A two-hour celebration of classic sitcom The Good Life is set to air on U&Gold, the BBC’s subscription comedy and entertainment channel.
Marking the show’s 50th anniversary, The Good Life: Inside Out will be lead by Dame Penelope Keith who played the iconic Margo Leadbetter in the series and is set to air later this year.
The special, which has recreated Margo and Jerry Leadbetter’s drawing room, will revisit filming locations and reveal props and artefacts such as original scripts and production notes.
As well as Dame Penelope’s reminiscences, audiences will be treated to rarely seen archive interviews with her co-stars Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, and Paul Eddington, plus producer director John Howard Davies.
Available exclusively through Sky and Virgin Media’s pay-TV platforms, U&Gold is part of the BBC’s wholly owned UKTV subsidiary which operates a stable of subscription and advert-funded channels here in the UK.
The special has been produced by Double Yellow Entertainment.
Dame Penelope Keith said: “I am delighted that U&Gold has invited me to celebrate fifty years of The Good Life, a series that was important to me and is still so well loved by viewers.
“I have such happy memories of making The Good Life – it was a wonderful cast and we were working with excellent scripts and a first rate production team.
“The only thing I can’t really believe is that it’s fifty years since I first played Margo…where have the years gone?”
Helen Nightingale, UKTV’s head of factual and factual entertainment, said: “For a show to be remembered so fondly and to be such a reference point in British everyday conversation as The Good Life after 50 years is testament to its quality, and this new retrospective with Double Yellow will explore just how and why the show has endured.”
Mark Wells, creative director at Double Yellow Entertainment, added: “The Good Life is one of the crown jewels of British comedy.
“What a real privilege it’s been to examine it up close in the company of Dame Penelope Keith, who in Margo created one of the all-time sitcom character greats. Fans of The Good Life can look forward to a very special treat.”