Man made plastics were first developed in the 1850s but just a century later, chemical technology led to the cheap, mass production of goods in all areas of life. Plastic, in all its shapes and sizes, flooded the market, often relying on crude oil at a time when it was much more in abundance.

But for Tom and Barbara, hoping to make a go of self-sufficiency, the stumbling blocks of paying bills, running a smallholding in their garden and growing their own food became the framework for a  comedy classic. As an audience we could point and ridicule at the lengths that the Goods go to maintain this lifestyle; essentially  so Tom could avoid being trapped as “a cog in a great big wheel”.

Their neighbours, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter, perhaps represent the majority of the watching audience of that time: slightly mocking, suspicious and cynical of the great leap. However, they always rose to the occasion to step in and help out when the goat droppings hit the fan. Whether helping to bring in the waterlogged harvest, or collecting a goat in the back of Jerry’s car, the Leadbetters put their differences of opinion to one side in order to help when help was needed, as that is what friends do.

In 2020, we can still learn so much from The Good Life, such as how to maintain a friendship with people who have opinions that are poles apart from our own.

This does not get in the way of Jerry and Margo’s snobbishness when it comes to muck, noise and general vulgarity. But as an audience we are invited to poke fun at both sides – the traditional and the alternative – and see the light-hearted, general silliness of life.

Our new podcast — the Sitcom Archive Deep Dive Overdrive (SADDO) — began life during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020,under the shadow of a no-deal Brexit in Europe. A time when many areas of life closed down worldwide, certain items became scarce in shops and people fought over toilet rolls like they were Cabbage Patch Dolls leading up to Christmas ‘83.

Rewatching the Goods usher in their new lifestyle held up a mirror to the current situation. What would the general public do if food production suddenly stopped, if we couldn’t get our hands on ‘essentials’ and the possibility of goods arriving by the medium of an Amazon delivery became a pipe dream? Suddenly the back-breaking labour of Tom and Barbara wasn’t so funny. The Goods chose a radical lifestyle against a backdrop of the 1970s: Not exactly a time of plenty and political stability, but many people, like Tom, could expect a job for life, and live in a detached house on the outskirts of the capital. The pandemic gave us a small glimpse into how the world of self-sustainability could become a necessity in times of want.

In one episode at the start of the second series, Barbara is seen cutting Tom’s hair in the kitchen — a scene replicated across the nation in the spring and summer of 2020, due to the Covid closure of hair salons and barbers. There will doubtless be a whole host of photographs in existence of children from that short period, looking as though they’ve been in a particularly vicious attack with a fringe-o-matic. For Tom and Barbara it was an opportunity to save money, but in 2020, a byproduct of the pandemic for many families.