“You could never do now on TV now what we did back then” says Bill Oddie towards the end of this oneoff live evening with The Goodies. “It’s all healthy and safety and risk assessment,” agrees Graeme Gardner. “Back then,” chips in Oddie, “we risked our lives!”
He’s not wrong. The Goodies, three hapless wannabe heroes whose mix of sublime slapstick and surreal satire became essential family viewing during the Seventies, would climb trees, wrestle huge inflatable snakes and run through walls in the service of their motto: “anything, anytime”. Injuries sustained by Oddie, Gardner and Tim Brooke-Taylor while filming included a dislocated thumb when their three-seater bicycle detached itself from...