The Goodies Logo 'The Goodies and the Beanstalk'

by Tim Brooke-Taylor,
Bill Oddie
and Graeme Garden
The Goodies

Having fallen on hard times, the Goodies are now living on the streets and begging for money. Finally running out of cash and food, the trio are forced to sell Buttercup, their trandem; unfortunately, when Bill takes the bicycle to the market the following morning, all he can get in exchange is a solitary tin of baked beans. In an act of desperate lunacy, Graeme decides to plant one of the beans – and to his, Tim and Bill’s surprise a giant beanstalk bursts out of the ground! With the trio clinging on for dear life, the beanstalk grows wildly all over the country before crossing the Channel into France; it finally reaches India, where Bill uses a nearby snake-charmer’s flute to make the beanstalk grow up Mount Everest. Giving up, the Goodies return to their lives as tramps on the streets of Cricklewood; but when they then hear of a prize of five-thousand puppies for anyone who climbs the beanstalk, they decide to return to Kathmandu to represent Great Britain in a pantomime-version of ‘It’s a Knockout’ . After successfully beating their Italian and German opponents, Tim, Graeme and Bill scale the beanstalk and arrive in a strange, rocky wasteland; here Bill succumbs to the haunting, hypnotic music emanating from a mysterious castle, and is drawn inside. Coming to his senses, Bill explores his surroundings and soon discovers a secret laboratory filled with chickens that lay 22-carat gold eggs; once Tim and Graeme manage to get inside the castle and join their friend, the trio set about stealing as much of the gold as they can. However, the owner of the castle is the shortest giant in the world – and he isn’t at all happy that his unwanted guests have nicked his gold…

Bill Oddie (Bill), Tim Brooke-Taylor (Tim), Graeme Garden (Graeme), Alfie Bass (Giant), Marty Swift (Policeman), Eddie Waring (Himself), Arthur Ellis (Himself ), Corbet Woodall (Newsreader), John Cleese (Genie),Helli Louise (Girl in ad with 1000 puppies), Marcelle Samett (Girl Guide), Toni Harris and Robert Bridges

Produced and Directed by Jim Franklin
Music by Bill Oddie and Michael Gibbs


TX (BBC 2):
24th December 1973

Notes:
*Featuring Tim, Bill and Graeme

*This special episode is forty-four minutes long