The Good Life (1975 TV series)

The Good Life
Opening credits of The Good Life
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	John Esmonde and Bob Larbey
Starring	Richard Briers Felicity Kendal Penelope Keith Paul Eddington
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	30 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	John Howard Davies
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	BBC1
Original release	4 April 1975 (1975-04-04) – 10 June 1978 (1978-06-10)
Chronology
Related shows	Life Beyond the Box

The Good Life is a British sitcom, produced by BBC television. It ran from 1975 to 1978 and was written by Bob Larbey and John Esmonde. Opening with the midlife crisis faced by Tom Good, a 40-year-old London plastics designer, it relates the joys and miseries he and his wife Barbara experience when they attempt to escape modern commercial living by "becoming totally self-sufficient" in their home in Surbiton. In 2004, it came 9th in Britain's Best Sitcom. In the United States, it aired on various PBS stations under the title Good Neighbors.

The Good Life was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey for Richard Briers, the only cast member with a previously established high-profile. Larbey and Esmonde were inspired by Larbey attaining his 40th birthday, which seemed to them a milestone in most people's lives. Their storyline has the Goods' decision to pursue self-sufficiency conflicting sharply with the habits of the Leadbetters, who live next door. The conflict between neighbours balanced with an increasingly close friendship creates comic tension as that friendship is tried to its limits.

Peter Bowles was originally cast to play the role of Jerry, but was unavailable. He later starred opposite Penelope Keith in To the Manor Born. Hannah Gordon was considered for the role of Barbara but ruled out, having recently played a similar role in the BBC sitcom My Wife Next Door. Esmonde and Larbey chose Felicity Kendal and Penelope Keith after seeing them on stage together in The Norman Conquests. The location filming was in the North London suburb of Northwood, although the series was set in Surbiton, southwest London. The producers searched extensively for a suitable pair of houses, eventually chancing on Kewferry Road, Northwood (Google street view [1], the Leadbetters' house to the left). The grounds of the Goods' house were returned to their original state after the filming of each series' inserts and all livestock removed at the end of each day's filming.