The Goodies and the Beanstalk
| "The Goodies and the Beanstalk" | |
|---|---|
| The Goodies episode | |
| Episode no. |
Series 4 Episode 33 (of 76) |
| Produced by | |
| Starring |
Tim Brooke-Taylor Graeme Garden Bill Oddie |
| Original air date | 24 December 1973 (Monday — 5.15 p.m.) |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
|
Alfie Bass as the "Giant"
Eddie Waring as himself ("Sports commentator") John Cleese as the "Genie" Corbet Woodall as himself "It's a Knockout") Marcelle Samett as the |
|
| Series 4 episodes | |
"The Goodies and the Beanstalk" is a special episode of the award-winning British comedy television series The Goodies
Written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie.
Homeless and penniless, the Goodies have no food and are sleeping on park benches. Graeme and Tim decide to sell their trandem, but Bill is devastated. Bill takes the trandem, which he has named "Buttercup", to the market the next morning, but all he receives is a tin of baked beans.
Tim empties the contents of the tin onto Bill's head, but Graeme decides to plant one of the beans — 'just in case'. To the Goodies' surprise, a giant-sized beanstalk shoots up behind them. The beanstalk crosses the English channel and continues to grow along the ground until it reaches the foot of Mount Everest. Bill borrows a flute from a snakecharmer — with the beanstalk then climbing up the side of the mountain and disappearing into some clouds at the top.
Tim notices an ad in a newspaper for competitors for It's a Knockout — part of the competition being to climb the beanstalk. With nothing to lose, the Goodies decide to represent Britain. Other countries being represented include Germany and Italy, whose contestants meet a gruesome end.
At the top of the beanstalk, a castle can be seen in the distance. Gaining entry into the castle, the Goodies discover a room with several gold eggs. When they leave the room with as many gold eggs as they can carry, they find themselves in a very large room with a very high ceiling, a giant-size coffee mug and an enormous recipe book, with a recipe for "Shepherd's Pie" (beginning with the instruction 'first peel two shepherds'). Then, hearing the words "Fe, Fo, Fi, Fum", Bill comments that it must be the Giant. The Goodies try to hide, with Bill climbing into the giant's mug.
The 'giant', who turns out to be surprisingly small in size, promises the Goodies that they will be paid in gold eggs (created using a formula he had developed when he was a zookeeper), if they remain in the castle and work for him. However, the 'giant' is very demanding and all the Goodies want to go home again. Imitating the Marx Brothers (with Graeme as "Groucho", Tim as "Harpo", and Bill as "Chico") and singing "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?", they pretend that riches do not interest them. Then, while the 'giant' is asleep, they collect their sacks of gold eggs and leave the castle — causing the birds to protest loudly at the theft. Waking from his sleep, the 'giant' orders his birds to go after the Goodies and ensues as the birds take their revenge.
...
Wikipedia