South Africa (Goodies episode)

Infobox The Goodies episode
name = South Africa


number = 45
airdate = 21 April, 1975
(Monday — 9 p.m.)
director =
producer =
guests = Philip Madoc as the
"Tourist Agent / Customs Officer"
Skip Martin as the "New
President of South Africa"
Oscar James as "..."
Albert Wilkinson as "..."
series = 5

South Africa is an episode of the British comedy television series "The Goodies".

This episode is also known as ""Apartheight" and as ""A South African Adventure".

Plot

The Goodies make an advertisement for South Africa. However, the South African Tourist Agent is unhappy with what they have done.

The agent forces the Goodies to emigrate to South Africa, where the old segregation of apartheid is replaced by the new segregation of "apartheight" (apart-height). Tim and Graeme are tall enough not to be affected — but Bill is not quite tall enough. Bill, and the South African jockeys, are now treated as the second class citizens of South Africa, and are put under curfew. Bill is also forced to work for Tim and Graeme, who both take full advantage of Bill's newly disadvantaged position and treat him like a slave. Bill takes charge of the situation, and he and the jockeys eventually win out against their 'masters'.

The Goodies return to Britain — but the Britain they return to is vastly different from the Britain they had left behind just a short time before.

Quotes

Quote ::* South African Tourism Agent: "You make it look as though South Africa is full of black people! You make it look as though South Africa is full of black people having a good time!"::* Tim: "Well, it is full of black people!"::* South African Tourism Agent: "But they're not having a good time!"

Notes

*Possibly the most controversial of all "The Goodies" episodes, "South Africa" has only been shown once on BBC2. The corporation apparently disliked the team dipping into serious social satire, and tried to stop the programme from being broadcast completely. Despite criticisms levelled at the now-dated racial epithets used in the programme, the reference work "TV Heaven" (Sangster and Condon, 2005) correctly states that the episode's "heart is in the right place".

*Graeme's slapstick sequence just before the jockeys attack was a reference to John Cleese's "Cambridge Circus" performances, which often included prolonged, ad-libbed physical comedy.

*Keen viewers will notice a fleeting background reference to the diminutive Scottish comedian Ronnie Corbett, whose stand-up show has apparently been banned in South Africa.

*When The South African Tourism Agent comes swinging into The Goodies house by a vine, a boom mic shadow is visible at the botom of the screen.

References

* "The Complete Goodies" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
* "The Goodies Rule OK" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
* "From Fringe to Flying Circus" — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
* "The Goodies Episode Summaries" — Brett Allender
* "The Goodies — Fact File" — Matthew K. Sharp
* "TV Heaven" — Jim Sangster & Paul Condon, HarperCollins"Publishers", London, 2005

External links

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