--- title: "The Good Life" year: 1975 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/the-good-life" fi1m_score: 85 critics_reviews: 1 published: "2026-09-16T16:43:37.082065+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T16:43:37.508232+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Good Life (1975) Created by John Esmonde, Bob Larbey · 30m · MPA TV-PG · Comedy **Fi1m score: 85** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Four people, four opinions, and not quite enough suburbia to keep them apart > The four leads make *The Good Life* funny without making its disagreements trivial. This is warm, precise comedy, with one persistent irritation: the writing is rather too willing to forgive Tom Good. ## Synopsis Tom Good (Richard Briers) and Barbara Good (Felicity Kendal) are at the centre of a suburban experiment in self-sufficiency. Alongside them are Jerry Leadbetter (Paul Eddington) and Margo Leadbetter (Penelope Keith), completing the four principal characters. The question of how to live gives them a shared subject and different points of view, with their exchanges driving the comedy. Created and written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, the series follows the interplay between these four in half-hour episodes, keeping self-sufficiency and suburban life at its centre. ## Review We recommend *The Good Life* for its four leads and for the seriousness beneath its domestic disagreements. The suburban self-sufficiency premise gives creators John Esmonde and Bob Larbey something worth arguing about: how much comfort we need, and what we will give up for independence. Their characters can make a fuss without making the question seem foolish. The limitation is that the programme sometimes seems more willing to forgive Tom Good than we are. As writers, John Esmonde and Bob Larbey understand that an attractive idea can belong to an exasperating person. The comedy leaves us room to sympathise with the wish for independence and still object to the way it is pursued. There is space for affection even when the characters are being difficult. That keeps the four central characters interesting when the practical business of self-sufficiency threatens to become another lesson in perseverance. Richard Briers plays Tom Good with an enthusiasm we enjoy more when somebody resists it. There is enough obstinacy in the performance to make us question the charm, although the writing does not always follow through. Felicity Kendal gives Barbara Good a comic weight of her own; her responses matter as much as whatever has prompted them. Their warmth together is persuasive because neither actor makes affection look like a permanent good mood. Paul Eddington makes Jerry Leadbetter’s reserve funny without draining him of personality. Penelope Keith gives Margo Leadbetter the force to contest an entire way of life without becoming merely an obstacle to the other characters’ enjoyment. We laughed most at the interplay between these two: their timing makes a disagreement sound like something both have been preparing for. Each has the patience to let the other’s joke work. Director John Howard Davies deserves credit for allowing this to remain an ensemble comedy. The performances have room to differ in pace and emphasis, so the four people do not seem to be competing to deliver the same sort of joke. That is especially useful when the exchanges become familiar. A half-hour episode needs some briskness, but hurrying these actors through an argument would lose much of the reason to watch. The repetition does impose a limit. Once the principal differences are established, we can sometimes anticipate the positions before anyone has finished taking them, and Tom Good’s determination can receive more indulgence than it earns. We would welcome a little more resistance from the writing, especially when enthusiasm begins to look like self-importance. The half-hour length helps contain that irritation, though it cannot remove it. As a domestic sitcom, it trusts us to care about an argument without requiring a villain. That is a considerable virtue when the subject is how other people ought to live. The pleasure depends on finding each character worth listening to, including whichever one we currently think is wrong. Try an episode for the four actors; wanting to take sides in the next argument is a fair reason to continue. *Fi1m score 85, published 16 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (1) - **The Guardian** (90/100, inferred): The suburban self-sufficiency sitcom remains funny and daring more than three decades on, with a fantastic cast and still-pertinent theme. The interplay between the principals is masterful in this exquisite comedy. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2010/apr/09/the-good-life-box-set) ## Details - **Created by:** John Esmonde, Bob Larbey - **Creator:** John Esmonde, Bob Larbey - **Director:** John Howard Davies - **Writer:** Bob Larbey, John Esmonde - **Producer:** John Howard Davies - **Cast:** Richard Briers as Tom Good; Felicity Kendal as Barbara Good; Paul Eddington as Jerry Leadbetter; Penelope Keith as Margo Leadbetter; Tony Selby as Sam; Timothy Bateson as Arthur Bailey; Bruce Bould as Guy; Milton Johns as Ernie - **Runtime:** 30m - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-PG - **Release (the US):** 4 April 1975 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US Not streaming, renting or buying in the US at the last check. Also available in: AU, GB. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin* (1976): The office escape becomes stranger here, with sharper doubts about starting again. - *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: Try this for gentler arguments about money, place and what makes life worthwhile. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md) - *The Castle* (1997): A home matters beyond its market value, and the comedy knows it. - *Kitchen Stories* (2003): Domestic routines and awkward silences produce a quieter, rather peculiar friendship. - *Detectorists* (2014): Another patient comedy about people whose private enthusiasms deserve more respect. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/the-good-life