The Good Life: Series 4 Episode 7 (Part 3 of 3)

Anniversary
Tom and Barbara decide to sell their record collection to get enough money to build a new pig sty and to repair the damage done to their garden by the oil leak.
It's Tom's birthday. It's also the second anniversary of the Goods' decision to try self-sufficiency.
Jerry learns that he has been appointed Managing Director of JJM. While Tom and Barbara are next door helping the Leadbetters to celebrate, someone breaks into the Goods' house and smashes it up.
Jerry tries to persuade Tom to return to his old job with JJM, but the Goods decide to carry on with self-sufficiency.

[@paillette2010]

It’s funny that Richard Briers liked Ever Decreasing Circles more than this. That show was populated by too many sitcom twits. This show was gold in its writing and execution. No one was stupid or banal, even the invisible characters and “trades” people. I watched it in reruns in the UK in the early 80’s and still holds up with unparalleled excellence

[@Mr.Dziej72]

What a beautiful series. They all love each other so much. I end up in tears nearly every episode.

[@ExBruinsFan]

To all the others who love this show - I love you all. Be well, and may your dreams come true.

[@ajdoubleu4218]

Thank you. I watched this show religiously back in the 70s with my late mum and dad, wonderful memories ♥️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@jimreynolds3798]

And to you and yours…

[@TheQueenRulesAll]

Back at you seven years later!

[@dearydarling]

Thank you for posting these :) I grew up in the 70s/80s on self-supporting rural communes and while there was a nasty religious element to it that i left behind, i've never acclimated to the lifeless, soulless world beyond where i grew up where the awful cycle of work for money as the only resource is the way. I was 13 years old and would get up at 4:30 am on sundays for our family's slot in the bakery of the commune to make our household's loaves of bread for the week. The building the bakery was housed in was the central hall for all the people that lived on the commune. All our acres and acres of produce stored in shelves and shelves of jars filled with fruits, vegetables, sauces thanks to our shared cannery, the huge walk-in refridgerators for all the produce, the bins and bins of grains and ... it implanted in me a sense of TRUE abundance that money has no equal to. I'm disabled and so pursuing the life i ache for all these years later isn't feasible but this show has been so heart-warming, not just the Goods but the precious friendship between dear friends who live different lives, side by side and often interconnected. There is no such thing, really, as true self-sufficiency ... eventually we all need someone and this show did a very good job not taking their eye off that fact. ack sorry i've written a novel here :) thanks again for posting these

[@EastEndBen]

that's a good story, and you should post videos talking about it at length on your channel. (you sing well 🙂and I loved this show ever since I first saw it)

[@irondogon]

"I know why Geraldine isn't giving us any milk". Wonderful response to the house trashing, and a test of Tom's focus. High class stuff even for one of the best ever sitcoms.

[@Kimmy-pw8tm]

Im crying, Ive seen this many times, but kicking people down when they are already on the ground is too cruel.😔😢

[@ExBruinsFan]

What wonderful people. It's an honour to know them.

[@johnkollor]

When they are in the house and its been recked it brings a tear to my eye, no mater how many times i watch it

[@ajwasp]

no, this is not an awful episode, it made me feel very warm inside and good about life. it spurred me on, and with great acting again as usual. it only has to be sitcom quality, but it is bang on the nail, bang on the nail! they are all great actors, and thanks to the person that has posted all these shows. Excellent!

[@jcleaverchamberlinjr]

In loving memory of one of the best sitcoms the bbc has ever produced (The Good Life 1975-77)

[@BeautifulSpirit-kf5ld]

Ive been there, I live in.a rough area, I'm a woman alone. Been there. Felicity was incredible in this episode . "They tore your birthday card,* had me in tears .

[@vig009]

RIP Richard - This show was historic and revolutionary in those times, great episodes

[@agenttheater5]

And RIP Paul as well.

[@moving_sidewalks]

I watched this for the first time last night, and when their trashed living room was revealed, it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. And I kept flashing back to when Barbara told Tom that the last two years were the happiest she's ever been. What a gut punching! I'm still not sure how i feel about this being the series finale. I still have the two specials to watch, so thank goodness for that.

[@robbiesize]

Came here through a Guardian comments thread. Loved this show as a child, such great performers, kindness from the writers, like a lovely family. Gentle belly warming humour. Never saw this episode though. Thank you to the uploader.

[@Dermot2927]

I came here after Danny Baker said on the radio that it had a bleak ending. Quite uplifting, actually, though not your usual cosy sitcom finale, where there's a wedding or a birth. TGL was always a bit twee for me, hence probably why I never got to this episode, but this was great acting by all four. Notice how Jerry gives Barbara the biggest drink? Obviously trying to get her tipsy.

[@bellaboop1]

I always feel like a family is breaking up when a show ends, whether I'm watching one or in one.

