PROJECT NO.:
A unique code granted to every TV production. These are found on BBC documents and the master tapes.

S.R.:
The date of studio recordings. The episode number in order of production appears in brackets.

O.B.:
Dates for the shooting of film sequences, where known.

TX:
Date of first transmission on BBC-2 (except where stated). Bracketed is the episode number in broadcast order.

ALTERNATE TITLES:
Each episode entry will carry notes on different titles given that it is such a contentious area of Goodies history. None are totally reliable before series five but an upcoming article will explain the motives behind my choices.

ORIGINAL DURATION:
According to archive records. Sometimes these are wrong and so I have noted inconsistencies.

BBC F & TVA:
Which translates as Film and Television Archive, a big and mysterious building in Middlesex. The Nineties saw a major changeover with their holdings when they were steadily transferred to D3-PAL, a digital format which maintains quality and a tidy appearance on their shelves. Other items are predominantly on the earlier D2-PAL format or in their original state.

Exceptions in The Goodies canon are ‘Playgirl Club’ (#04) which exists as a sixteen millimetre monochrome film recording (16mm B/W F/R) as does ‘Army Games’ (#05). From series two, ‘The Commonwealth Games’ (#09) remains as an incomplete one-inch monochrome videotape (1" B/W VT), whereas ‘Come Dancing’ (#15) survives complete on the same format. A back-up of ‘Gender Education’ (#18) on 16mm B/W F/R complements the original two-inch colour videotape (2" CVT). The original version of ‘Kitten Kong’ (#14) does not exist. The later specials, ‘The Goodies & The Beanstalk’ (#32) and ‘Goodies Rule:O.K.?’ (#49) are extant on 2" CVT and 16mm Col F/R, their original format. All other episodes survive as broadcast on 2" CVT, including a further, damaged copy of ‘Army Games’. Other ad hoc copies will be highlighted as and when.

BFI:
The British Film Institute, a big and mysterious building in London. Their massive and largely cinema based archive now hosts virtually everything the BBC produced in the Seventies, as bequeathed to them in Spring 2000. All items will eventually be transferred to viewing tapes for public consumption. I have noted their current Goodies holdings as 2" CVT - the original broadcast tapes - and viewing copies which should soon be available in the Viewing Rooms. A helpful list was supplied by a dusty gentleman in the Records Room.

SCRIPT:
Writing credits according to the on-screen caption. This one makes for pretty static reading.

PLOT:
A brief resume of the story line. Allender and Ross’s tomes provide longer descriptions (see bibliography)

SEQUENTIAL ORDER:
Studio sequences (SS) and film sequences (FS) are numerated separately and presented in order of appearance. Film or studio inserts within a dominant segment are listed in brackets.

CAST:
As credited, with character names in bendy brackets and scene-by-scene appearances in studious square ones. Character names are verified wherever possible, otherwise they are phonetic and balanced by sane reason.

UNCREDITED CAST:
On-screen credits are rarely thorough, so this section notes the extras within each show because I have eyes and an inquiring disposition. In the absence of character names I give capsule descriptions in sequential appearance. This is quite a grey area which needs further research.

CREW:
On-screen only.

UNCREDITED CREW:
Studio crew are generally overlooked in the main credits, so take that as read until I know more. Extraneous contributions are noted here. Largely dog trainers.

STOCK FOOTAGE:
Sourced material within the episode, usually CSO (‘Chromakey’/Colour Seperation Overlay) images of note and, more to the point, borrowed footage. Without those you would never have had the ‘Funky Gibbon’ dance. Think about it.

MUSIC/FOUND SOUNDS:
Songs by Bill Oddie and his collaborators (check Credits) are listed first, then music by other artists, unidentified material and those all important sound effects.

A quick explanation of the repeats history for a particular episode appears here, then its the land of lists.

Within the listings, all sequences are referred to by coding (eg. SS1, FS1) or duration points (eg. 2’51") from which you can locate the moments under review. Script extracts tend to include excised material, which appears in square brackets,as do bullet point numbers. The separate durations, idents and channel trails are displayed here for easy identification of your own private recordings.

Special bullet notes for the original transmission when,

(i) The episode has never been repeated or is otherwise unavailable.

(ii) The original production or a repeat warrants discussion.

Short episode reviews may also appear here. Detailed comment will generally be confined to separate articles.

In an ideal world all Goodies repeats would be like this, perhaps without the logo. This Australian pay-per-view station stripped all regular episodes with total avoidance of the edits applied many years ago by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). This resulted in complete shows and, what’s more, no ad break. The only omissions were ‘Playgirl Club’ (#04), the missing scenes from ‘The Commonwealth Games’ (#09), the original take of ‘Kitten Kong’ (#14) and, bafflingly, ‘Earthanasia’ (#62). The real trump was the first Australian screening of ‘Hype Pressure’ (#51) whose absence prior to that was due to the BBC overlooking overseas sale of the episode for sixteen years.