The Good old days

Margo star recalls 70s sitcom hit

- BY MARK JEFFERIES

SUBURBAN sitcom The Good Life turns 50 this year and a new TV special recalls the time it pulled in audiences of up to 20 million including the Royal Family.

It will be presented by Dame Penelope Keith, 85, who starred as posh Margo Leadbetter, married to hen-pecked Jerry (Paul Eddington).

Viewers loved her EGO THE disapproving sneers as she struggled to cope with neighbour pals Tom and INS 0 Barbara Good (Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal) who had swapped the rat race for "the good life" of make-do-and-mend sustainability trying to grow their own food and keep chickens, pigs and a goat in their back garden. The show ran for four series from 1975 until 1978, with a TV special filmed in front of the royals.

Penelope now reveals an idea for a spin-off series just featuring the Leadbetters was floated.

She recalls: "I said, 'No. It's a situation comedy and the situation is strong because of the two couples'.

"Can you imagine how tedious it would have been having Margo and Jerry having their own series?" The Good Life: Inside Out reveals critics and audiences did not find the show funny, initially.