[@ashleyp.4932]

In a behind the scenes documentary, it was said that when the trashed living room was revealed to the audience they were really quite upset, and there was a suggestion that there should be a further scene with the room back how it always has been.

[@MichaelSHartman]

Inspirational. A lesson that should not be easily forgotten. Thank you.

[@mbyrne1212]

Has there ever been a better final line to end a programme ever

[@dharmaseed]

Barbara tearing up is just heartbreaking. Especially at 5:01.

[@blackiemittens]

Seeing and ADORING this series here in the States, I disliked this being the final episode. Barbara's little face: 'They've torn your birthday card." Nearly made me cry in a house full of people. But looking back, it was the right choice for the last one. All the Goods' setbacks and disasters were easier to see with a sense of humor than this one was. It would have been so easy to quit, especially with Jerry being Managing Director now. But Margo was right. Spirit built empires. Gotta love 'em!

[@Kimmy-pw8tm]

To The Good Life, for making my sad days happy.

[@dtz1000]

This is one of the best sitcoms ever made. By the end they were running out of ideas so it was good that they ended it here.

[@debramccann8822]

My favourite show…back then and still now

[@dpw81]

RIP Richard. As soon as I heard about his death, I wanted to watch this episode. So poignant.

[@davidtomlinson6138]

Superb series , loved it from day one, from being 15 up to about 19 .The best feel good feeling in the world, watching it from start to finish 👍🙂 ♥️BRILLIANT x

[@danny_long_legs]

2:45 Tom when he always gives Margo that look makes me laugh 😂

[@ChrisLynn68]

I agree with you. This episode and the Christmas Special came immediately to mind. A very sad loss.

[@CowboyOlli]

Thank you, OuijaBird. I've watched every single episode that you uploaded and I'm so much happier for it. You've done KZbin a service.

[@gerardmackay8909]

A police acquaintance of mine touched on this subject that burglars can become very irate if there’s absolutely nothing worth stealing and this kind of maliciousness can be the result. His advice was to always leave something valuable lying around (even 30 or 40 pounds) so they haven’t ’wasted their time’ and make a clean getaway.

[@haiderzaidi10]

Excellent series. Very nostalgic watching this. Wish they made more like this....

[@illegaldrinxter]

when Jerry is telling Tom that they have to call it a day and he must come back to work, that's the saddest bit of all, the faces on Barbara and Tom are so sad. :( Such a shame that it's the last episode, but better that than going on and ruining the whole show by dragging it out and lowering the high quality they have achieved over the years. r.i.p. :))

[@herbertsusmann986]

British series often are very limited in duration just for that reason.

[@mastmedia2798]

Thank You! thank you! thank you! This show was an absolutely treasure and so are you for posting it. Cheers!

[@katherine09xx]

this episode is so sad, shame its the last one

[@CountryHouseGent]

It's amazing the deathly silence in the audience when they discover the burglary. Quite arresting really. :(

[@yodenman]

Yes...apart from a couple of nervous laughs from some people who did not know how to react..

[@t.v8aloyi]

tom: here 's to the good life me : roll credits

[@barbarawhittall2311]

Such a beautifully done program great acting loved this show!!!!!!!

[@Peter-pv8xx]

This proves the old saying, when life hands you lemons, you trade them for champagne.

[@sarahjane4eva]

2:06 - that was what I was like when I got my exam results today. I've only just discovered this programme but it is so good - the four actors just gel so well together.

[@shereerihari2691]

I grew up watching those brilliant British comedies and this is the best of them all. Still laugh out loud funny 45 or so years. That's you for uploading them!

[@mewesquirrel6720]

This is British?

[@jaymcd8577]

The ending is just perfect, absolutely flawless.

[@dharmaseed]

There was another episode, titled 'When I'm 65', I believe. It was the Royal Command performance, if you'd care to see it. :) It ends the series on a much lighter note.

[@PumaLyn]

This is the only episode that made me cry tears of sadness. 😿

[@musicismypassion23]

Omg I cried so so much when I first saw this.

[@chrisbarton6883]

i love the good life . i was brought upon it. if you like this you must watch the darling buds of may. have a great day to all to all.

[@wendydavenport9418]

Good old Margo. Telling the Police like that.

[@yorkie471x3]

Meh, still tidier than my front room!

[@nesspatinio7807]

Such friendship!

[@illegaldrinxter]

10,000 views exactly:)) thanks for uploading, i love this show, as do so many others -- it gives one a warm and cosy feeling inside to watch them on a sunday afternoon :))

[@CountryHouseGent]

Though looking through the scene of devestation, it's mainly furniture turned over and a bit of broken crockery. I'm sure Gerry & Margo would have paid for some decorators to come and wallpaper. That's of course . . . if it was real, cough cough. :)

[@Dermot2927]

Must have been a p*sser though, on top of everything else that had happened to them. Plus they had no money.

