"Return of the Goodies" attracts 3.3 million viewers!
04/01/2006 00:00 GMT

Posted by lisa

The "Return of the Goodies" special, which aired last Friday night on BBC 2 in the UK, attracted 3.3 million viewers and a 14% share (I was told that BBC 2's typical share is about 9.3%).

Here's an article from BBC News at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4581330.stm:

Goodies call for repeats campaign

Goodies founders Bill Oddie and Graeme Garden have welcomed the fact that their nostalgia show Return of the Goodies attracted 3.3 million viewers.

BBC Two's 30 December show gained "a pretty respectable viewing figure for a nostalgia clip show", Garden said. The Goodies left BBC for ITV in 1981.

But Garden said he would not pressure the BBC to repeat the original series.  "We've been doing that for 25 years without success. Perhaps now it's time for others to lead a campaign."

A BBC Two spokeswoman said it was "too early to say" whether it would now repeat past episodes of The Goodies.  "But we certainly wouldn't rule it out given the audience interest," she said.

Return of the Goodies was the day's most-watched programme on BBC Two, watched by 14.2% of the available TV audience.  Garden said: "To put it in perspective I suppose it's worth noting that the wonderfully funny sitcom The Thick Of It only got about half that figure."  However, it was beaten in the ratings by BBC One's As Time Goes By and Midsomer Murders on ITV1, which drew seven million and 5.8 million viewers.

First broadcast in 1970, surreal comedy series The Goodies starred Garden, Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor.  It also spawned hit singles The Inbetweenies, Funky Gibbon, Black Pudding Bertha, Nappy Love and Make A Daft Noise For Christmas.

Oddie, who now presents BBC series such as Springwatch, said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the success of Return of the Goodies.  "But it was a shame we could only show clips, rather than whole episodes of The Goodies," he said.  "There are so many TV channels now, I would think someone could find space to repeat the original series.  "Maybe they could start a new channel called Can You Believe We Used To Think This Was Funny? The Goodies could go on there."

Garden said the trio toured Australia last year, where The Goodies was regularly repeated on TV.  "We have a great fan base over there, many of them now 30ish, with kids of their own, who they are now educating with the Goodies DVDs," he said.