Commonwealth Games (Goodies episode)
Encyclopedia
Commonwealth Games is an episode of the British
comedy
television series The Goodies
— a BAFTA
-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.
This episode is also known as "Sporting Goodies" and "Goodies of sport".
As always, the episode was written by members of The Goodies.
had colonized far away places to keep alive the noble art of playing cricket
, and he and Bill argue about keeping politics out of sport.
The Minister of Sport asks the Goodies for help, informing them that all other member countries have left the Commonwealth, apart from the tiny August Bank Holiday Islands (where the next Commonwealth Games are to be held).
The Goodies are asked to train the British Commonwealth athletic team to top fitness, but the potential members of the team are all former Members of Parliament, and not athletes — they are also very old and fail the test, and the Goodies have to take their places in the team.
Amongst the sporting equipment given to the Goodies are extremely heavy boots which, the Minister informs them, is to combat expected weightlessness they would encounter at the August Bank Holiday Islands. However, the extremely heavy boots prove to be totally unnecessary, and create a problem for Tim, Graeme and Bill, who have trouble even walking in them. When the Goodies state that they do not want to wear the boots, the Minister for Sport insists that the Goodies keep wearing them throughout the entire Commonwealth Games. Because of the extreme heaviness of the boots, the Goodies lose every event, and Britain has to forfeit the British Commonwealth to the August Bank Holiday Islands as a result — the Minister unfairly blames the Goodies for Britain's failure in the games.
Later, the Minister sees the Goodies again, and tells them that the former member countries had rejoined the Commonwealth under the new August Bank Holiday Islands rule — however, the news is not so good for Britain.
. A segment about a sex test was missing, edited out to make it suitable for a G (for General Exhibition) timeslot. An archives researcher from the Corporation discovered the missing footage in the National Archives of Australia. The missing segment runs for forty seconds. A group of elderly members of the British parliament assemble in the Minister of Sports office, hoping to be chosen to represent England at the Commonwealth Games. In order to be chosen, they must pass a sex test with the Minister's secretary. The excised footage was shown to Australian audiences for the first time during the 2009 Australian Goodies tour.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television series The Goodies
The Goodies (TV series)
The Goodies is a British television comedy series of the 1970s and early 1980s. The series, which combines surreal sketches and situation comedy, was broadcast by BBC 2 from 1970 until 1980 — and was then broadcast by the ITV company LWT for a year, between 1981 to 1982.The show was...
— a BAFTA
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
-nominated series for Best Light Entertainment Programme.
This episode is also known as "Sporting Goodies" and "Goodies of sport".
As always, the episode was written by members of The Goodies.
Plot
Tim comments how BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
had colonized far away places to keep alive the noble art of playing cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, and he and Bill argue about keeping politics out of sport.
The Minister of Sport asks the Goodies for help, informing them that all other member countries have left the Commonwealth, apart from the tiny August Bank Holiday Islands (where the next Commonwealth Games are to be held).
The Goodies are asked to train the British Commonwealth athletic team to top fitness, but the potential members of the team are all former Members of Parliament, and not athletes — they are also very old and fail the test, and the Goodies have to take their places in the team.
Amongst the sporting equipment given to the Goodies are extremely heavy boots which, the Minister informs them, is to combat expected weightlessness they would encounter at the August Bank Holiday Islands. However, the extremely heavy boots prove to be totally unnecessary, and create a problem for Tim, Graeme and Bill, who have trouble even walking in them. When the Goodies state that they do not want to wear the boots, the Minister for Sport insists that the Goodies keep wearing them throughout the entire Commonwealth Games. Because of the extreme heaviness of the boots, the Goodies lose every event, and Britain has to forfeit the British Commonwealth to the August Bank Holiday Islands as a result — the Minister unfairly blames the Goodies for Britain's failure in the games.
Later, the Minister sees the Goodies again, and tells them that the former member countries had rejoined the Commonwealth under the new August Bank Holiday Islands rule — however, the news is not so good for Britain.
Quote
-
-
- Graeme: "August Bank Holiday Islands - where's that?"
- Minister for Sport: "Between Easter IslandEaster IslandEaster Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
and Christmas IslandChristmas IslandThe Territory of Christmas Island is a territory of Australia in the Indian Ocean. It is located northwest of the Western Australian city of Perth, south of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, and ENE of the Cocos Islands....
."
-
Discovery of Missing Segment
The only surviving copy of this episode was found in the library of the Australian Broadcasting CorporationAustralian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
. A segment about a sex test was missing, edited out to make it suitable for a G (for General Exhibition) timeslot. An archives researcher from the Corporation discovered the missing footage in the National Archives of Australia. The missing segment runs for forty seconds. A group of elderly members of the British parliament assemble in the Minister of Sports office, hoping to be chosen to represent England at the Commonwealth Games. In order to be chosen, they must pass a sex test with the Minister's secretary. The excised footage was shown to Australian audiences for the first time during the 2009 Australian Goodies tour.
External links
- ("Commonwealth Games" is listed under an alternative title at IMDb)