[@WilliamFitzwater]

kind of people who did what they did to me just like Tom & barbara thier going have to kill me to silence me . I will pick my self up and carry on while ther continue thier insanity / I wish I had a wife like barbra

[@jaymcd8577]

Don't we all mate, but I've come to learn some harsh truths about women, very very few will stick by you when your at your lowest, I've been there. And t'hell with any who try bash or shame me who read my comment for having said so, if I'm so wrong then prove it to me, you only love what a man can provide not his heart and soul. The moment early in this episode with Barbara and the cakes putting Tom straight about how it's been the happiest two years of her life is an extremely rare thing in that context for a women to be, almost has me believing it was real, if it wasn't a written fictional character.

[@MsFullheart]

devestating I cried!

[@Zeamus634]

If this was real, the first thing they would do after walking in there would be to go and check on the animals.

[@nobody-qn6wt]

Tom and barb were next door 10 minutes yet heard nothing?..

[@spirit6134]

So what you're saying is Sir Andrew would have walked straight into them?

[@wanderliscious]

nooooooo, don't tell me that's it ?! I'll have to watch them all again then. I add my thanks along with everyone else's. I enjoyed every minute. ps. did anyone else catch when sir said to Jerry, '....as to the manor born...' and that 'Lady Truscott' played Marjorie Forbes-Hamiltons' best friend in that series. ;p

[@donrocin]

Thanks OuijaBird for channelling all these episodes back from the 70s. They may have swallowed up most of my data allowance, but it was worth it. Bye.

[@MsFullheart]

Tim and Fatima love it!

[@danny_long_legs]

Makes me cry 😭

[@Iain1962]

Ah Felicty.... Thanks Weegie, that was a blast.

[@kinkyplunk]

It always frustrated me how some of the audience kept laughing when they walked into the vandalised room. New editions should edit that out

[@anthonycbrown1952]

It was a normal human response for a comedy series to be thrust into a painful moment of reality (where there is no happy ending). It was shocking and sad to see good people treated in such a horrible way. It was an uncomfortable moment. They sent the message that their faith and belief in how they live will not be upturned by common street criminals. No one told them it would be easy and the exemplify this by example.

[@agenttheater5]

shock and uncertainty was the reason

[@jaymcd8577]

No, shows it was raw, and real

[@nunyabidness4220]

It was an uncomfortable, "What's going on?" kind of nervous laughing, not a "this is funny" laughing. The audience was confused... as one would be, walking into a situation like that.

[@danny_long_legs]

8:11 I'm surprised those glasses didn't get smashed.

[@cherfansmiling]

So touching.

[@ExBruinsFan]

Looking at the vandalism in the living room makes me wonder if there was alaw against showing a swastika on TV, since the one on the wall is backwards.

[@brettonwoods9856]

It's Britain, not Germany. Such laws are highly superstitious and totemistic, operating from the basic assumption that the symbol in and of itself somehow has the power to give new life what was a relatively brief period in 20th Century history.

[@MisterHampshire]

I think it was more to portray the idiots causing the damage not having the intelligence to even get that right, rather than any law against the symbol itself.

[@jessiejames7492]

if i ever have my home burglarised and destroyed like that i will force the police to get those no good to clean up the mess..repaint the house and even pay for the damage! the most those no goods will get is maybe a few months or ????and then set free...WHT IS THE LAW COMING TO? Where good people get to suffer?

[@dlm8763]

Was this the last episode of the whole show? I wish there were more series

[@rosegrangerw]

did this season only come out in england? i live in America and i got the whole set but it doesnt have these last episodes on it...

[@spirit6134]

And to think that almost thirty years later this feeds into TBBT - Penny is from Nebraska - that's official State slogan is '... the good life' (who says Sheldon is toast?) 😆

[@lec0roh]

@craftylaura I know, I couldn't agree more with it. Love this program!

[@blackiemittens]

@Zeamus634 I was terrified the first time I saw this one that Jerry would come back in and say Geraldine was dead. Lenin maybe, Geraldine never!

[@stuzaza]

sublime

[@JazReviews]

Good Show OuijaBird!

[@blackiemittens]

@swollower They do Churchill proud.

[@JustMe-dm8yz]

Is the lady who tries to milk the goat the same one from Rosemary & Thyme murder series?

[@dianahuang4991]

Just Me yes

[@athenathegreatandpowerful6365]

Yup. Felicity Kendal is the lady in question.

[@STOPTHEEU]

@craftylaura One thing about this comedy is all four actors are good! In most programs you get a great actor, a bad actor and a few averages but in this they are all pretty good! =D

[@RasslebearNOLA]

an absolutely awful ending to a top rate sitcom. this is the only episode i truly hate, "life lesson" or not.

[@degsbabe]

If you really think life is like this- you really need to get one.

[@nesspatinio7807]

Such friendship!