The Good Life

1. Plough Your Own Furrow

Apr 4, 1975 · 30 min

After he has celebrated his 40th birthday Tom decides that he is unhappy with his life style so he packs his job in, farms his large garden and becomes self sufficient.

2. Say Little Hen ...

Apr 11, 1975 · 30 min

The Goods install the first chickens in their chicken coop, but they prove slow to lay their first eggs. Incensed by the condescension of the Leadbetters when they are invited to dinner together with Tom's former boss & his wife, the Goods decide to sacrifice one of the chickens to make a show of their not being as poor as the Leadbetters think.

3. The Weaker Sex?

Apr 18, 1975 · 30 min

Tom buys an old-fashioned range for their kitchen from a passing rag-and-bone man, but Barbara becomes irate when she ends up doing most of the hard work to get it ready for use, while he tries to make a system for scaring the birds off their crops.

4. Pig's Lib

Apr 25, 1975 · 30 min

The Goods continue their bartering with local suppliers, but Barbara has a misunderstanding while negotiating with the window-cleaner. They then add a pair of pigs in a sty to their back garden, at which Margo is so appalled she brings in the chairman of the local residents' association to persuade them out of it, but is unsuccessful. However, when one escapes into the Leadbetter's garden, she can only be mollified by getting rid of it.

5. The Thing in the Cellar

May 2, 1975 · 30 min

Tom puts the finishing touches to their own electricity generator in the cellar, which runs on their animals' waste. He then goes fishing with Jerry, and decides to store the surplus in the freezer, until the generator plays up...

6. The Pagan Rite

May 9, 1975 · 30 min

In order to pay for a treat for Barbara, Tom takes a short contract from his old firm, and tries to keep it a secret from her - but his plan is foiled when he fails to account for Margo's nosiness.

7. Backs to the Wall

May 16, 1975 · 30 min

While starting the harvest, Tom injures his back digging,and since Margo and Jerry are on holiday Barbara is left to look after the farm all on her own. A storm then adds to their problems by turning their garden into a mud bath.

1. Just My Bill

Dec 5, 1975 · 30 min

The Goods are faced with paying their rates bill (local property tax). They try to sell their harvest surplus to raise money, but it proves more difficult than Tom imagines.

2. The Guru of Surbiton

Dec 12, 1975 · 30 min

The Goods take in a student couple for a week, to help them with the work on the smallholding. The couple rapidly become infatuated with the Goods and their way of life. When they decide to buy the other house next door, to start a commune with similar aims, Margo becomes incensed.

3. Mr. Fix-It

Dec 19, 1975 · 30 min

A journalist writes a freelance article on the Goods and their way of life. Margo tries to muscle in to promote her forthcoming amateur dramatics production. Jerry obtains quantities of free merchandise for the Goods, on the grounds that the article is to appear in a national Sunday newspaper.

4. The Day Peace Broke Out

Jan 2, 1976 · 30 min

Leeks start to go missing from the front garden, and Tom initially suspects Margo. When he discovers the real culprit, he takes the law into his own hands, but ends up in deeper trouble than the thief.

5. Mutiny

Jan 9, 1976 · 30 min

Jerry refuses to put up a foreign businessman visiting the company, as it would interfere with Margo's performances as Maria in a local amateur production of The Sound of Music, and he is consequently sacked. The Goods try to get him reinstated.

6. Home Sweet Home

Jan 16, 1976 · 30 min

A boar-walker visits the Goods' remaining pig, and recommends they move to a larger smallholding that he knows is for sale. Neither Tom nor Barbara can think of a good reason not to go, but neither really wants to.

7. Going to Pot?

Jan 23, 1976 · 30 min

Tom's inability to repair the roof decides the Goods on joining evening classes in practical subjects, Barbara taking pottery and Tom taking weaving. Both do badly and decide to swap subjects. Tom achieves outstanding results, resulting in the temptation to go commercial.

1. The Early Birds

Sep 10, 1976 · 30 min

The pressure of work sowing the new season's crops requires the Goods to make the most of the daylight hours. The disturbance of their early morning work sours their friendship with the Leadbetters, and their attempts to go to bed early meet with a variety of frustrations.

2. The Happy Event

Sep 17, 1976 · 30 min

Perky gives birth to her litter, which includes a runt, in the middle of the night, observed by the Goods & Leadbetters. Sentimentality overcomes practicality, and they decide to try to help the runt survive. Jerry is stopped for speeding on the way to hospital to obtain some oxygen.

3. A Tug of the Forelock

Sep 24, 1976 · 30 min

The need for some means of transport to replace the broken trolley causes Tom to modify the rotavator. To pay for its fuel, the Goods decide to take temporary work as domestic staff... with the Leadbetters.

4. I Talk to the Trees

Oct 1, 1976 · 30 min

A fellow allotment holder claims that talking and playing music to his plants gives better yields, so Tom decides to do a scientific experiment, enlisting Barbara's help. Unfortunately, playing music to the crops in the back garden threatens to sour their relationship with Margo, who is standing for election as president of the local amateur operatic society.

5. The Wind-Break War

Oct 8, 1976 · 30 min

The Goods are furious when they learn that Margo is planning to put up a large wind-break that will shade their new fruit patch. Mix-ups occur when they ask her to site it elsewhere. To repair their friendship, they have dinner accompanied by bottles of the Goods' Peapod Burgundy, causing them to regain their sense of humour.

6. Whose Fleas are These?

Oct 15, 1976 · 30 min

The Goods find they have fleas, which they initially believe are from their animals. Then they remember that they have just been next door to the Leadbetters.

7. The Last Posh Frock

Oct 22, 1976 · 30 min

Various people mistake Barbara for a man, causing her to doubt her femininity, and when she accidentally tears her last good dress, she becomes distraught. Tom compounds things by fawning over an elegantly dressed dinner guest, but then tries to make up by buying her another dress.

7. Anniversary

May 22, 1977 · 30 min

Although troubles beset them, the Goods are still glad that they've followed the path of self-sufficiency. Jerry thinks he's failed to succeed Andy as head of JJM. Margo installs a burglar alarm system, but the Goods think they've no need of one, as they've nothing left to steal.