Television series
The Good Life
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.
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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.
Butterflies1978no page yet
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.
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.
More like this (7)
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 By1992no page yet
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 Perrin1976no page yet
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.
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 I1947no page yet
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 Wilderness2004no page yet
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.
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Recommended by
Detectorists, Mon Oncle, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, One Foot in the Grave, To the Manor Born, Ever Decreasing Circles, Keeping Up Appearances