Television series

The Good Life

Name: The Good Life
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1975
Cast: Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington, Penelope Keith, Moyra Fraser

Comedy
Light-hearted

A cosy little revolution unfolds in a Surbiton back garden: Tom and Barbara Good swap the mortgage and the telly for pigs, compost and homemade wine, much to the horror of their status-conscious neighbours the Leadbetters. It's soft-voiced but sharp, a sitcom about class and contentment dressed up as one about vegetable patches. Ideal for anyone who wants their comedy kind and their satire gentle.

TVMaze rating

4.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy sitcoms built on a stubborn idea and the polite warfare between two close couples, where the jokes come from characters refusing to bend.

Skip it if you want fast plotting or sharp cynical edges, since this is soft, mostly static domestic comedy that rewards patience with its quiet, ordinary rhythms.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes across four seasons make it an easy commitment, though you must settle into a slow, cosy rhythm rather than chase gags.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Ever Decreasing Circles1984

Richard Briers again, but this time playing the fussy, put-upon neighbour rather than the dreamer, in another comedy about suburban friendship curdling slightly at the edges.

But It's prickier and sadder underneath the laughs than The Good Life ever was.

To the Manor Born1979

Penelope Keith swaps Margo's snobbery for genteel poverty in this class comedy from the same golden BBC era, all about status, pride and keeping up appearances on a shrinking income.

But Less about self-sufficiency, more about aristocrats adjusting to reduced circumstances.

Butterflies1978

Carla Lane's sitcom shares that same wistful affection for ordinary suburban lives, following a bored, dreamy housewife tempted away from a comfortable but stifling marriage.

But Considerably more melancholic, with an ambiguous emotional core rather than tidy weekly resolutions.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Good Life

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Captain Fantastic2016

Same fantasy of opting out of consumer life for something more honest and hands-on, but played as heartfelt drama instead of sitcom, testing whether the dream actually holds up.

A family abandons consumer society entirely to live off-grid in the forest, raising sharp, self-sufficient kids far from supermarkets and screens — Tom and Barbara's dream taken to its most serious, most beautiful extreme.

But Genuinely moving and sad in places, with real grief underneath the idealism — not a comfort watch.

Keeping Up Appearances1990

Turns suburban snobbery up to eleven, with Hyacinth Bucket as Margo's louder, more monstrous cousin, terrorising her neighbours over social standing.

But Farcical rather than warm — there's little of the mutual affection that anchors The Good Life.

As Time Goes By1992

Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer bring that same tender, funny long-marriage chemistry, proving gentle comedy about ordinary devotion never really goes out of fashion.

But No eco-politics or class satire here, just a slower, quieter romantic comedy.

Last of the Summer Wine1973

Shares the same unhurried, affectionate comic rhythm and delight in English eccentricity, just relocated from suburban Surrey to the Yorkshire hills.

But All-male, meandering, and far less interested in plot or marriage than The Good Life.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin1976

Another mid-seventies comedy about a man rebelling against suburban conformity and corporate tedium, from the same cultural moment of Britain questioning its own comfort.

But Surreal, bitter and stranger — this is satire with genuine despair underneath it.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin poster

One Foot in the Grave1990

Same suburban terrain and sharp writerly eye, but with the warmth replaced by fury — Victor Meldrew as what Tom Good might become after losing patience.

But Much darker and angrier in tone, with far less tenderness between its central couple.

The Egg and I1947

This is the back-to-the-land marriage comedy decades before The Good Life existed, proving the joke about swapping comfort for chickens is older than Surbiton itself.

A postwar American comedy about a city couple moving to a rundown chicken farm with no electricity, fumbling through self-sufficiency with the same good-humoured incompetence and marital devotion.

But Its comic style and gender politics are firmly of their era, and some jokes have aged badly.

Alone in the Wilderness2004

Strips the sitcom's self-sufficiency fantasy down to its real, unglamorous bones, showing what the Goods' allotment dream looks like without the laugh track or the Leadbetters next door.

A quiet, mesmerising documentary following one man building a cabin and living entirely off-grid in the Alaskan wilderness, using his own 1960s home footage as narration.

But Slow, solitary and almost narration-only — there's no comedy, no neighbours, no bickering at all.