Series One, Episode Six

SR: Th 05/11/70 (#05)

TX: Sun 13/12/70, 22.00 (#06)

ALTERNATE TITLES: ‘Cecily’ is a common alternative.

ORIGINAL DURATION: 29’07"

BBC F&TVA: D3-PAL + BBC Enterprises back-up.

BFI: 2" CVT + viewing copy.

SCRIPT: Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie with Tim Brooke-Taylor.

PLOT: In desperation The Goodies agree to work as nannies to a young girl living in her country house. Whilst her aunt and uncle are away she explains how they are plotting to kill her. The trio promise to help her escape.

SEQUENTIAL ORDER: SS1, FS1, SS2, FS2, SS3, FS3, SS4, FS4, SS5, FS5, SS6, SS7, SS8, SS9, AD1, AD2, SS10, FS6, SS11, SS12, SS13, SS14, FS7, SS15, FS8.

CAST: Tim Brooke-Taylor [all bar SS3, FS3, FS4 and SS15]; Graeme Garden [all bar SS3, SS5, SS7, SS8, SS9, AD1, S15]; Bill Oddie [all bar FS4, SS7, SS8, SS9, AD1, AD2, SS12, SS15]; Ann Way (Aunt [SS2, SS14, SS15, FS8]); Robert Bernal (Uncle [SS2, SS14, SS15, FS8 only]); Jill Riddick (Cecily [SS7, SS8, SS9, SS10, FS6, SS11, SS14, FS7, FS8]); Lena Ellis (Supermatic Girl [AD1}).

UNCREDITED CAST: couple in garden, 2 Zulus [FS2]; hand in flower box [FS5]; five Supermatic extras [AD1]; armed man [FS6]; gloved clock hands [SS11, S13], ghost [SS13].

CREW: John Tiley (film cameraman); Alan Lygo (film editor); Ron Oates (visual effects); Betty Aldiss (costume); Rhian Davies (make up); Derek Slee (lighting); Laurence Taylor (sound); Bill Oddie & Michael Gibbs (music); Jim Franklin (film direction); Roger Murray-Leach (design); John Howard Davies (producer).

UNCREDITED CREW: prop operators [SS11, SS13].

STOCK FOOTAGE: Film inserts of zebra and two giraffes, source unknown [FS2]. No CSO is used.

MUSIC/FOUND SOUNDS: Oddie & Gibbs provide an unidentified instrumental [FS2/SS3/FS3 (fades at start) plus FS7], ‘Needed’ [FS1, FS3-FS5 inclusive] and ‘Are You Coming Out To Play’ [FS6]. Sourced music includes various horror stabs/chimes [bridging SS6/SS7, SS8 (also in ‘Army Games’ ?), SS9 reminiscent of 60s Improv), SS11], whistling wind and disembodied laughter [both SS11], various screams and wails [SS12] and the same muzak for both adverts. Sound effects comprise a hand pump [FS2], water spray [FS3], the high pitched kicking of metal [FS4], three gunshots [FS6], a bird cry followed by gunshot [SS14] and two explosions [FS8].

BILL’s COOK COUNT : oh dear.

GRAEME’S INVENTIONS : A minor appearance for his carefully labelled weedkiller, which is a mallet. His gardening technique is pretty unorthodox.

REFERENCES/ORIGINS: Rather blatant nods to The Haunting, Psycho, Jane Eyre (not Wide Sargasso Sea which was post-1970), Arsenic and Old Lace, and in FS8, a smidgen of Dick Whittington. Tim adopts two female voices in the episode, one in the main body of the episode as Lady Constance (I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again) and, frankly, I can’t tell the difference between his pepperpot in AD2 and a dead crab.

TIM’S PANIC ATTACKS : Endless amounts during the apparitions in the last ten minutes. The first and best is clearly his silent scream on discovery of the previous nanny’s corpse (15’57"). The subsequent sobbing (17’49") is also pretty fantastic, even if Graeme’s fatherly comfort steals Tim’s thunder.

TRADEMARKS: Not much to report, other than the appearance of the trandem in FS1.

‘Servants’ is somewhat lost in translation. For a show such as The Goodies , which was never shy about marrying videotape with film, it fell a little flat on this occasion. With some early stories the join between soft-grain celluloid and sharp-focussed oxide tape creates a schism in the final product which slimly avoids distraction. Much of series one challenges this with structural experimentation.

