★★★★★ 0/5

Vale: Tim Brooke-Taylor

British comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor of The Goodies, has died after contracting coronavirus.

18
Leave a comment

British comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor, one-third of The Goodies, has died aged 79.

He died on Sunday after contracting coronavirus, his agent has confirmed.

Goodies co-star Bill Oddie called him a “true visual comic and a great friend”.

Graeme Garden said he was “terribly saddened by the loss of a dear colleague and close friend of over 50 years”.

“He was a funny, sociable, generous man who was a delight to work with. Audiences found him not only hilarious but also adorable.”

The first episode of The Goodies aired in 1970 and ran for 12 years. A mixture of sketches, situation comedy and slapstick made use of special effects such as speeded-up filming.

The often surreal show saw the three protagonists cycling around on a “trandem”, trying to do good deeds. Memorable episodes include Kitten Kong, featuring a giant feline toppling the Post Office Tower.

Brooke-Taylor specialised in a character wearing a Union Flag waistcoat, who would often pause the action to deliver patriotic words to a background of Land of Hope and Glory.

The series spawned an unlikely hit record, Funky Gibbon. The Goodies stars become household names in Australia and New Zealand, with shows attracting millions of TV viewers, and the trio visiting numerous times.

One of his biggest contributions to British comedy was co-writing and performing the famous Four Yorkshiremen sketch with John Cleese, Chapman and Marty Feldman, originally for the comedy programme At Last The 1948 Show! The sketch later became a popular fixture of Monty Python’s live shows, and was generally performed by Chapman, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.

In 1971 he had a short role in the film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, where, in the closing sequence, he played a computer scientist.

Oddie also recalled some of the Goodies‘ sketches in his tribute tweet, adding: “No-one could wear silly costumes or do dangerous stunts like Tim. I know it hurt cos he used to cry a lot. Sorry Timbo.”

In 2011, Brooke-Taylor was appointed an OBE for his services to entertainment, joining Oddie and Garden in the same honour.

Source: BBC

18 Responses

  1. Yep like everyone else a big part of my growing up years as. 9 year old in 1970.

    Mon to Thur I remember The Goodies airing the most at 6pm, then Doctor Who and when they weren’t on it was F-Troop, My Favorites Martian, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Aunty Jack was in there as well introducing us to colour on a black and White set. Flash Nick From

    1. Jindivick was around as well, however yep The Goodies stand tall in all that alongside Month Python and little wonder I have the humour I do. Kitten Kong and the ever so patriarch Tim with his union jack socks vest and pomp and ceremony speeches, love it all.

  2. I was absolutely shocked when I saw the news late last night. Along with Doctor Who the Goodies defined my childhood. Then, when I got into high school, I discovered I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again (at 4am on Double J, when ABC local radio rand the rock station from midnight to 6am.) No wonder that today has been a little more distressing than what is currently the usual.

  3. RIP Tim, you sure made me laugh over the years, back when TV and the world was a better time. Wish this horrible virus would go away forever.

  5. ‘The Goodies was last shown regularly on ABC in the early ’90s but a few random eps turned up on ABC2 late night around 2010 or so-the last season of it was made for ITV in the UK and was shown on 7 about 1984 (wasn’t as good as the BBC series). My personal favourite ep was’Apart Height’-no more scathing commentary on Soot Effrica in the 1970s was possible! RIP, Sir.

  6. Very sad. Was also good in Me and my girl. The goodies was one of those series that was watchable but every now and again would have one brilliant episode

  8. This really hits home for me. The Goodies were my childhood show. I can’t begin to explain how much I loved it and looked forward to it each arvo. Tim Brooke-Taylor was genuinely the funniest man I knew growing up. What a shitty virus this is. Vale Tim.

  11. 12 years? I didn’t realise it ran that long.

    I loved this show as a kid – then we segued into another absurdist/surrealist classic of the Young Ones as teenagers. Probably explains my rather strange sense of humour

  12. I have fond memories sitting in front of the television with two other brothers in hysterics over this series. If memory serves this was on a Sunday evening on the ABC. Nothing could beat Sunday evenings watching ABC with its stable of shows like Doctor Who, Countdown and The Goodies. Deepest regards to Tim’s family and friends.

  15. A very sad loss! Wish Foxtel or ABC would show all the Goodies episodes along with other classic British comedies like Kenny Everett, Man about the House, Love thy Neighbor etc. We could really use some laughs right now. Come on Foxtel lets have a rribute to Tim Brooke Taylor by intoducing a British Comedy channel!!!!

Leave a Reply