Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

A new adventure for The Goodies is on the way, courtesy of Chinbeard Books.

In 2019, The Goodies reunited to record a brand-new adventure for Audible, under the guidance of producer Barnaby Eaton-Jones – who gently persuaded them to get back on their trandem bicycle. This was called The Big Ben Theory, and was written by Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts, from a story by Barnaby Eaton-Jones, and directed by Dirk Maggs. It is still available online (read our review here).

In the cast were Dame Joanna Lumley, Jon Culshaw, Kate Harbour, Philip Pope, and Barnaby Eaton-Jones – alongside The Goodies themselves; Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie, and Tim Brooke-Taylor. There was even a live band and studio audience.

This audio production was so well-received and successful that a series was commissioned, with the same team behind it and retaining the same company of actors as well.

Unfortunately, due to the sad passing of Tim Brooke-Taylor in 2020, from Covid, the audio series had to be cancelled. At that stage, material had been written and The Goodies had chosen the first six (of the twelve mooted) for the debut series on audio.

Fast forward to 2022, and the first of those stories has been turned into novella called Avengers Dissemble, which is a semi-sequel to the audio production (though you don’t have to have listened to the audio to understand it), as it features Dame Joanna Lumley – who has also written a beautiful and funny foreword for this book. This novella has been specifically produced by Chinbeard Books as a tribute to Tim Brooke-Taylor and 25% of the royalties will be going to the charity he was President of for over 25 years – Thames Valley Adventure Playground (who celebrate their 40th anniversary in 2022). You can read all about what they do here: https://www.tvap.co.uk/

If fans and the public get behind this first novella, then the rest of the series will also be written, and there could potentially be 12 ‘new episodes’ of The Goodies, that had comedic input from all three of the Super Chaps Three.

The book can be pre-ordered here, with pre-orders dispatched in March 2022.

Graeme Garden said: “We had great fun working on ideas for an audio series with the ever inventive and energetic Barnaby Eaton Jones, and he has now turned the first of those ideas into book form. If you don’t like fun, satire, weirdness, wordplay and downright silliness then this is not the book for you.”

Bill Oddie added, “I have heard of a “novella”, but what exactly is it? A cheap Italian wine? A kind of pizza? A short irritating opera? Or an extremely entertaining little book (featuring The Goodies) written by Barnaby Eaton-Jones? You’re right, it is a pizza. (P.S. Novella also plays centre forward for Juventus).”

Christine Brook-Taylor noted: “Tim would have been really chuffed that The Goodies are reappearing in another form, from ideas he worked on with Graeme, Bill, and Barnaby. It’s also lovely to know that a portion of the sales are going towards the Thames Valley Adventure Playground charity, which he was an active President of for over 25 years.”

Producer and writer Barnaby Eaton-Jones explained:  “For Graeme, Bill, and Christine to approve of the idea of this being my way of a tribute to Tim was on the way hand, humbling, on the other hand, exciting, and on the third hand (yes, I’ve got three hands) nerve-wracking. For fans, it gives them new, original adventures of the Super Chaps Three (which they initially were going to be called before The Goodies!), in the same style as the classic television series. I must dish out thanks to Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts, who allowed their ideas they contributed to the initial plots of the proposed audio series to be used, as well as Daniel McGachey (for his artwork and design), Kenton Hall (for his invaluable editing and support) and Graeme Garden (for overseeing the entire project); all of whom also provided additional material to beef the joke quota up to maximum capacity. But I’m claiming all the good jokes are my own, obviously. Ahem.”

Eaton-Jones will be appearing as part of the huge online event – Goodies Forever – as part of Bristol’s famous Slapstick Festival, on Saturday 29th January at 2:20pm. He will be introducing a clip of the audio adventure and talking about the release of this first novella.

The event is streamed live from Bristol’s Watershed Cinema and is hosted by Robin Ince. It will feature many famous faces introducing their favourite clip of The Goodies, such as Rob Brydon, Tim Vine, and Harry Hill.

It’s £5 to view online, and you can view it for a month afterwards if you can’t make the actual start time. The link to buy tickets is here:

https://watch.eventive.org/slapstick2022/play/61bb77ba2ca06c0060355368