And herein lies the problems with many early Goodies episodes. As you can see from the accompanying 1970 articles, Oddie and Garden devised a show which moved spasmodically between slapstick and hard core hammock. When these tones were combined, in sequences during ‘Give Police A Chance’ (Goodies as policemen), Tim’s arrival at ‘Playgirl Club’ or, here, during their house chores, broad comedy met with a need for the trio to relax and take in their surroundings, often in idyllic sunlight. Scenes such as these generally fall between brash office badinage, intensive plotting and sophisticated run-arounds. These are transitional sequences, used either to ease us into new situations or provide a low-gear passage between high-volume moments.

Whilst ‘Servants’ is hardly the best of the bunch, it’s utilising of fifteen VT sequences and a further eight on film proves ambitious and hardly an average for the season. Whereas this benefits the episode in its first half, it seems a massive drawback in part two. An earnest experiment, the incoherent script seems disguised by a complicated form rather than as a requisite. ‘Army Games’ mucked around with form, transplanting the format to a new setting, whilst ‘Pirate Radio’ ditched the same format and explored new avenues in which the series could progress. What is most common, and which separates them from prosaic episodes such as ‘Tower Of London’ and ‘Snooze’ , is a desire to iron out the creases between video and film. It seems a hurdle which, in series one at least, Franklin and Davies were eager to overcome. Shows one and two (in transmission order) are clearly divided from that which follows in the respect that there was a passing contentment with the obvious visual divide. The Goodies needed to progress rapidly from these humble origins.

This all fails to translate when one sees the commonly exposed short edit of ‘Servants’. Clocking in at a frankly mean 23/24 minutes, the viewer sees the main body of the story rather than that which guides it. The resulting version (which I survived on for many years) translates as an uneven offering from a great comic team.

I would suggest that the disparity of this episode lies in this state of flux. It is a casualty of experimentation, where rather than proving adventurous in it’s use of form, only serves to highlight a filler script. By this notion the passage between FS2 and SS6, which juggles Graeme’s antics in the garden (film) and Bill’s cooking (VT), should really be the main obstacle for a contemporary audience. In isolation, with the delightful Oddie/Gibbs soundtrack it actually strengthens the episode as an albeit irrelevant segue. Two minor narrative threads run concurrently, each wildly different but ultimately connected. Here Alan Lygo’s rhythmic cuts provide an effective underscore to John Howard Davies’ more heavy-handed VT slapstick. Conversely, the actual plotting, the nub of the episode, suffers with a string of disjointed sequences between the formats. Otherwise seen as a peripheral indulgence in syndication this early passage is the true strength of the episode.

‘Give Police A Chance’ provided an entirely different result, where the clumsy satire matched a subtle attempt to develop the combination of recording formats. Remember that these sequences were often shot weeks apart, adding value to the transition during SS1 to FS1, where a brick is volleyed through the window and Tim answers the police’s demands. The move towards film is incredibly subtle. What this highlights in the first series is an odd imbalance between script and production, where one must be heavy-handed for the other to work.

And, indeed, ‘Servants’ reeks of filler. Beginning at a loose end, Tim adamantly refuses to perform mothering services and only does so reluctantly. The Goodies acknowledge that they are short of work, yet why this episode should differ from late-series entrants is a mystery. ‘Army Games’ (which precedes it) takes them on holiday, whilst ‘Pirate Radio’ shows the trio’s creation of their own independent enterprise. Appearing between these, ‘Servants’ punctuates the first series by necessity, choosing to remind viewers of the basic format and how limiting it could be as a catchall for disparate referencing. The Goodies excelled in showing us how silliness could arise from normal life, random guest stars and, ultimately, themselves.

Another reason why ‘Servants’ fails is simply that the unexplained forces in the episode appear without explanation, neither in conclusion or during the story’s progress. What we are left with is an enormous lack of clarity. When Cecily’s aunt and uncle return they suggest in the final film sequence that she is an unusual girl who needs controlling, a direct contradiction to her own claims that they are trying to kill her. They are overtly strange, with LEDs in the eyes of their portraits on the kitchen wall and bizarre remarks during their first scene ("We like to have her put down at eight-thirty"). If the latter is true, after Cecily has gained their trust, why does she bomb the sun house with the Goodies in it?

Added to this is the whole haunted house motif - apparitions which are apparently disconnected from the plot. When Tim guides Cecily through the garden in FS6 they encounter endless attempts on her life. Is this not enough to make the point that she is endangered, or is the whole paranormal element there purely to pad out the episode and make Tim whimper for comic relief?

There is a clear boredom within the script half way, as though the initial client based format of the first series had reached a natural conclusion. Little of this second half ties together and the ending is spectacularly rushed. The only wider question that this provokes, at least in early editions, is whether you would sooner have the trio as subservient to a client or out of control through their own madness? Answers on an electronic postcard.

