV, old programmes never die, they simply get re-run and/or released on video. The BBC didn't release many episodes of The Goodies on video, and the series didn't make much of an impression on the all important American market.
Strangely enough, the region of the world where the Goodies has made the most impact is probably Australia. The ABC re-ran all the episodes it had bought from the BBC almost continuously, enabling new fans to come to know and love the series. Unfortunately, it ran them as children's programmes (perhaps the ABC programmes thought surreal comedy was more childish than everything else). Consequently, it's seen by most of the audience as a children's programme, even though it patently isn't.
Interestingly, the surge in interest in British comedy in the USA, and the now common technology to translate PAL video into NTSC pictures, means some adventurous souls in the US are beginning to discover the Goodies for themselves.
It's nearly 20 years since the last programme was made - and it's interesting to see how much information there is about the series on the web. This programme certainly is a case of gone - but not forgotten.
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