You could possibly read Cecily’s aunt and uncle as a metaphor of the show’s self imposed restriction, but then you’d be asking for a kick in the teeth. That’ll make them rose tinted.

1. The commercial break in this broadcast lands between AD2 and the beginnings of ‘Part Two’ [SS10]. A slight loss of footage is caused by a fading freeze on Graeme and Tim’s pepperpot, losing Garden’s last fixed smile and a tiny bit of the soundtrack laughter.

1. The opening credits are again absent, causing a slight cut to the pan which starts the episode. 1" of the fading music and Bill reading the paper is absent.

2. More significantly, the first studio sequence loses a 43" patch of dialogue surrounding their search for work. The missing section appears in square brackets.

BILL
Well.] I reckon the next job we’re offered, we should take it.

TIM
(with gritted teeth) All right.

BILL
OK.

(phone rings)

GRAEME
(points) Right on cue. (lifts receiver)

3. The first 11" of FS1 are lost of their journey to the country house.

4. A lighting flicker (?) occurs during SS2, on the Aunt and Uncle’s exit (4’10") and a further line fault as Tim receives a cool breeze off Bill (4’22"). It is unclear whether these are faults with the original material or an ageing master.

5. All of FS2 is removed in this broadcast - a loss of 1’04". As Graeme walks off into the garden, Bill and Tim peer through window and laugh at the scale of his work - the garden is completely overgrown with weeds. Here are the missing bits.

SHOT A: Overgrown garden, long shot (broadcast cuts at 6’13")

SHOT B: Graeme stands at back door, taking in the air. Looking around he spots Tim and Bill peering through kitchen window.

SHOT C: Close on Tim and Bill. They look at him, expecting a bitter response.

SHOT D: He waves them away and walks off.

SHOT E: GRAEME strides towards garden (ground up POV) and looks around.

SHOT F: A young couple dart out of the grass and weeds, looking embarrassed and dishevelled.

SHOT G: As Shot E. He darts his head forward in another direction, astonished.

SHOT H: A giraffe peers over a tree (Stock Footage).

SHOT I: As Shot E. GRAEME scared. Looks ahead.

SHOT J: Two zebras wander, one looking directly at him. (Stock Footage).

SHOT K: Two zulus run through grass, just like the young couple.

SHOT L: GRAEME strides forward, looking for jobs to do.

SHOT M: He approaches vegetable patch and spots an anaemic marrow. He whips out a bicycle pump and casually builds it to a huge size. He pats it for firmness and walks off.

SHOT N: Places box on ground in a new area of the garden.

SHOT O: Close up on box. It is labelled ‘Weedkiller’, from which he produces a mallet. Graeme beats it against his other hand.

SHOT P: He leaps around garden, hitting the weeds - all of this slightly sped up. As he gets more hysterical he loses control of the mallet and it flies off screen.

6. FS3, which follows a complete SS3, loses it’s final moments immediately after Graeme has revved up the lawnmower and fallen off. A cut of 5" deprives the viewer of a final shot in which he rounds up on the out-of-control machine as it approaches the main door of the house. He gets on board but cannot control it. It enters the house.

7. A noticeable audio edt to ‘Needed’ opens and closes SS4, where Tim instructs Bill to mould frozen short cut pastry. The sheets from the fridge are rock hard and so Bill proceeds to prise it apart against his leg, eventually using his teeth. Here the sequence ends (10’00"), but there is a further dialogue-free 56" of Bill’s ever more desperate methods to crack the pastry. This involves a clothes wringer which breaks, hitting it against a table which collapses on Tim’s foot and, during all of this, Graeme casually coasting through the kitchen on the mower - thus losing a great joke which links the film to video. This sequence should end with Bill placing the pastry on the grill. Instead, we move prematurely to Graeme’s watering of the flower box (10’56").

8. SS9 loses 5" at it’s close, so as to drop the ‘End Of Part One’ which is deemed lesser than a crude caption by UK Gold telling us to tune in tomorrow. All this negates is the remainder of Tim’s silent scream (which goes out of focus anyway) and the skeleton Nanny rocking away in the chair.

9. UKG’s day break conveniently lands between the two parts. Clearly the second half was of a suitable length (11’18") resulting in no edits, bar a clumsy mix from the substitute credits which carries a split-second burst of laughter between the two themes. The first half suffered a worse fate, losing 5’43" of it’s 17’45" duration. This includes the two adverts. AD1, ‘Supermatic Camera’, is detailed in the UKTV entry above, but in addition there is the saddening omission of Graeme’s ‘Razz’ campaign: